Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Weekly Observations

Posting for two weeks today as I had to go on a family vacation.

Pond has dropped to 16" on the depth tube since we have had minimal precipitation for the past to weeks. It looks like the drought pattern may be returning to our area.

Updated Weekly

Updated Weekly

Depth Tube at 10 inches so we are in drought, again.

Clarity down to 40"; water has a slightly greenish-brown color.

Water temperatures at the surface and mid-range are down due to the recent fall-like cool weather of the past week as well as the mixing of bottom waters into the mid-range. Bottom water temperature up due to mixing with mid-range and lower water clarity. There has been very little wind this past week.

D.O. is still fine, especially for this time of the year.

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What should I do; daily sampling, hourly sampling?

Yesterday afternoon I did my normal clarity, temperature and dissolved oxygen sampling. Everything was similar to last week. Clarity was 40".

This morning the stick and I were out there fishing and the clarity was 18 inches!!! That is a huge change for a 12-14 hours time frame.

Can you say plankton bloom ? Keep doing what you have been. Sometimes no change is just what the doctor ordered.

Updated Weekly

What great water quality over all these years! We'll have to get the entire file downloaded so Brian Graeb's fisheries class can put one "team" on this data set.

Bottom DO took a hit this week but still very good. Have a guess why the decline ?

Let me know when you need the file and I will send it to you via 1024 bit encrypted bidirectional Internet communcation protocol.

Once I got over my fear of trying to figure out what you actually said ( ), I started to think about the transfer. They will need the information next month, and I don't think there is anything to be gained by waiting a few more weeks (i.e., no change in data set). So, why don't you make the transfer to me when you get a chance. No particular hurry. I was hoping that the Bremer Pond team could write a PB magazine article about your long-term data set. Muchas gracias!

I sent it.

No rain for an extended period of time resulted in less ground water movement and mixing of the bottom layers.

Clarity is reduced allowing less sun light penetration.

More organisms including fish have moved to the cooler bottom layer using more oxygen for their processes.

Other factors.

Very sound and thoughtful response. I did not think about -- no rain effecting the bottom through ground water movement. Even after several years of watching this I am still surprised at times. I know I have said this before but thanks a ton for doing this Dwight. Threads like this make a difference !

Thanks, Dwight!

Updated Weekly

Updated Weekly

It was so hot this week, we are predicting a water temp spike. It will be interesting to so what effect it has, if any on the D.O. and Clarity. Cooler weather in sight.

Yes it has been hot, but it is a wet heat so it feels REALLY HOT! At one point my weather station showed 90% humidity and 96 degrees. That will make you sweat some.......

Notice that the WE and YP zone remains cool with more than adequate DO level.

Updated Weekly

I don't recall if I mentioned that my weather station data and pond webcam are available at: Hardwick Weather. You may have to click the "Station Select" button. The Station name is curiously, "Bremer Pond".

Cool! (the weather station that is) Dwight, what model is it?

OREGON SCIENTIFIC Advanced Weather Station Set WMR200.

Do you find that it has any problems transmitting thru the walls? I don't have an outside tall pole to mount it on, and with a 2 story house it'd have some interference.

I have found that it works best to locate the sensors close enough to the ground for basic maintenance. The outdoor temperature sensor is located on the north side of the office building out of direct sunlight about 6 feet above the ground. It's signal goes through Three 6" insulated walls, 60 feet of air and my truck to get to the weather station. The wind and rain gauges are mounted six feet above ground on a post that I drove into the ground. They are located 100 feet from the office building and the signal must pass through two 6" in insulated walls. I have three WIFI networks, a cellular amplifier system all running in the same area.

Signal strength hasn't been an issue under these fairly severe conditions.

I have a remote temperature gauge for the pond which does not work because it is at least 200' from the weather station and the signal has to pass though a lot of pond bank to get where it is going. Soil is poor medium for a wireless signal to pass.

Thanks Dwight. I have to mount the wind/rain sensor up on the roof so it is unobstructed by any building or trees. Hmmmmmmmm....... Might have to design a mount that I can access from one of the upper floor windows.....

Dwight you had not mentioned that as best I recall. Thanks.

Pretty cool on the weather station Dwight!

If ya got some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, look into something like this Banner Engineering Wireless

These transmit thru multiple corn flake factories. A buddy of mine was doing a demo at the Tony the Tiger factory in Kazoo. Pretty heavy industrial area. Installed a sensor in the factory and went driving around town. They lost the signal about a half mile away. The signal had to go thru the factory, multiple other factories and into his car. He couldn't even see the corn flake place. That's pretty good for being obstructed as it was. Outside in the open, probably 3-10 miles, depending on the hardware options. About 1400 bucks for the rig.

Phoenix Contact has some new hardware out that's not that expensive, but quite impressive.

Probably will use one or the other on the lake up north to monitor water level and such. Have to wait for the ACE to come out and certify the elevation. Pretty cool stuff tho!