Diary of Events 3/30/25

This is just the cleaning list. To see information on the 153 gallon pond's statistics, history, and past cleanings, go to my 153 Gallon Pond page.

I used the 2024 pond cleaning page as a guide to write this 2025 one but did change everything that was relevant or changed. It may look the same but it is not!

Overview of the Day:

On 3/30/25, I cleaned out my 153 gallon pond. I got up at 6:30 am and fed all the animals. I started hauling supplies out for the pond cleaning at 8:48 am. The air temperature was 57 degrees F at 8:48 am. The winds were light, there was no rain, and it was sunny with occasional clouds. It was at 62 degrees F at 10:00 am. It was 78 degrees F at 3:15 pm! Too hot for me.

It was not until 10:00 am that all the supplies were in place.

The 153 gallon thermometer read 52 degrees F at 8:52 am. I think for the first time in the 22 cleanings of this pond, it was so warm that I put on shorts at 10:20 am!

I put an outdoor glass table and a folding table next to each other. I covered them with a plastic birthday tablecloth. I set up the lid of a larger storage container that had a lip on the table. I put the containers for the animals, the clock, my phone, my list (where I record numbers of animals as I find them), tissues, and so on on the table. I also brought over a patio chair so I could sit on occasion. I used buckets for solid waste and for rinsing plants and dumped buckets away from the work area with the waste water (that had gone through nets to remove solids).

I bail filled three kiddie pools and two holding buckets (one for fish and one for frogs). The pond had a huge amount of anacharis and one sprig of hornwort this year. I shop vacuumed the water level down somewhat to where I would not just be sucking up water. From there, I hand sifted the entire pond.

When I clean the pond, I bring up buckets and then go sit in the chair and sort the slop. When I start, there is little debris so I pour it through an aquarium net and then look for movement. I hand pick out the frogs, snails, tadpoles, salamanders, and minnows. In the process, I miss some of the snails, tadpoles, worms, and insects. I am sure I did not miss any frogs or tadpoles (not a single tadpole!) this year. I am not so sure that I did not miss some baby fathead minnows.

At about 12:00 pm I went in to eat lunch. I came back out at about 12:30 pm. I did not fully empty the 153 gallon pond until 1:09 pm.

I squirted out the empty pond and used the OASE Pondovac to get all the rest of the stuff out. I did not replace any bricks as they seemed okay.

I started refilling the pond. I added the following additives:
About 1 cup of pond salt (~50% of the recommended dose on the container for ponds with plants), a little bit of baking soda, a partial dose of aquarium Stress Coat, a partial dose of aquarium Stress Zyme, and some BZT. I let the Luft pump aerate and put in the PondMaster filter. I put a small barley straw bale in the 153 gallon pond and one in the 1800 gallon pond later.

I continued to fill up the 153 gallon pond to the level it was from the bailed water. I put in all the contents of the three kiddie pools and the frogs.

There were only two two gallon pots in the 153 gallon pond that contained purple flag iris so I repotted those.

After the pots were in and I topped the pond up all the way, I put the fish back. Everyone was in by about 2:40 pm.

Next, I cleaned the back pond. Explain to me how my 100 foot "no-kink" hose was just a huge knot ball that I could not untangle? As a result, I had to add a 50 foot hose to it even though the back pond is almost exactly 100 feet away because I could not untangle it. It was wrapped/kinked on itself. I netted out the leaves, sticks, and debris. It smelled horrible per usual, and I filled the wheel barrow with the stinking leaves. Half the rocks from the edge had fallen into the pond (i.e. the raccoons dumped them there!). At 3:20 pm, I saw a flycatcher bird at the back pond. I filled the pond back up and was done with that pond at 3:30 pm.

At 3:57 pm, I started regular afternoon animal chores. At 4:29 pm, I worked on my big pond (see my March 2025 pond blog for details). At 5:40 pm, I started putting pond supplies away. I stopped that to eat dinner at 6:15 pm. It wasn't until after that that I got everything put away. Then, I could finally shower after a very long, hot, and dirty day.

Just a note: I normally clean the 20 and 50 gallon tub ponds on the 153 gallon pond cleaning day. I had cleaned the 20 gallon a few weeks earlier for the woodfrog eggs. As for the 50 gallon pond, the yellow flag iris has filled the entire pond such that there is absolutely no way to remove it or clean the pond. In fact, there is basically no water on top of the iris mound of roots as it fills the entire 50 gallons. Last year, my brother was able to lift the mass out so I could clean the pond. Even he couldn't move it now. I don't know what to do about it so I did nothing.

Plants:

A lot of anacharis!
One tiny sprig of hornwort.
A massive amount of green algae that was in sheets with holes like green pantyhose. I made no attempt to save any of it but it was all over and mixed with the anacharis.

Here are the potted plants:

There were two two gallon pots of purple flag iris in the two shallow areas. That was it. I repotted those with fresh dirt, fertilizer, and pea gravel.

In the 153 gallon pond.

• One two gallon pot with iris on the overflow shelf. Purple iris. Repotted.
  
• One two gallon pot with iris in the marginal area. Purple iris. Repotted.

Animals:

Here is what I found in the pond! I had to hand pick through every bit of slop to get all these animals.

• 59 fathead and rosy red minnows - 1 breeding male fathead minnows, 1 maybe male fathead minnow, 14 female or younger male fathead minnows, 3 female rosy red minnows, 1 juvenile rosy red minnow, and 39 juvenile fathead minnows. Last year, there were a record 90 minnows.

• 6 green frogs - three females and three juveniles
  
• 1 huge female bullfrog
  
• For the first time EVER for this pond: Not a single green frog tadpole!!
  
• 2 Melantho snails
  
• Lots of pond snails
  
• Only a few earthworms this year
  
• No mayfly larvae, dragonfly larvae, water striders, predaceous diving beetles, adult salamanders, crane fly larvae, aquatic worms, pickerel frogs, wood frogs, wood frog eggs, salamander larvae, etc. were found.

I moved some woodfrog tapdoles from the 20 gallon pond back to the 153 gallon pond but not very many (maybe 20). Those tadpoles were from eggs laid in the 153 gallon pond that I moved to the tub pond so I would not have to sort them out during the cleaning.

The photos have not been processed and likely never will be as I have not had the time in a decade.

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