well these are not going to be true bonsai. let me clarify this a bit cause i think my initial explanation may have been confuseing. the plants are goi9ng to be in raised flower beds borderd with cement retaining walls, the on differance being that all the soil and every thing is conatien with in the limits of the pond liner so that all water that gravity pulls down through the beds is returned in to the pond system. to clarify this another step. in a natural pond setting or yas river area..... you have a high water table that is exposed to the surface in a low area, the open body of water( this is not always the case as you may have water that is conatined in a rout in a heavy clay soil and may not pass out into the surrounding ground. what im doing is creating an artifical water table with all the plant beds over that table. plants then have the option of extending their roots down int o the water table if their water requirements are more then what the current water situation is. the only plants i plan to dwarf are the mugo pine and the cypress and that will probaly be done through, pruneing. i do intend to prune the plants into desirable shapes but this is on a much larger scale then a normal bonsai would be.the wisteira wichis curently about 5 years old i believe it was 4 years onld when i bought it in the summer, will be trained up a hollowed out log that is about 6 feet tall,and will provide support for the wisteria wich will be trained to banch out over the top of the log like a tree, and alowed to spread out to about a 12 foot radius. the mugo and the cypress are the only things ill have to keep small, the mugo to maybe 3 or 4 feet depending on how it looks in proportion to the water falls it will be placed between, and i would like to keep the cypress to about no more than 7 feet. the cypress willbe lowed to get its toes wet while keepingits anlkes dry. the pther plants the rose of sharon the mugo and the wisteria i have decided to run on a differnt system. since i have to be able to remove plant material that floats downinto my skimer part of the pond, which until now has been leftto just detiorate, i have decided to put in a settleing tank that this material will fall into and be pumped out useing a trash pump. ok heres the trick. ill use a timer to pump water for about 30 miniuts to an hour once a week. wich is waht we would normaly recomend for watering trees during the growing season that are planted out side in the ground, wich is basical what these plants will be. i might have to reduce the watering time because there is a smaller area for the plant to be growing. when the plants are watered the pump will act like a garbage disposal, sucking up and chewing up any material that has settled in the tank( possibly even some fish who have gotten too curious and decided to swim over the falls, the fish have gone over the falls a couple of times) and way this material will be ejected on to the surface around the maple, wisteria, mugo and rose of sharon wich will accumilate into a nice loam. note: this will oly happen when the pond is awake i.e. in december when the water goes below 50 degrees farenhit the pondis put to sleep meaning the pumps are shut off till around march or april when the water gets back up to 50 or basicaly duriing the growing season. also since the plants are over a water table if they need more water then they are getting with the weakly watering they can grow their roots down to the water and absorb it from the water table wich is a natural thing for them to do. the whole concept of the pond is to keep it low maintance with the exceptin of occasional pruning to control size and shape of some of the plants

albartsch, The obvious question is coming; how long have you had your pond? I've seen people mentioned here and else where that a pond takes a year or more to mature. My pond has gone through three clear / green/ brown / clear cycles since I started it up in October. Sometimes it just takes time, and patience. Allow for the beneficial bacteria to catch up. Don't feed your fish for awhile, clean out any floating debris on your pond surface, check to see that your UV is working right (Not burnt out -UV loses a lot of its effectiveness when it runs through a heavy green sheet), and make sure your filters are free of build-up. And one day, you'll come out and BAM; it's clear. LP

LOL! Going to the bottom is normal behavior for fish that are in a panic. Sometimes they disappear for weeks. They may even temporarily lose all their colors. The dark color of the water is probably tannins but it is also possible there is debris in the water. To figure out which, scoop some water into a glass jar and let it sit undisturbed for a couple of hours. Any debris or free floating algae will settle out or float to the top. Tea colored water shows there are tannins or other organic compounds present. Some of the organic compounds are harmful to the fish. Tannins come from rotting leaves, peat moss in potting soil and any thing else organic that is rotting. It often has an odor like sewage that is unpleasant. Adequate filtration will eventually remove debris and some of the algae. To get rid of the rest of the algae you can use chemicals or a UV light. I like the UV since there has less chance to harm the fish and it doesn't bother the algae that grows on the sides of the pond. That is considered beneficial and the fish will graze on it. The UV can also kill some free floating parasites that show up every so often. I have never had the problem of green water. For tannins (tea colored water or tannic acid) you need Activated Carbon also known as Activated charcoal placed in a permeable bag in a place where there is an active water flow. The tannin molecules react and combine with the carbon molecules on the surface of the chunks. Odors in the water are also removed with AC. Zeolite will handle most other organic compounds. There are chemicals available for this but there is a chance they won't work as well. Try the Zeolite. You should test the water for nitrates and nitrites (organic compounds)regularly. The black liner is the best color to have. The colors of the fish pop out when you see them, so long as the water is clear. You will be able to see all the way to the bottom. Has anyone suggested you get a Pond Test Kit? It is an important thing to have. Did you remeasure the dimensions of the pond to get the volume of water? I used two sites to get the 588 gallon measurement. I can't hear the pond inside of the house. I have been looking for an inside-outside intercom to take care of that problem. The sound is one of the best things about the pond. I guess I must be a geek too.

I have often considered a pondless water feature. Your idea sounds great. Yeah, $500 each for the color changing lights would deter me from using them too. Are the spillways pipes coming through the wall or like shelves (sort of like a dustpan)? I don't know if you are wanting to make the spillways yourself or if they are kits. To get an idea, I just checked the Atlantic site and saw the Colorways system. Is that what you are talking about? I can't answer about the LED lights. I don't think the strips are expensive but you have to know how to connect them to a controller of some kind if you are DIY. My boyfriend uses the LED strips for projects but he has experience. OH.. I just re-read your post and you want only information from people who have done this. Never mind. My information would be only from ideas I've had.