Still haven’t quite finished the stone work, but it’s done as far as I’m concerned, now. The fish are almost all over a foot long, so about half will need euthanized before shutdown around the end of next month. The biggest tank I have to keep them inside over the winter is just not big enough any longer.
Water plants really thrived this year. Fish would eat the lettuce in prior years, but did not this year for some reason. Probably getting plenty of food from me. That might explain their impressive growth.
Maintenance and upkeep has become easy enough and routine. It took a few years to work out and organize an efficient and sustainable way of doing it. The main sump filter is fairly trivial to clean and re-build each seasonal cycle. It’s just a matter of pulling out the matala mat and BBQ rocks, rinse and store. Put it back in the spring, re-connect, fill-up and turn things on.
