What the Muck?

I finished mucking the pondtainer today. It was warm enough to get it done with out freezing myself and early enough in the year that I hope to maintain some clear water before the warmth really sets in.  Here is what I started with today after draining the big stock tank via siphoning.

After bailing  a few inches of mucky water out I was able to tip the whole thing on the side and used the pressure wash setting on our water sprayer.  I blasted out the gravel a bunch and worked a lot of dead organic debris that made the water so black that you couldn't see beyond an inch in depth. During that time I found the last fish, deceased most likely due to lack of oxygen in the thick leaf litter that collected in the bottom. This fall I am putting covers on both to avoid the same amount of mess and to keep the water habitable for a few fish.  I also scrubbed out the sides to get the gunk off, and started refilling which promptly resulted in a ton more organic debris getting stirred out of the gravel. I skimmed with my net as much as possible, but the water was getting very murky. I figured that I'd see if I could get the pump going since I didn't check if it still worked after the last day last year when it accidentally vibrated off it's anchor rock and floated to the surface. It was so cold that day that I didn't want to mess with tinkering to find out if the motor had burned out while running dry.

this is after about 6 hours of the pump going

Let me tell you, this was kind of like having a project car that's been parked in your driveway for ages waiting to be worked on, but you just don't know where to start. oh, and there is a family of raccoons living under the hood. I had no idea how getting this project back up and running would take. Turns out it took me about 5 hours, a little patience, and chance was on my side as far as the functionality of the pump. I know having a water feature is a little over the top, especially at our temporary home here, but there is nothing nicer than hearing the water spilling out the spout of the stock tank into that wash basin or hearing Sadie take several noisy slurps on a hot high dessert day. This has been one of my most satisfying projects and I can't wait to add the new adirondack chairs to the mix. I also plan to add some sort of canopy to make a nice shaded retreat and make life easier on the pondtainer inhabitants.  

re-potted dwarf lily

the true reason for all the work, happy puppy gets her personal watering hole back

I'm now trying to figure out how to expand the "patio" and add another stock tank to the mix and fill it with more plants and perhaps a little water jet that shoots up a bit.

The trusty prefilter and pump