September 2012 Pond Conditions Calendar
9/2/2012
watertemp 76* air temp 70-90*, pH 7.4(early), Nitrate 10
Weekly water change 15% and filter clean. Made a DIY air diffuser out of 3’x1″ PVC and replaced the small diffuser I was using. It runs most of the length of the filter box and sends a stream of bubbles through the matting. Fish look healthy overall.
9/8/2012
watertemp 76*, air temp 70-80*, pH 7.4, Ammonia/Nitrite 0, Nitrate 20
Weekly filter clean and 200Gallon water change. thinned hyacinth. Added more microbelift PL
9/12/2012
watertemp 70*, pH 7.4, Nitrate 20.
water change 150 gallons, water is clear fish look healthy. Noticed asagi is getting some silvery spots. Wonder if the new food is bring out more whites? Water is cooling so expect to see some changes in color over next few weeks.
9/15/2012
air temp 70-85*, pH 7.5, Nitrate 5-10.
Finally Nitrites are coming down. Performed 4 filter dumps this week which is about 500Gallons. Saturday clean out was much easier with little debris. there were some frogs living in the skimmer however. Shinju food seems to have even less waste than the Hikari or else it is so fine it does not collect in the filters.
9/22/2012
water temp 70*, air temp 55-85*, pH 7.5, Nitrate 10-20.
Little maintenance during week due to busy schedule. Clean out was not too bad. Did double filter dump.
Feed has remained between 1/2 to 3/4 cup of food daily. Fish are looking health and whites are getting brighter. Head areas that could be white are still dull. Hyacinths in tub bloomed but those in the veggie filter still have not bloomed.
9/29/2012
water temp 72*, air temp 60-85*, pH 7.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10.
Weekly water change and filter clean as usual. Only one mid week dump. I have a slow leak somewhere about 20 gallons a day.Reduced hyacinth in veggie filter in case water is bouncing off of the leaves or if crowding is causing water to rise in the filter and overflow slightly. Added Microbelift PL maintenance dose.
Expenses
Microbelift PL $35
Water bill $15 1750 gallons
Wow, you’re seeing 20 ppm Nitrite??! I was having a cow when I saw 3 ppm. You sure it isn’t Nitrate?
Yep that was a typo copy/paste error. My Nitrites have been zero for several weeks now. Nitrates don’t seem to want to diminish unless I do several water changes a week.
That’s a relief! 😉