Last Updated: 2/2/26

1. I was not in the mood for pond work on 1/4/26. The air temperature was 40 degrees F with a light breeze. The 1800 gallon was about a quarter covered in ice. The 1800 gallon pond's thermometer read 36 degrees while that in the 153 gallon pond read 42 degrees F. I did not get in the pond. I used grabbers to get some of the tons of leaves in the ponds. I put additives and topped the ponds off with water.

2. I did pond work on 1/11/26. At 10:51 am, the air temperature was 44 degrees F. I knew high winds were coming more later in the day so I wanted to get out there early. The 1800 gallon pond was at 44 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 43 degrees F. There was no air coming from the air stone of the Luft pump at the 153 gallon pond. I changed the entire airline and still no bubbles. So, I put another used Luft pump out there, and there are a few bubbles. I threw the other Luft pump out. Air came out at the pump but it could not make it down the line. I need to order another one.

I got in the big pond while I could to remove the filter floss and squirt it all off. There were lots of leaves in there from the high winds. I need to order some kind of filter for the pond at least to use until I can get repairs done.

3. I did pond work on 1/18/26 but not for long. At 2:38 pm, it was 34 degrees F outside. The 1800 gallon pond was at 36 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 40 degrees F. I didn't get in the big pond. I just added water and additives. I removed a dead 2" pickerel frog from the 1800 gallon pond's stream overflow area.

4. The Luft pump in the 153 gallon pond got worse and worse. I kept switching it out for other old pumps that were equally weak, producing either just a few bubbles or none. On 1/22/26, I finally got a new one which works well as long as the airline tubing stays on. I had to put new tubing on there but it still popped off.

5. A big snow/sleet/ice storm arrived on 1/25/26, and then it got super cold. I measured 7 inches of light snow on 1/25/26 at 8:30 am. Then, we had sleet for another 12 hours. I did not do any of my regular pond chores. The 1800 gallon pond was almost completely sealed shut. It was so cold that both de-icers froze into the pond. I could have read the temperature in the 153 gallon pond but I was trying not to freeze as the air temperatures wer the teens. I made sure to clear off the electric outlets and aerators but not much else. The sleet and ice sealed everything in a tomb of rock-hard cold. The morning of 1/26/26, I measured 7.5 inches of snow/sleet/ice which was not hard as a rock. I poured three buckets of hot water near the aerator, de-icer (not visible), and open areas of the waterfall and stream. It did nothing. But, the water is still flowing. The aerator hole with the bubbling is only maybe half a foot wide. There is no sign of the de-icer. I plugged and unplugged it in case it needed to be reset. Hopefully, it is still heating under the blanket of snow and ice. It's going to be in the single digits in the mornings for the next week. My stress is very high as a result. My two HVAC systems (over 25 years old on the house which is twice as old) have been running non-stop. I expect my electric bill to be over $1000 for the first time ever! I'm spending more than 25% of my income on electricity at this point.

6. On 1/28/26, I threw an old de-icer in the aeration hole of the big pond. Try as I might, I could not get it to stay upright. It wanted to be upside down, and it was too far away to turn it over. I looped the electric cord around the post with the electrical boxes to keep the heating element near the surface to try to get some warming. By the next day, it had opened a nice hole. I started throwing pond salt onto the areas of ice that I wanted to melt (not that it did much). I continued to pour two buckets of hot water in the waterfall twice a day to keep water moving.

7. It was 9 degrees F at dawn on 1/30/26 and 5 degrees F at dawn on 1/31/26!

8. On 1/31/26, I was putting hot water down the waterfall while standing on it when I saw something moving on the newly-formed near the small open area where the air stone and upside-down de-icer were. The hole was sealing over as the bubbles were not really working as the airline tube keeps freezing. It was a live pickerel frog! He/she was freezing and dying at that moment. Being on the ice falls surrounded by ice covered snow, there was no running to get the net that I keep on the porch for emergencies so I had to take my time to get the net and use it to push the frog into the hole and down into the pond. I hope he/she survived.

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