Last Updated: 12/31/25

1. On 12/5/25, my last guinea pig, Cornelia died. I am devastated to no longer have any mammals aside from cats. Since the cats hate me touching them (unlike cats I used to have), I have nobody to cuddle in the house. I still try to hug my hen Daffodil.

2. I did pond chores on 12/7/25. It has been unusually cold. At 12:28 pm, it was 44 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 41 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 45 degrees F. I pulled the big pond's net off the waterfall area so it is accessible to me for dealing with snow and ice, and the birds and also drink and bathe. It also means though that leaves within hundreds of feet will find a way into the pond when the wind blows! I rooted around the biofilter and waterfall to try to find out why I am losing a few inches of water a day sometimes. It doesn't seem like it would just be due to the cold. The ground was wet around the edge of the falls but it always is so it was not wetter than usual. I got in to squirt the filter floss. It is going to be below freezing next Sunday so I felt I had to squirt floss while I could. I am past due to squirt the bioballs and change the oyster shell but let it slide due to the cold. I put in additives and water.

3. There are two things that really strike fear in me as a ponder. The first is water loss. The second is extreme cold. They collided at the same time. By 12/11/25, I noticed enough water loss that I started adding water every day. Eventually, I had to resist that urge to see how far the water level would drop. I paid for a 36" deep pond but the maximum depth was 26" when the pond was completed in May of 1997. In the last few years, maximum depth has been around 23" as the overflow has collapsed. I've tried rebuilding it to raise the low spot in the liner many times over the years. But now, I found that in less than a day, that 23" maximum level was dropping to 18 to 19". I used a yard stick to stick in there while standing the waterfall overflow area instead of just going by the visuals that I get from certain rocks that tell me if the pond is full or low. It seems like it wants to stop going down at the 18 to 19" depth but I've honestly been too afraid to go farther since the temperatures are about 15 degrees F overnight and not above freezing during the day. I've contacted three pond places so far but have not come up with a plan yet. They can't do anything until spring. I'm reticent to turn off the waterfall as the biofilter is full of pickerel frogs, green frogs, and two-lined salamanders that overwinter in there. There's no check valve so turning off the pump means they would be exposed to the freezing air and die. It also means the buried hose could freeze at the water level and potentially crack. A crack in that buried hose is one possibility for the water loss as well as a hole or more in the liner or diversion that I just don't notice. I don't see water pooling anywhere. The biofilter is as it should be. All I can do for now is pump well water in there twice a day. I threw in some pond salt too as the well water is low in ions. I'm sure all that fresh water bothers the fish but you can't say they aren't getting water changes!

I couldn't really do pond chores on 12/14/25 due to the 3 to 4 inches of snow (depends on where it was measured). I did add water to the ponds the day before (12/13/25 around 8 am). I again added water to the big pond on 12/13/25 at 7 pm because all that I added that morning was gone.

At 11:37 on 12/14/25, the air temperature was 25 degrees F. The thermometer was frozen in the 1800 gallon pond while that in the 153 gallon pond read 42 degrees F.

From 12/14/25 until present, I was recording the depths at the same spot using a yard stick while standing in the stream basin area:

12/14/25 9:45 am = 19" deep
12/14/25 12:00 pm = 19" deep
12/14/25 before filling at 7:38 pm = 19" deep
12/14/25 7:38 pm = 22" deep after added water

12/15/25 7:25 am = 19.5" deep and 17 degrees F air
12/15/25 8:15 am = 19" deep
12/15/25 1:40 pm = 19" deep
12/15/25 4:00 pm = 18" deep = added water to bring up to 20"
12/15/25 7:11 pm = 19.5" deep
12/15/25 7:30 pm - 21.5" deep after added more water

12/16/25 7:38 am = 19" deep
12/16/25 8:08 am = 21.5" deep (had to use hair dryer to thaw spigot)
12/16/25 5:40 pm = 19.5" deep
12/16/25 6:00 pm = 21.5" deep after added more water

I also want to note that there is a 20" (was 16" when the pond was new, 12" would be ideal) drop from ground level to the water surface (when filled to 21") which is way too much!

12/17/25 7:40 am = 19.25"
12/17/25 8:00 am = 21.25" deep after 17 min of water added.
12/17/25 5:35 pm = 20" deep (some could be due to snow/ice melt as it got above freezing)
12/17/25 5:50 pm = 21.5" deep after 17 min of water added. This time, I finally saw water trickling out the overflow.
12/17/25 7:30 pm = 21" deep. This is the likely maximum due to the overflow level. No more water was seen coming out the overflow.

12/18/25 7:30 am = 19" deep so two inch drop in 12 hours.
12/18/25 7:50 am = 21.25" deep after 19 min of water added.
12/18/25 5:31 pm = 20" deep.

I turned off the pump on 12/18/25 at around 5:50 pm. I removed all the bags of media and left them in a kiddie pool overnight. I did that in order to rescue any animals in the filter. I found four pickerel frogs who I moved to the 153 gallon pond. I measured the biofilter. It is 26.5" deep and 24" in diameter so it is 50 gallons. I left the system off for 24 hours. We got about 3/8 of an inch overnight complicating measurements.

