Last Updated: 11/14/14

1. On 7/3/11, I squirted off the flosses and did the usual. The 1800 gallon was at 80 degrees F, and the 153 gallon was at 74 degrees F. The air temperature was 90 degrees F. I squirted out the Cyprio biothings in the kiddie pool. I changed the ammocarb in the main filter. In the 153 gallon, I changed the PondMaster filters and put in a new barley straw pad. The other one was 100% gone. There was a white lily (Albata, hardy) blooming in the 153 gallon pond. This was the first lily ever to flower in that pond. The 1800 gallon pond had a few yellow lilies. The raccoons have depotted the iris in the 50 gallon tub pond daily; I keep trying to jam it back in there but it's fruitless.

2. On 7/10/11, I squirted off the flosses and did the usual. The pH meter said the 1800 gallon pond had a pH of 6.90 at 77.3 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond had a pH of 7.37 at 75.7 degrees F. The thermometers in the pond said 74 degrees F for the 1800 gallon pond and 78 degrees F for the 153 gallon pond. The air temperature was 85 degrees F at 11 am. I squirted off the flosses. I changed the bag of crushed coral in the filter which I was supposed to do the week before. I tried to fertilize the plants but could not get fertilizer pills in to most pots so I just set them on top of the dirt as far in as I could for the water lilies and lotus. The marginals are on their own; most are so overgrown anyway that I can't get pills in them.

3. I have finally linked in these old photos.

These are the animals that I got on 4/28/11:
Eight new fish - six sunburst goldfish (although one was white instead) and two orfe
Eight new fish - six sunburst goldfish (although one was white instead) and two orfe
Bullfrog tadpoles - note that one is missing a tail.
Snails - trapdoor snails (the biggest ones) and their babies (the smallest ones), black ramshorn snails (the round ones), and Melantho snails (the elongate ones).

4. I cleaned out the back 18 gallon liner pond on 7/14/11. It required two 100 ft extension cords and three hoses to reach back there. I had planned to redo the pond closer to the house last spring so I never cleaned it out. There was about six inches of leaves, pine needles, and gunk but then a few inches of water under that. There was actually a small baby green frog in there that I didn't want to suck up with the shop vacuum.

5. Here are some more old photos.

These are from when I set up the additional pump on the main waterfall on 5/1/11:
New pump with basket and filter material (floss), diaper pins hold on the end piece.
Electrical outlet with a plastic bag on it since it will not close. Nobody will fix it for me.
New pump situated in to the pond.
Waterfall facing northwest with the added flow.
Waterfall facing northeast with the added flow. Previous to the new pump, the water drizzled.

6. I did the usual on 7/17/11. The 1800 gallon was at 74 degrees F and the 153 gallon at 72 degrees F. The air temperature was 74 degrees F at 9:30 am. I normally work on the pond around 1 pm but decided to do it early, cancel my other chores, and do something fun later in the day. Alas, nobody else wanted to have any fun so I ended up wasting most of the day as far as getting work done. I squirted off the flosses and tidied up as usual. The first thing I did was a 100% change of the mosaic pond on the front porch. Since the raccoon takes a bath in there every night, it was full of dirt and debris.

7. The morning of 7/22/11, I found that the raccoon had made a mess. He/she tore up a fake water lily which I actually managed to put back together when I got home later. He/she also made a mess of the plants in the 50 gallon tub pond and pulled the little pump apart in there. I also found a dead fish. It was not damaged by the raccoon and had been hanging by the smaller Cyprio waterfall for a few days. The goldfish was a 4" common goldfish that was mostly orange. The cause of death is not known.

8. Here are some more photos from way back when.

These photos are from 5/4/11 when I removed the woodfrog tadpoles from the 50 gallon basement pond and found a damselfly larvae. I thought it was a mayfly larvae but Robert corrected me on 11/7/14. The caudal gills had fallen off the larvae.
Damselfly larvae
Damselfly larvae, another view.

Woodfrog tadpoles
Woodfrog tadpoles - close in view. There are some ramshorn snails in there too.

10. On 7/24/11, I did the pond chores. It was 88 degrees F outside at 11:15 am. The 1800 gallon was at 84 degrees F and the 153 gallon at 80 degrees F. The 153 gallon has more plant cover and a larger ratio of depth to surface area which is why it stays cooler. I squirted off all the flosses and the bioballs which were really yucky. I changed the PondMaster filters. I couldn't find the uplift tube to the pump in the 50 gallon tub pond thanks to the raccoon so I put on the uplift tube from the previous pump's kit since I save old stuff.

I took this photo when I was doing chores on 7/24/11 and did not want to wait untold months before I linked this unique photo in. I had the camera out for some other things by chance. Here is a newly-emerged damselfly adult next to its exoskeleton. The damsefly was still white and soft and would stiffen up and change color soon after.
Damselfly

11. Here are some more old photos.

These photos from 5/5/11 show the redone main pond overflow that my brother helped me do.
Overflow - facing south from above
Overflow - facing north but overhead
Overflow - facing east, low photo (squatting down)
Overflow - facing east from below with my cat GK on the rock
Overflow - facing northeast, just a piece of it with my cat GK on the rock
Overflow - facing northeast from below

These photos are from 5/6/11 when, imagine my surprise, this female gray tree frog was sitting in the middle of the laundry room. She had been there long enough to become covered in cat hair. I took these photos before putting her outside.
Gray tree frog - right side
Gray tree frog - top view
Gray tree frog - left side; you can really see the cat hair on her
Gray tree frog - top view

12. On 7/31/11, I squirted off the flosses and the Cyprio biothings and did the usual (such as add additives, clean filters, top off the ponds over about an hour). The 1800 gallon was at 82 degrees F and the 153 gallon at 78 degrees F. I cut down the yellow flag iris growing in the overflow to perhaps lessen its potential damage to the liner (it grows freely).

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