Soon I will be going on a week long vacation. This is the first time I have left for a week since adding fish to the pond. Since the pond still loses about 1″ a day and it is mid summer I had to enlist the help of a couple of the neighborhood boys to check and refill the pond every day I am gone.
So I typed up a full list of instructions on how to start/stop/prime the pump, empty the leaf basket, dump the prefilter, what to do if a fish ends up in the skimmer (Kimono the Showa likes to hide in there sometimes), and how/where to add water with chlorine eliminator. I overly stressed the importance of not leaving the hose running. I think they understood everything.
But still I will worry while I am gone. Also, when did little boys start charging so much? When I was a a teen I assisted with a rabbit farm and took care of it while the owner was away, for far less than kids expect today.
In other news:
This is the 100th post of this pond journal. I likely need to go back and revise some of my articles with more current thinking. It is amazing what you learn as you gain experience and encounter problems.
I received my first batch of Koi Clay and added it to the water last night. Must remember to dissolve it first. It tends to sink quickly.
The veggie filter is acting much like a secondary settlement chamber after the filter. I am getting a layer of debris settling there. Not sure if it is dead algae or stuff being shed by the plants, or debris missed by the main filter. Fortunately there is a drain and I do have a muck vac. But the pond is much clearer than usual. Just need to let things settle down a bit.
I have been doing some water changes daily before vacation to continue to eliminate bad bacteria. About 200 gallons per day or 1/10th of my pond volume.
Thanks for reading. If you want to leave a funny/scary story about your pond and vacation worries feel free to use the comments.
UPDATE: the fish survived a week without me and a couple of them even look larger to me. There was at least 6 inches of rain every night so the pond stayed relatively full. The water turned green again so I cleaned the filters when I got back. Will continue with 100 Gallon+ water changes for next few days.
