Last Updated: 6/4/25

1. The power went out on 5/3/25 for 7 hours starting just after 4 pm at the height of my aquarium chores. My gas generator finally proved its worth. Without it, the pond animals likely would have started to die from low oxygen following the drop in pressure and rain washing dirt into the pond.

2. I did pond chores on 5/4/25. I started at 12:46 pm when the temperature was 68 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 67 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 66 degrees F. I squirted off all the filter materials which were thick with more slop from spawning. I fertilized the two pots of waterlilies and water hawthorne. I changed the bag of oyster shell in the biofilter. I found a dead ~2" female wood frog in the water hawthorne pot. She may have been there a while. I found her while fertilizing the pot, and my hand touched something slimy.

3. The Biosteps pump was off the morning of 5/6/25 (the power had flickered overnight and maybe did something to it). I hauled out my spare MagDrive pump but had to go to work. After work, I got in the pond and tested the current pump, and it suddenly worked.

4. I did pond work on 5/11/25 at 12:28 pm. The air temperature was already a toasty 80 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 65 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 62 degrees F. The 153 gallon pond's outlet was swarming with ants. I changed the ant motel in there. I squirted all the filter materials and the bioballs. I put in additives and water.

5. The morning of 5/14/25, the Biosteps filter was not flowing. The power had gone out for a few minutes multiple times the night before. The same pump had also stopped working on 5/6/25 as above. This time, though I couldn't get it to work. So, I changed it out with a new Pond-Mag Model 7 700 gph pump with a 18 foot cord. The old one had a 10 foot cord I think so I had to use an extension cord and protect that union so this was better.

6. At 12:34 pm on 5/18/25, the air temperature was 75 degrees F, and it was pretty nice. The 1800 gallon pond was at 71 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 68 degrees F. I squirted off all the filter materials, added additives, and topped the ponds off with water.

7. I did pond work on 5/25/25 but I lost my paperwork with the details! I started around 11 am. I have no idea what the temperatures were. I changed the PondMaster filters. I squirted off the Matala. I squirted all the filter materials, put in additives, and topped the ponds off with water.

8. On 5/30/25, my hen, Ariel, died. I have two hens and four roosters left.

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