Last Updated: 8/4/13

1. On 7/6/13, I found some holes in the lotus leaves and found a caterpillar. I threw him far enough away that he won't come back there. A large deer must have tried to walk over the net as there was a huge hole in the net, and it was collapsed. I will need to order a new one some day!

2. On 7/7/13, I did the pond chores. The air temperature was 90 degrees F with high humidity. The 1800 gallon pond was at 82 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 78 degrees F. I added additives, topped off ponds, and squirted off flosses. I squirted off the Cyprio biothings.

Later in the day, my niece and I saw a damselfly that was absolutely amazing! We had never seen anything like it. Its wings were solid black, the body was turquoise. I looked it up in my dragonfly book (which also has damselflies). He was a male Ebony Jewelwing, Calopteryx maculala.

3. On 7/14/13, I did my pond chores. The air temperature was about 88 degrees F by the time I was done but, with 100% humidity, it sure felt like 100 degrees ! The 1800 gallon pond was at 80 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 76 degrees F. I topped off the ponds, put in additives, and squirted off all the filters. I also removed the bioballs and lava rock bags and squirted those off. They were very dirty. I uprighted the hardy canna which had fallen over on to the net days ago.

4. On 7/15/13, the aeration was not working in the 1800 gallon pond. I opened up the box with the Airpod to check on it, and a thousand ants flooded out. Everything was connected, and it was putting out air but nothing was coming out the other end. Since I had to get to work, I just pulled out the Luft air pump and set it up to provide oxygen as it was over 90 degrees F every day this coming week. I would later put up the Airpod and parts after the ants left.

5. On 7/20/13, I saw the Ebony Jewelwing again! It was flitting all around the garage. And, I got photos! It may be a long time before I get them on my web site but I got him!

6. On 7/21/13, I did the pond chores. The 1800 gallon pond was at 80 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 77 degrees F. I pulled out the new pH meter to see what it had to say about my ponds (I use it weekly on my saltwater tanks). The meter said that the 1800 gallon pond had a nice pH of 7.9 at 77.8 degrees F. It said that the 153 gallon pond ad a pH of 7.0 at 76.5 degrees F. I would add a dash of baking soda to the 153 gallon pond. I squirted off all the flosses, put in additives, and topped off the ponds which were all low after a week of temperatures in the 90's with no rain. I put fresh ant traps in the two pond electrical outlets where the ants love to nest. I changed the PondMaster filters. The new white floss for those is being made differently and very cheaply so that it falls apart. I ordered some plain filter floss to see if I can cut my own for this filter. I fertilized the waterlilies and lotus.

7. On 7/28/13, I did the usual. The 1800 gallon pond was at 74 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 72 degrees F. I squirted off all the filter flosses and put in additives. I threw away the old half net full of holes (which was originally cut from a full net) and replaced it with a brand new net that covers the same area.

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