Last Updated: 4/4/24

1. On 3/3/24, at 1:30 pm, I did some pond work. The air temperature was 64 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 53 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 51 degrees F. We had almost an inch of rain the day before, and, yet there is no sign of a single wood frog at my 153 gallon pond! I am getting worried. They are usually very active. I have a lot of baby minnows in that pond this year so cleaning it will be extra difficult and will probably result in some of them being harmed (by crushing during bailing muck). I squirted off the filter floss around the big pond pump and will now go back to doing that weekly. The goldfish even showed signs of wanting to spawn. I put new window seals around the edge of the biofilter as the old ones had come off and been chewed on by the raccoons.

2. Doing pond chores on 3/10/24 was horrible. The air temperature was 44 degrees F but the winds were blowing 20 mph constantly with gusts twice that. There was some snow but it was like white pellets slapping you. I felt like I had died and gone to hell but I will do anything for my animals, and Sunday is the only day I can do pond chores.

The 1800 gallon pond was at 50 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 48 degrees F. The ponds were full of leaves that had blown in so I made a mostly futile effort to remove some of those. I got in the big pond to take out the main filter floss. The pump intake was severely clogged because, just a few days before when it was in the 60's, the goldfish had been spawning and clogged up the filter. The waterfall was just dripping so I had to fix it. I wanted to set up the Biosteps and auxiliary pump early due to the early spring, but on this day, it was winter again.

3. It was 70 degrees F when I got home on 3/12/24! I put water in the big pond. I removed the de-icer, Rubbermaid tub lid, and the two four-pound lead diving weights that hold the lid in place over the main biofilter.

4. I did lots of pond work on 3/17/24 despite the turn in weather from nice to horrible again. At 1:44 pm, the air temperature was 66 degrees F but the winds were 20 mph. The 1800 gallon pond was at 58 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 56 degrees F. First, I removed the large net on the big pond. I tied up the ropes around the southwest side of the pond (supposed to deter the herons and deer a little but nobody told them that). I picked some leaves out of the 1800 and 153 gallon ponds. I moved the two pots of golden club from the medium-depth area to the shallows. I squirted the filter floss around the pump. It was super heavy with slop from the goldfish spawning their brains out. I squirted off the bioballs and lava rock. There should have been frogs in there but there were none. There were, however, two two-lined salamanders that came for their breeding season. I finally changed the bag of oyster shell in the biofilter. I set up the Biosteps filter. I put the half net on the big pond. I tied the feeding ring to it with fishing line.

5. I had to turn off the Biosteps a few days later as it was going below freezing every day. As a result, the golden club were also severely frost damaged, and I do not know if they will recover.

6. I did pond work at 1:12 pm on 3/24/24. The air temperature was only 44 degrees F but at least the winds were not bad. The 1800 gallon pond was at 45 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 46 degrees F. I squirted off the flosses which were dirty from spawning that occured before the temperature drop. I put in additives and added water as the big pond is losing a lot of water despite an inch of rain the day before. Still not a single wood frog showed up this year so I am afraid the population has crashed. I do not know if this was due to the crazy weather, Chytrid fungus, the neighbors who spray poisons, or something else. I really, really miss their quacking.

7. I had off work on 3/25/24 to clean the 153 gallon pond, and that is written up on this page. I moved the golden club back up to the shallow area and turned the Biosteps filter back on. I removed some iris that had grown into the gravel from the 1800 gallon pond that I potted up in a two gallon pot in the 153 gallon pond.

8. On 3/31/24, at 9:20 am, the air temperature was 53 degrees F. It was dry with light winds. The 1800 gallon pond was at 50 degrees F as was the 153 gallon pond. I squirted off all the filter flosses in the big pond. I wish I had time to repot the waterlily.

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