Skippy Skipping?

We're not quite sure what the deal is. Our Skippy filter isn't living up to what everyone has broadcast. Granted, we've had ups and downs of late with our pumps and such, but we only had clear water during the baby shower in June - right after installing the filter - and it's been green since a few days after that.

Steve couldn't help himself: he just HAD to take out all the scrubbies and rinse them out and put them back in. He's even taken out the plants. (argh) We've done a few water changes / pond flushes, and still the water is green. What the heck, man?! The fish don't care, but WE WANT TO SEE CLEAR WATER!!!

PS: Replacement pumps still not received from Beckett We've removed the Y and are just running the 3500 gph pump through the filter.

As The Pump Turns (or doesn't, as the case may be)

Returning from a lovely week-long vacation, we find that the replacement pump has not yet been received. Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't sweat it, as a phone call to Beckett assures us it is on its way, and since we have the system set up with two pumps on a Y. However, now pump #2 is threatening to crump. It's cycling on and off. DAMN! Steve's off to Home Depot to buy a pump.

Oh, joy and rapture. While we wait for the two 1800 gph pumps to be replaced, Steve's buying a 3500 gph pump. Granted, we need it to keep the filtration functioning until the others arrive (some day), but we really hadn't planned to hemorrhage money on a vacation and then come back and tip the pond gods for it.

pond (pŏnd): noun. A big hole in the ground you throw money into. Also known as "shit happens."

R.I.P. Fat Guy

We were wondering why it had gotten so fat. Did it explode? Did it have a parasite? No way of knowing. Fat Guy was so named because he (she?) got inordinately fat. We figured either pregnancy or gluttony. This morning we discovered Fat Guy floating. When netted, we found nothing but head and back intact. The rest of it looked like it had just "exploded" away. Gone. Nada. Nothing but bones left. Very weird.

Too Pooped to Pump

Today we are saddened by the passing of one of our 1800 gph pumps. It's a travesty, really. It was too young to die.

It wasn't an easy death; like the legendary Little Train, it thought it could, it thought it could, but in the end it couldn't. Although we have not performed an autopsy, we believe the cause to be mechanical. We were faced with the finality of it all when we saw it expel it's oil (thank god we had isolated it in it's own little hospital bucket by then).

On the upside, the little bastard was still under warranty so all it took was a phone call and a new one is on its way to us.

It's Not That Easy Being Green

The green water continues, but my buddy in the PondersBible group says to just be patient...be patient...be patient. He says cleaning the filter would be taking a step backward in the process, as we want the good bacteria to build up in the tub. Steve wants to clean off the pads. Our buddy says it won't hurt but it'll just be wasted energy. He says the pond will cycle clear to green to clear go green to clear, etc., each cycle taking a couple weeks or so, until it settles down and just stays clear to infinity and beyond. It's driving Steve nutz to see the muck in the filter. I can't blame him - the concept is a hard one to get used to: leave it dirty and it'll be clean. But everything I've read on it says you must just be patient...

Charca Verde

The Skippy Filter web site assures us this is normal. But it's ugly! The water has gone green again. They say this is to be expected - part of the normal cycle - before everything eventually stabilizes and the pond stays crystal clear to infinity and beyond. I hope they're right. We're struggling to resist urges for water changes, adding clarifying chemicals, or changing the number of type of pads in the filter. Poshly, we alternately tell each other...this too shall pass.

Koi Stone

This morning Steve and I did what people in the Yahoo ponding group suggested we do. We netted Red Guy and checked his perpetually-open mouth. Sure enough, we found this stone lodged in there!

While I held Red Guy firmly, Steve managed to pull out the stone. Mind you, Red Guy is about 7 or 8 inches long (if you don't count his amazingly gorgeous butterfly fins). As you can see, this stone is no pebble. (That's a quarter next to it.)

We were both so happy that this procedure went well. It was relatively easy and quick, and obviously successful. I feel like a bad koi mommy, though, for having taken so long to figure out what the heck was going on with this fish, but in my defense, this is something I had never heard of in my 12+ years of ponding!

Many thanks to Barry for the net and Bill for the long tweezers!

I think I should get one of these for my water garden.

[Shamelessly stolen from The Sneeze]

Fairy Sighting

Not much has been happening with the pond lately. We're exhausted from all the hubbub with the baby shower last Sunday, and it's hot weather time, so we haven't been doing much beyond keeping the fish and plants fed and watered, respectively. I did like this pic Steve took yesterday...

