Last Updated: 5/3/24

1. On 4/7/24, it was 58 degrees F at 1:28 pm. The 1800 gallon pond was at 52 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 53 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials, put in additives, and topped off with water. I did not have time to repot the only surviving waterlily, fertilize plants, put out yard doohickeys, and/or set up the auxiliary pump.

2. On 4/11/24, the goldfish were spawning their brains out. Then, I heard a lot of splashing. One of my three largest orfe had strander him or herself in the waterfall pool area which has very little water in it. Orfe naturally spawn by going up a stream so this fish thought it was a good idea. I was able to throw the heavy fish back into the pond proper and save his or her life. The orfe was lucky that I found him or her and not a predator!

3. It was a warm 70 degrees F at 11:42 on 4/14/24. Both ponds were at a cool 57 degrees F. It was windy but still warm. I squirted off all the filter materials and the bioballs. I set up the auxiliary pump finally so now the waterfall is actually flowing with water. I put in additives and water. I still did not have time to repot the waterlily.

4. On 4/21/24 at 1:42 pm, the air temperature was only 52 degrees F but it was otherwise nice. I like cooler temperatures when doing physical labor. Both ponds' thermometers read 56 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials. I finally repotted the one surviving waterlily that I have in all my ponds! Looking at my pond inventory, I am not even sure which one it is! The lily does not flower so that makes it hard. I think it is one I bought as a Comanche in 2020 but flowered that year as the wrong color for Comanche. I repotted the lily into the same five gallon pot. It was severely overgrown. I saved the half of it that I did not repot in a bucket of water because I fell bad about just tossing it. Maybe I will pot it up next week.

I added additives and water to the ponds. We have not had more than a sprinkle of rain in weeks. It is so dry.

5. On 4/27/24, I went out in the morning to find the PondMaster's 700 gph MagDrive not running. I tried to get it to work. I pulled out another one that I had left a note on that I had replaced the magnet and cover, and it should work. Of course, the connections/tubing were completely different but I have pieces of tubing so I cut something to fit. I changed the PondMaster filters which were due the next day anyway. The pump and filter worked at that point so I left only to find it dead the next time I went over there less than an hour later. I wasted a good amount of time (it takes a long time to take all those screws out, and I did it multiple times), and I left the PondMaster not running and put the pump that had been in the pond in the garage. I took it apart. I ordered a replacement (almost $100!).

6. The morning of 4/28/24, I tried the pump again, and the magnet did turn (it didn't the day before) so I set it back up again, and it is still running as of 4/30/24. I needed a backup pump anyway.

7. On 4/28/24, at 1:30 pm, the air temperature was a toasty 80 degrees F. I don't like the heat. The 1800 gallon pond was still cool at 62 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 60 degrees F. I squirted off the Matala in the Biosteps filter. I squirted the other filter materials, and I changed the filter floss around the big pump. I changed the bag of Ammocarb. I put in additives and water to the ponds. I moved the remnants of my waterlily repotting from the previous week to my 20 gallon tub pond which literally only had bricks in it. The tubers may die, or they may live but I don't the large amount of time that it takes to pot them up. I couldn't leave them in the bucket of stagnant water on the porch.

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