Last Updated: 9/6/26

1. I did pond work on 8/2/26. It was 78 degrees F at 11:12 am. The 1800 gallon pond was at 76 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 74 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials. I fertilized the one surviving waterlily. I added additives and water. Later, I pulled up a few wheelbarrow fulls of Japanese stilt grass around the front of my big pond until I got stung by a wasp (more below).

2. When I opened the drapes overlooking the 1800 gallon pond at about 6:30 am on 8/3/26, my heart dropped. My pond was 75% empty of water! I have bad osteoarthritis in my knees and hips so I haven't run in decades but I tried to run to the garage to get my boots and out to the pond. I turned off the pumps. So, what happened? Well, after I had the pond guy install a bulkhead into the biofilter and a PVC pipe from the top down, the bags of bioballs and lava rock did not fit around the pipe so water was bubbling up fast around the pipe. The resulting splash risked some water getting over the edge of the biofilter so I stuffed my smaller mesh bags of oyster shell and carbon/zeolite around the hole. Stupid me, I completely forgot about one thing. The raccoons can pick up those bags which they did. They blocked the spillway most of the way with the oyster shell bag so water was running around the lip of the biofilter and down under the liner into the dirt under the waterfall. The main pump had kept pumping and was starting to cavitate. The two smaller pumps were out of the water and making noise. Since I have a well, I can't just full bore turn on the water and let it fill up. I ran water for about 30 minutes, took a 30 minute break, and then for 40 minutes. That got the water level to within two inches of normal. I filled up the rest when I got home. I also had to put the ugly Rubbermaid tub lid over the biofilter to keep out the raccoons (also blocks frogs, salamander, and my ability to tell what the water is doing), and I had to get in the pond because the raccoons thought it would be great fun to knock over the exposed pots and dig around in them! I found out that they had broken all the stalks of the hardy canna, and the canna had broken open the pot! So, I need to repot the roots alone into a larger pot.

Another issue I have is that the carbonic acid in my well water makes the well water acidic which has been dissolving the copper pipes and lead solder for 49 years. I finally had a solution. You can put an air stone down your well. Three weeks after the well guys came out, someone there finally told me that the system "base" price was $8000! I can't justify that so the water will stay acidic. That means that more copper and lead keep coming out. I'd been using a carbon filter on the hose for about a year until I found out that it leached out toxic levels of zinc! I had been poisoning my pond! I found another company whose filter did not use the zinc. The problem is that their filter reduces the flow rate to 40% of normal. Since I needed to fill my pond fast, I couldn't use their filter. Instead, I put in Stress Coat to neutralize any copper and lead. I also put in some pond salt. The fish were not happy with a 75% water change! But they did finally get a water change which I never do for these reasons!

3. The night of 8/3/26 and 8/6/26, I poured 3 and 5 gallons respectively of hot water with Dawn dishwashing detergent in it down into a massive yellowjacket colony less than 10 feet from my pond and up against my house where I walk multiple times a day. I have a bee suit which I put on but didn't need. I went out an hour after sunset and used a red light, and it was very hard to see. The opening to their nest was about 1.5 inches wide. Before I did this, there were 1 to 4 yellowjackets going in and out of the hole per second! Some survived the first drowning and found a way out (I had covered the hole with an upside down plastic container to trap them) so I did a second massacre. I felt guilty but likely would not have if I had gotten stung. If the hive had seen me as a danger, multiple stings could have been deadly. The unrelated single wasp sting I got the Sunday before turned my leg into a red hot ball of fire for days. That is some potent venom.

I normally do not kill stinging insects. I have a paper wasp nest on my front porch that I've left, and it is getting huge. I "found out" that I had paper wasps in my metal male frog ornament when I got stung on 8/2/26. I was pulling Japanese stilt grass and must have wiggled the ornament. The morning of 8/9/26, I found part of the yellowjacket nest dug up. I presume the raccoons did it. They were eating the dead and soapy yellowjacket adults and larvae. I guess they must be blowing bubbles now. I can't imagine how horrible it would be if I had used pesticide, not only for the raccoons but for my pond animals. Please do not use poison if you can avoid it. There are alternatives that work!

4. I did pond chores on 8/9/26, starting at 11:35 am. The air temperature was 85 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 80 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 76 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials. I removed an empty 2 gallon pot and a brick. I pulled out the 2 gallon pot of hardy canna. The pot was split on both sides. The raccoons had snapped over every single piece of the canna. I cut all the stems off. I repotted the roots into a 5 gallon pot so it would have more room. It should recover. I wish the raccoons would behave! I added water and additives.

5. I did pond work on 8/17/26 which was a Monday. I had a rare "daycation" on Sunday where I went to a few museums. At 12:42 pm, the air temperature was a toasty 87 degrees F at 100% humidity. Both ponds were at 77 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials. I changed the PondMaster filters. I squirted the bags of bioballs and lava rock which were so heavy with slop. I added water and additives. I then tried to pull some of the Japanese stilt grass along the path I follow to feed the pond fish twice a day. I'd just been rubbing my bare legs on all the weeds which wasn't good. Aside from getting my legs wet, I could also get creepy crawlies.

6. Pond work was done on 8/23/26. At 3:06 pm, it was 80 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 73 degrees F, and the 153 gallon pond was at 74 degrees F. I squirted all the filter materials and the Biosteps Matala.

7. I did pond work on 8/30/26 at 12:55 pm. The air temperature was 84 degrees F. The 1800 gallon pond was at 72 degrees F as was the 153 gallon pond. I squirted all the filter materials, put in additives, and topped off the ponds with water. Inside the mesh bag around the auxiliary pump, there was a dead 7" female orange common goldfish. Apparently, she couldn't get out.

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