Last Updated: 11/3/25

1. I started pond work at 10:43 am on 10/5/25. The air temperature was 70 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 62 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 63 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials. I fertilized the two pots of waterlilies one last time. The fish have removed a lot of the rocks on top of them, and they need repotting badly but I have no time. I put in additives and topped off the ponds. I started using Microbe-Lift Autumn Prep which I will use for about a month until I use it up.

2. The weather forecasters incorrectly said that it was going to be raining and windy starting the afternoon of 10/11/25 through 10/13/25. As such, I decided to postpone my Saturday cleaning of Tator's (turtle) tank and try to do my pond work on Saturday instead. I didn't get the regular Saturday chores not including Tator (or Cornelia whose cage I cleaned after pond work) until 5:20 pm. In order to stick to schedule, I had to stop at 6 pm. Alas, that was not enough time to do much more than do temperatures, change the PondMaster filters, squirt the Biosteps Matala, bounce the leaves off the main net, put in additives and add water to the ponds. The air temperature was 68 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 58 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 61 degrees F. There was none of this rain in sight, perhaps due to the depletion of Federal weather monitoring. I think the local guys were just guessing!

3. So, it was back to more pond work on Sunday, 10/12/25. I started at 12:49 pm with no rain in sight after having spent the morning vacuuming and doing a total clean of Tator's 120 gallon tank. The air temperature was 64 degrees. I worked until 1:44 pm. I got in the pond after bouncing the net to move the leaves off it again as we did have some mild winds, and the leaves are a-fallin'. I removed the auxiliary pump and tubing as it hasn't worked in weeks. I would later take it apart and find no reason that it's not working! I will test it in the ponds again next weekend. I changed the main filter floss. I squirted the others.

4. I worked on the ponds on 10/19/25 from 11:08 to 11:49 am and then back out after lunch at 12:28 pm. I did not record the time that I stopped. At 11:08 am, the air temperature was 67 degrees F, and it was breezy. The air temperature was 72 degrees F at 12:28 pm. The 1800 gallon pond was at 56 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 58 degrees F. I stuck the auxiliary pump in the 153 gallon pond and plugged it in, and it worked! I don't know why it hadn't worked for weeks in the big pond. I removed a wheelbarrow full of leaves from the net of the big pond. I raked some leaves from around the big pond. I almost stepped on a gray treefrog (baby of the year) so I moved him/her to a nearby tree. Later, when I took the lid off the biofilter, I found what I think was the same exact frog so I moved him/her again. I squirted all the filter materials, put in additives, and topped off the ponds.

5. I did pond work on 10/26/25 at 10:50 am. The air temperature was down to 54 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 50 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 53 degrees F. I shook and bounced the net and then netted out a wheelbarrow full of leaves so I could get into the big pond. I squirted the filter materials. I added additives and water to the ponds. I was supposed to squirt the bioballs, change the Ammocarb, and cut down the yellow flag iris but I was throwing a 50th birthday party for my brother right after I was rooting in the pond so I ran out of time.

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