I was able to get my pond under control and it was looking great. The fish are doing fabulous with the cleaning and medication. I turned one of my falls on to get some extra circulation since the weather is above freezing. I had shut down the falls for the winter but had an aerator running the whole time. It was able to leave a nice hole in the ice all winter season. I messed up again though. I put some filter pads and quilt batting in one of the falls streams. Figured I would get a temp filter going for a bit until spring hit and I could fire up my actual filter system. This actually backed up the falls and I had a runoff leak that I could not see. I did this in the stream yesterday morning. I went outside first thing with a cup of coffee (no sugar or cream) to see my pond looked like a ballon inside.
The falls backup that I created was leaking to the side of the falls in an area I could not see. The water runoff was hitting a plant, running beside it and underneath the liner that goes all the way up through my falls. I have around 500 or more gallons of water underneath my liner now. I sacrificed a good hose. I cut it in half and fed it down between the liner and clay sides of the earth here. The siphon is pumping out the water and I actually put the cut ends down in the gap in hopes of being able to pull it out from between when it is done.
Winter ponding is a totally different beast from the tropical ponding I am accustomed to. I guess I am one of few that actually had to do something during the winter. I hope to have the knowledge and assurance before next winter comes. I will be getting one of those vacs Jerry just purchased. I guess it will make it much easier to remove leaves and the like in cold temps. I had cleaned my pond pre winter but a couple of late storms really did a trick on my pond with the leaves and such. I didn't realize that the leaves would rot like they did in the winter to create a bad enviroment for the fish. Live and learn.