12/18/25 5:50 pm = 21.5" deep after water added. Water could be seen going out the overflow (overfilled).
12/18/25 8:17 pm (raining) = 21.5" deep.

12/19/25 morning at time not noted = 21" deep so holding water.

The morning of 12/19/25, I squirted off all the bioballs and lava rock and put them back in the filter. There was another pickerel frog in the bottom of the empty biofilter who I moved to the 153 gallon pond first. I cut a piece of liner to put right below the lip of the biofilter. Why? The waterfall area was made from the dirt dug out from the pond so it has settled, a whopping 5” below the lip of the biofilter! The liner used to touch the edge of the filter; now it’s a 5” drop. As a result, a little water will go uphill and out of the lined area. I tried spraying foam in there a few years back but that did nothing. I also get some water wicking and splashing on either side. So, this piece of liner should have fixed that.

I left work early on 12/19/25. At 4:27 pm, the air temperature was 42 degrees F and going down fast. The wind was a like a freight train. I needed to get the filter going before everything flash froze. The 1800 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 45 degrees F. I turned the system back on. The water depth at my usual spot was 20.5" once the system was running again (it takes more than 50 gallons from the basin), and I added water up to 21.75".

12/19/25 7:44 pm = 21" deep.
12/19/25 8:07 pm = 21" deep (normal max due to overflow).

12/20/25 7:53 am = 19.75" deep. It is still losing water but only an inch instead of two in 12 hours! Why?
12/20/25 8:10 am = 21.25" deep after added 15 min of water.
12/20/25 11:10 am = 20.5" deep.
12/20/25 2:46 pm = 20.25" deep.
12/20/25 3:20 pm (44 degrees F) = 20" deep with the filter drained (which brought the level up).

I got in the pond 12/20/25 3:20 pm. I took out the filter floss and squirted it off. I used my bare hands in the 40 degree F water to unscrew (hose clamp) the tubing from the OASE pump and screw it onto a new piece of 20' long 1.25" black flexible tubing. I was lucky that I had ordered some to replace the tubing for my two summer pumps so I had it on hand. I ran the outflow to the top of the waterfall area and let it dump onto that new piece of liner that I had put in. First, I noticed that instead of drizzling, the water was really moving like it was supposed to! I always thought the drizzling was due to water going behind the rocks. The rocks were all installed loose, no foam back then. I’m loving the water movement! I should only have reduced the head half a foot so there must be some massive friction in the original tubing! The fish now have plenty of water movement and aeration. I put the de-icer in the main basin near the air stone and waterfall since the biofilter is not running.

I noticed that there was almost no bubbles coming out the air stone for the 153 gallon pond. I tried another Luft pump and another airline and air stone which I ended up using. I guess I need another Luft pump.

12/20/25 4:07 pm = 21.5" deep after adding water.
12/20/25 5:37 pm = 21 and 3/8" deep.
12/20/25 7:40 pm = 21" deep (down to the max from the overflow so expected to settle down some.).
12/20/25 9:30 pm = 20 and 5/8" deep.

12/21/25 7:57 am = 20 and 5/8" deep. No change overnight!
12/21/25 11:35 am = 20.5" deep

At 1:08 pm on 12/21/25, I put two of the bags of bioballs where the stream splashes into the waterfall basin. They are mostly out of the water but some are under and will thus provide some biological filtration. I put the other four bags of bioballs in the shallow marginal area with bags of lava rock to hold them down. They won't do much filtering but keeping the bags wet will keep at least some of the good bacteria, bryozoans, insect larvae, etc. alive until I can get a new filter. It was 46 degrees F out at 1:08 pm.

12/21/25 1:08 pm = 20 and 5/8" deep.
12/21/25 4:25 pm = 21" deep. No, I didn't add water. I can only assume that I didn't measure at the exact same spot. Regardless, the depth is steady! No water was added on 12/21/25 for the first time in about 10 days! Yay!

12/21/25 8:30 pm = 20.75" deep.

I am going to keep checking it twice a day but I will no longer report those measurements here. I may finally be able to sleep through the night. I had been going downstairs and using a flashlight to check the pond's water level for 10 days. Then, it takes me an hour to fall asleep since I am trying to work out the pond's problems and options in my head!

Ok, one last one, and then I'll stop writing it down!

12/22/25 7:45 am = still 20.75" deep. When I got home, it was a little lower (didn't write it down!) so I did add some water as the recent habits are hard to break.

4. I did pond work on 12/28/25 at 10:55 am. The air temperature was 38 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 40 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 42 degrees F. I got in to squirt off the filter flosses as it is going to get much colder soon, and I won't be getting in most likely for a while. I put in additives and topped off the ponds with water. The big pond is doing well without the biofilter for now. The waterfall and stream have great flow. It makes me wonder what is going on underground with the tubes! Are they breached with dirt? I have put out feelers to companies to help me repair the pond but have yet to have any estimates since everyone is on vacation for two weeks except for me who gets three days.

5. From 12/29/25 to 12/31/25, the temperatures plummetted as winds like a freight train came through. I think every leaf within 500 feet found its way into my ponds! I spent a lot of time trying to collect leaves to little avail.

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