In my case, the pond digger is quite devoted to getting the job done right and working until everything is done. Even if it’s 11:30 pm. This fanatical devotion to ensuring the water quality of the pond is also giving him some carpal tunnel problems (luckily we have a good chiropractor, we’ll be seeing Dr. Andy for years to come…).

The extra hours came about because the lower pond refused to clear up. The water quality parameters are perfect but the murkiness remained. So he added on another pump which meant pipes had to be fiddled with, concrete was poured, walls went up, etc. It was hard to see since we had a wicked thunderstorm last night, but the lower pond’s visibility is clearing up.

The upper pond has been looking very clear (except that the storm messed that up last night) but the water parameters have been off. The nitrites continue to remain elevated forcing us to do a number of water changes. The pond digger also put in a different aeration system in the moving bed filter to have the media movement rotate in, away from the walls. The City of Minnetonka keeps sending us notes that we might be have undiscovered leak since our meter readings are so high. Changing out a few thousand gallons of water in a week probably looks excessive.

Finally, Sumiko was unhappy in her little quarantine tank and so I decided to shorten her home quarantine to a week. She’s now swimming around with the 18 tosai in the lower pond. Many are her size and she’s learning quickly to fight for her food. She seems to have no problem adjusting to this pack.