Lilies

New water lilies for the pond...

Taking Shape!

Over the last week Steve and I have been wicked busy, preparing for the baby shower on Sunday. (For visitors, that's a shower for my oldest son and his wife, who are expecting a son on November 14th.)

We bought a whole bunch of plants for around the waterfall and filter. We also bought a lot for the pots around the patio.

More Progress

Here's how nasty it looks - and is supposed to look - inside the filter box






The waterfall...under construction




As you can see, we're going to have to think of something to make the bottom of the pond look nicer now that we can see everything so clearly!

Clear Below; Not So Above

The pond is super clear. Super DUPER clear. I am so happy about the way this Skippy filter has lived up to its reputation. Not that I was worried, because I wasn't, but it did cost a chunk o' change to put together, not to mention all of Steve's hard work, so I'm really glad it's working so well.

The sky, on the other hand, is very, very not clear. The smoke is thick. Thankfully, none of us are having breathing problems, but the eyes are itchy & scratchy. At about 7pm, when the sun was still well high in the sky, the smoke was so thick that it darkened everything. Made me wonder what those poor Herculaneuns and Pompeians must have been thinking when it was their turn. It looks almost like there's a solar eclipse. The sun is bright red-orange set against a solid mat of gray.

Progress!

Smoke From a Distant Fire

Our skies are incredibly overcast and heavy with smoke from the fires all over California. We live in the belly button of the state, so everything collects here and won't clear out until early next week when we're expecting winds to pick up. I tried to take some progress video of the pond this morning, but it was so hazy outside that it just didn't come out very good. I'll try again tonight. The water is clearing - the spillage from the waterfall is no longer green but is now crystal clear. The fish are happy...dare I say perky. More on all that later.

Day Whatever

I'm very excited...the pond is visibly clearer now. The fish are frolicking merrily. Tomorrow I'll try to get some shots.

Day 8

Today is, technically, Day 8 since the filter was launched.

Over the weekend we bought a bunch of plants and put them in the filter: water hyacinth, pickerel, taro ("elephant ear") and umbrella plant. The water hyacinth is suffering. I think it's because the salt content in the water was rather high when we added them. I have since flushed the pond somewhat...could probably do it again in a few days.

We also bought some fertilizer pellets. Sunday morning we pulled up the lilies and added the fertilizer. So far this year the lilies have not done well. I think that, too, is because of all the salt I had added in the Fall.

In the Fall I dosed the pond with about 25 pounds of salt because some of the fish were showing signs of ulcers. By Spring, when they came out of hibernation, only one still had a spot on his side but by now he's all healthy again. Unfortunately, though, my large orange butterfly koi ("Red Guy") now acts as though he's having eye problems. Could be the infection spread to him and to his eyes. He still has a healthy appetite and tries to feed along with the others, but his aim is off. And sometimes he shakes his head like a teenager trying to toss the hair out of his face. If he has gone blind, I believe it's only in one eye, as he still reacts to seeing me by the side of the pond.

In spite of our stirring everything up with our work this weekend, the pond is beginning to look clearer to me. YAY!

Snapshots

Here are some shots of the building of the Skippy filter:

The waterfall area before (although not functional)


Digging the area level-ish


Steve dug a trench that runs under/around some of the plants. He put some perforated pipe in the trench and ran the tubing from the pumps through the perf pipe to the filter.


Then he placed boards across the area to create a level place to put the filter tub.


The two 2" drainage holes we used instead of the recommended one 4" hole.


A look inside the filter tub after plumbing but before adding media.


For media we used a plethora of heavy duty, industrial strength, nylon scrubby sponges purchased from Smart & Final.


Steve futilely checking the levelness of the tub before filling it. (It would later settle and become slightly not so level.)


The whole thing put together.


There you go. Because I am scattered / ADD / sparklebrain, you'll have to see yesterday's post to watch the video of the big launch.

Day One

Well, not really Day One. Day One actually happened last weekend. Steve finished building the new filter for the pond and we fired it up.

It's based on the Skippy Filter. We're customizing it in a couple of small ways, i.e. two smaller (2") outlets instead of one larger (4") outlet. And we're considering changing that by blocking off those two outlets and cutting the top/side of the filter to create a waterfall over the edge of the filter to spill into the watercourse that dumps out into the pond. If we do that, I'll take more pictures.

In any case, here's some video of Day One.