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.