Blueberrier, Thank you very much for the detailed explaination. I appreciate that. I , like you, love eating blue berries. I like eat it fresh picked right from the bushes. I started with a idea of edible landscape planted 6 bushes, now I have a dozen and the # is still growing. I can't resist the temptation of HD blue berry on sale for $3-4. Now I have at least 7 different type of blue berry plants growing in the yard. I guess this is a good thing for corss pollination. My Chandler is suppose to be largest BB and grow an 3/4 to an inch size berries. If you Darrow can grow to 3/4", this is very impressive size. The idea of thining it, especailly those on the lower branches, really does not reduce my BB harvest. Most time, I watch my BB grow into good size and turn the color then disappears the next day. I know the 4 legged get ahead of me. By concentrate BB on top of the bushes, might help me better netting the area so I can actually harvest some BB for myself. I have Duke which has load of BB right now. BB is all over the bushes and is still blooming! I.E I have mixed size of BB and flowers on the same clust. Should I thin the each clust , ie flowers and later grow BB off the clust and leave the early grow BB on ? Or should I just take the entire clust off all together? BB can be picked 1st season, 2nd season , and 3rd season, etc. If I thin it, does it mean that I only can pick the BB one season? MoleX, please post the result late this year. I would be very interested to know what is the result of your experiment . RM, Blueberrier, if you can provide some contact info of that Professor or name of the institution, I would appreciate that, You may e-mail it to my My Page. I am just very curious about this topic. If anyone knows a video of thining using this method, please post the link. jolj, I have heard that Rusty nails,egg shells does not provide Fe, and Ca to the plant because they do not disolve in water in ionized form . BB soil is acidic, which can disolve more metals, especially oxidized metal like FeO2, than you might think. If you put egg shells in vinegar which is a weak acid, the Ca in the egg shell will disolve into the vinegar in days.

Google for skippy type filter...I made one using a 32 gallon trash can to use in my 750 gallon stock tank. If I can do it anyone can.

Using an inefficient pump is also a problem in green house gas generation. Just like with our cars, even though 4 or fewer cylinders will get you there comfortably, six and eights are preferred. There really is no good reason, but people buy them anyway. Pond pumps are also able to do the job more efficiently than utility or sump pumps, and are designed for the job they do. You can get there real fast and spend a lot on the gas to do that, or you can get there fast enough, and spend half as much on gas. Same with water pumps. You can spend a lot of money to move the water, or you can spend less. You can risk polluting your water with oil, or you can get a safe pump. Any of the primary options creates bigger problems for the planet. I try to live efficiently. And hope others will too, as it is less expensive personally, and more healthy for everyone in the long run. Being able to afford to do something wrong, doesn't make it right. If you can't find the right way to spend your money, give it to someone that can. Oh, in the interest of full disclosure, I am not perfect, that is god's business. I am simply trying to be excellent! (Though still FAR from that!) I smoke, I drink, I use weed killer, I use bug killer, I drive a car, I have an OLD septic system, I have some incandescent light bulbs, and I have a chlorinated swimming pool. But, I smoke and drink less than I used to. I follow the directions on the killer cans, and use them now as a LAST resort, I drive a car that gets 38 mi/gal, have compact florescents in my most used fixtures, and want to convert the pool to a pond, just couldn't sell the Mrs. on it. Yes, I have a long way to go, but I am better now than ever, and encourage others to try to improve as well. Little bits here and there from everyone, ad up to big bits that are good for everyone. So please, use the most efficient pump you can. -TT -TT

umm... u can have both a waterfall and a small skippy. the skippy should have a bottom drain so u can flush the sludge out. place the skippy at the place of where ur waterfall will start, add dirt around the bucket , and start to shape ur waterfall... 12in waterfall that flows directly into a 275 gal pond might disturb the water surface too much so u wont be able to see ur fish, consider having the waterfall go into a stream, then into ur pond