Hi scottspond, some how didn't think she would, Florida vs Manchester, no contest really ;-) The area I live in is New Mills, in High Peak in Derbyhsire. If it doesn't ring a bell, it's just past Lyme park, Buxton is about 2 miles away, Stockport 9 miles and Manchester 20 miles (all via road) Handily the railway station is about 5 mins away from my home, so trips to Manchester are pleasent through the countyside and don't require I use the car ;-) And in summer I get to hop on the odd steam trian, every boys dream. My Mancunian mates reckon I've gone "all posh" living here, as I was born and grew up in Fallowfield and went to school in Rusholme. Regards ChrisC.

Beth4, checking in for this year. I originated this post last August. Since then I've not lost a single fish -- except for 3 that disappeared after winter thaw and before the leaf canopy came out that disguises the pond. I think I lost those 3 to a heron. They just completely disappeared. All the fish are now happy and healthy. I wonder if my fish were dying last year because I wasn't feeding them, at all, ever. When I started feeding them twice weekly, I never lost another fish. And, had several batches of babies. Six babies have survived, even made it through the winter, so all is well. For my pond, I use all Microbe Lift products. These products keep the rocks nice and clear of debris and plant growth. I can clearly see the pond rocks on the bottom of the pond. I am very happy with all of the ML products I use, and use them exactly as directed. They do a great job of breaking down the debris. I've got all my fingers crossed that everything will continue smoothly through the summer. I've already placed several plants in the pond. Need to arrange them, add more, and then bare-root plant the impatiens which will take over the sides of the streams and the pond, keep the algae at bay and look beautfiul. Thanks for everyone's comments and suggestions!

Like surfhead said....your stocking levels depend greatly on your filter system. Can you tell us more about your pond's filter? and do you have rocks in the bottom or not? Experienced koi keepers with good set-ups rarely exceed 1 fish per 300 gallons, some even go with 1 fish per 500 gallons or 1 per 1000 gallons. But their goal is to grow very large show quality fish. You could keep 8 to 10 koi in your 2000 gallon pond, IF the filteration is adequate for that amount of fish.

Squirrel, How much MM of actual hardwood wear level was on top of the 3/8th engineered wood since that matters more? I would prefer a 1/2" engineered wood with at least 2 MM on top. So far 5.5 hours later, the Park Avenue Laminate is holding up very well and did not swell with just a very small amount of water absorbing on one spot but most of it stayed dry with the water on top of the same and on top of the laminate in a puddle. The Anderson Engineered Wood was able to click together very tight so it holding up well despite more of it getting through the seam and into the plywood. The Mannington's Engineered wood has more that soaked to the bottom of the wood due to the planks not clicking that great together being from two of their lines. If more water was poured on this, I can see a problem. I think I will let the water stay there overnight and see what happens. I am also going to pour another 1/4 cup of water in the seam of each of the flooring samples to see what happens tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to the results.... :) Squirrel and Anne, that is a good point about the sound it makes. I can always add wood floors in my Master Bedroom if I choose laminate for my office. My one concern is the value of my property if I put in Laminate versus Engineered Hardwood Floors. If I knew I would be here a very long time, I would not worry at all and get what is best for my office and then I can get something different for the rest of my home one day when I am ready to put hardwood down in those rooms. If I get what I love for the office and I love it enough, I can put it through the rest of my home. I have no idea how long I will live here and if I meet Mr. Wonderful and get married one day, I have no idea if he will move in with me since my home is very nice or I would move to his home or we will sell both of our homes and buy one together. But so far, that Mr. Wonderful ends up being short-term dating and I am still single and kind of gave up on dating for awhile a few very nice men being interested in me and emailing me and calling. But if I sell my place I know hardwood floors will sell better but if I choose a species I love that is photosenstive to the sun, maybe that will not be a good selling point that under all my file cabinets and office furniture is a different color wood. I also really like Semi-gloss on floors and the Bruce Park Avenue has a high gloss that is pretty but I wish it was less gloss. But it looks real and I like the Makore look that seems peaceful and looks nice in my home office not clashing with anything. If I was not afraid of making my office too dark (not much natural light after the front of the office that has the windows since there is a half a wall high that has the other part of the office behind it with no windows at all that gets hardly any light), I really adore the Santos Mahagony's grain and variation of rich deep colors. I am waiting for more samples to arrive. If I knew I would live here many more years and I had the finances and time and if I was able to (may not due to moisture since my town house was built on the preserved wet lands in my area), I would put a subfloor down in all rooms in my home and put down solid wood flooring in red oak quartersawn cut with many coats of protection on top.