I don't mind at all, and I know what you mean. A little goes a long way! As for vacuuming, I do it two or three times a year on average, unless some big wind (and we get a lot of them here) blows in lots of leaves and debris. I have a matala muckbuster, it was a BIG investment and took some scrimping to get it. Have you thought about making a "floyd's pond vacuum" using a regular shop vac? It looks like that could work. If not and your pond isn't too big, and you don't mind emptying it A LOT, then sure use a shop vac. I know other members have used a variety of different types of pond and pool vacuum systems. I had tried a few of the "cheaper" types, and they were either very difficult to work or just didn't really work at all, that I finally bit the bullet and got the heavy duty pond vac. I did get it on ebay for a pretty good price. I always vacuum at the start of the season just after the water thaws out, cause the water is 100% saturated with oxygen. That way if I stir up some of the muck, which is going to happen, it doesn't harm the fish. Then definitely before it starts to freeze again in fall, and then when necessary in between. I don't think you have to have a perfectly clean bottom, just don't let it build up to where you have mud on the bottom. As for knowing when the algae is dead, it will turn a yellowish brown and not stick to the sides or rocks. If you vacuum and it is sticking, it isn't all dead yet, so keep "overdosing" with the koi clay. Here is a link that might be useful: floyd's pond vacuum

I think you are right; it's probably turning the water over about every 1.5 to 2 hours. Is that not good enough for a very few koi (4 maybe?) in such a big pond? I do want the water to clear up first. Your advice is very sage, Horton. And I had read something like this at the Skippy site. I kept telling my "pond guy" who works for a koi guy that one is supposed to leave the filter alone and not clean it. The bacteria is supposed to settle in that filthy filter. I was glad he cleaned the bottom of the pool -- he did not scrape the sides. Glad to see that it really wasn't that bad, but there was some sludge. Now we can start anew. We have a handful of small goldfish and a bunch of mosquito fish in there now, and that's all. Every once in a while we see a frog. That is all the marine life. We have tested with the little test strip that tests for 4 things, and the water tests normal. So should I just wait about 4-6 weeks without any filter cleaning and see what happens? Maybe it was good to clean it that twice because the pond had no aeration for many many months. Now that it's quite aerated and hopefully filtered, maybe the bacteria collection can start. All my previous floating plants died off (when there was no water filtering). My lilies are very happy though, and some other plant that is reed-like with violet tiny bottle brush flowers is enjoying it too. I am starting to order more plants -- ordered some hyacinths this week and will attempt them again. I can't imagine starting to "winter" one's pond. Poor cold climate ponders! :( But then you get the beautiful seasons. I don't suppose we will have to ever do any wintering like that. I am curious how cold the water will get in the winter, but of course we never even have FROST here with our marine layer of cloud coverage. It keeps us pretty mild. We have not seen any of this stuff you all describe, this string algae. It always sounds so horrible. All we have is something clouding the waters. There may be a few inches of visibility but I'd hardly call it clear at this point. It used to be that the steps where the plants are would be actually clear, only around the plants. No longer. I will try not cleaning the filter. My "pond guy" will not agree, but hey - I can try this. I'm the boss. Though he is pretty wonderful and a very hard worker.

Thank you stonesriver and everyone else for the kind welcome. Yes, I think I may have been a bit bitten by the "gardening" germ. Granted, I am nowhere close to where most people on this forum probably are. I am mainly a "decorator" who feels that a house without any indoor plants is sad, dry and too much of a sign of our rushed times. So I decided I HAVE TO get some reasonably elegant indoors plants established. The only thing close to caring for a plant I've done before were some geraniums. They did OK, I managed not to kill them and they bloomed quite a bit over the winter even if they did get leggy. Oh, well. Now I took them outside and I decided that they will go in the basemenent for wintering when times comes. I will no longer keep them in the house because they are not really elegant, gracious plants. I like their bright colors outside in the summer but that's that for now. So I decided it was time for something finer and elegant to go with our classic/traditional living room as well as my busy schedule. I also knew this was going to be harder than a geranium which are quite hard to kill anyway. So off I went to Pikes and I grabbed some plants I had heard were not hard to care for and would do well on our Eastern bay window. A Peace Lily, four AV-s and two yellow begonias. (I did kill a begonia last year but later, after more reading, I realized I was making mistakes with it). A real gardener I will never be - not with a full-time academic career and two small children; but By God, these few plants must stay alive, do well, and even bloom nicely - this is all I hope for. I don't plan to do any complicated wick watering (at least it sounds complicated to me) or much propagation or anything - I just want to keep my living room looking as pretty as it is now, with lots of healthy blooms, if this is not too much to ask. Since I've heard so much about how important the soil is, I think I am going to change the soil the plants came in pretty soon; at least for the AV-s, I don't know whether I should do the same thing for the begonias, but probably should. Having a month between waterings sounds like a lot to me. These are small pots (4" I believe) and I think all moisture would evaporate altogether from such a small pot well before the 1 month mark; especially if I change the soil to something more airy. I did fertilize the AV-s when I watered them the first time - with some 5-7 drops of liquid fertilizer from MIracle-Gro, as indicated on the package. I am a super novice so I just did the novice thing. I guess changing the soil will also change the present routine. Some of the flowers on my AV-s are starting to fade now- they are starting to have little burnt patches on the petals, but I assume this is the natural cycle of the flower - as I bought them with quite a few blooms from the nursery and it might just be their time to go. I am just hoping they will continue to bloom for a while. Thank you again for the kind welcome, I wil certainly be around because I have been clearly "bitten". :-)

there is only one truism in life, in my experience ... THE MORE YOU LEARN.. THE LESS YOU KNOW... lol ... keep up the good work ... learn by experience ... and wing it ... lol ... professionals like wisctom .. do things.. that a homeowner may not need to do ... because their hope is not to have to come back for a whole year .. only then to remove the stakes [or the dead tree] ... a homeowner.. who can walk around the yard every day or two.. can observe and react accordingly .. so may not need to stake every single tree ... and tom will never kill something with too much love .... lol moving stock bare root is startling easy.. if done at the proper time ... for my zone 5 .. that is October or as soon as the soil thaws in late march or april .. and reduces a lot of the backbreaking aspects of tree moving ... research this.. and give it a try ... obviously you can emotionally deal with failures ... i worried i might have dissed dibbit.. i did NOT intend such .. and sorry if i did ... in pure sand .... i insert the tree.. refill half way ... saturate the sand... tamp gently .... refill to 90% re-saturate ... and work out air holes ... and then finish up ... water plus sand is nearly concrete .... well worked around the roots ... NEARLY NEVER A REASON TO STAKE .... i do NOT need to worry about compaction in sand... i do NOT have to worry about drainage in sand .... the only time i stake is when the canopy is significantly larger than the bare roots ... and might act as a sail in strong winds ... good luck ken .. who is hopefully one of those on top of 'it' ...lol