well...I went out to the pond today as most of the ice has melted. Unfortunately, every critter that was unaccounted for is dead except 2 frogs I havent found yet. I'm sure they are dead somewhere. I am def investing in a net this year. So much crap found its way into the pond..turns out the white stuff was a piece of newspaper, a piece of burger wrapper, and what looked like a wet napkin. I'm pretty ticked..none of it was from me..was all stuff from litterbugs. There is also a plastic bag stuck way up in a tree where I cant reach it. The house next door has been vacant, and I suppose some of the crap came from over there. So much litter is in that yard, plus their garbage cans blew over awhile back into the backyard..guess they didnt take that last haul out b4 they moved. I hope there arent any bags in my pond!!! God, people really p!ss me off. Someone threw an empty vodka bottle in my driveway the other day..what is wrong with people??? I need to move out into the middle of nowhere so I dont have to deal with this anymore. Sorry about the rambling..guess I needed to vent. BUT white stuff mystery solved. No fish living. I have decided to empty & clean the whole thing come warmer weather, and start all over again. Maybe I will take some algae mixed with wet leaves from the pond, make balls out of it and whip it at people as they litter by my house..right at their heads..that could be fun. I could wear camo and hide in the bushes, lmao. Sorry to hear about the fires..kinda odd it happened twice. But I'm not gonna get involved in all that lol.

Yes you can leave it fishless and let it cycle on it´s own, your tank already has what it needs in order to cycle, but that doesn´t mean that after cycling on it´s own you will be able to stock it full abruptly. Here´s the catch, in order for your tank to "cycle" you have to seed it with nitrifying bacteria ( from another tank or purchased in freeze dried or liquid form ), that original bacteria pupulation you added will remain dormant until the conditions allow them to become active, that is, until they have "food" ( nitrogenous compounds ) that "food" can be given in several ways, with ammonium ( fishless cycling ) or by adding fish and/or fish food, once the bacteria have something to chew on they will begin multiplying, as they begin to mutiply they will begin breaking down and transforming the ammonia into nitrites and later into nitrates, this process will go on until all the ammonia is consumed ( the levels drop to zero ), then until the nitrites are gone ( the levels drop to zero ) and the only remaining part left are the nitrates. Depending upon how much food the bacteria were supplied with the population will grow to a certain level. You have X ammount of bacteria to methabolize X ammount of fish waste. Everytime you add fish the ammount of waste increases, so new bacteria have to develop to take care of that increase in the waste levels, if you exceed the carrying capacity of the tank that balance collapses and again new tank syndrome appears ( high levels of ammonia, high levels of nitrites ). The way the system protects itself is by eliminating the cause of the unbalance ---> killing fish until the balance is restored to acceptable levels. Some fish are more resistant to increased ammonia and nitrite levels than others, those fish are the ones that survive the meleè, the others don´t. Don´t feel dissapointed, most of us fish keepers learned the lesson the hard way just like you. Did you purchase the tank in an aquarium store ? Most aquarium owners are or have been hobbyists and most offer technical advice when setting up your first tank, the mentality of them is different they in it not for the money ( few get rich selling tropical fish for exception of the dealers and breeders ), they are in it because they love the hobby and what could be better than make a decent living doing what you love ?, on the other hand chainstores and pet stores only see you as a sign of money and the people that work in them is by far well qualified. You say you have a filter with two different kinds of "filters" in it, brand & model ? more specific details are needed, "two" filters tell me nothing.

If you have plenty of storage elsewhere and/or a fairly large kitchen, deadening out a corner may be OK. However, as Madeline616 specifically stated, this is a small kitchen. Small kitchens typically are short on storage, so even an "inefficient" storage area is better than no storage! Personally, I find that corner susans are more useful than the blind corner cabinets (and you don't need a small child to retrieve fallen items!) for base cabinets and easy-reach cabs to be more useful for upper cabinets...both with a 90-degree corner (i.e., no diagonal), but to each his own. (For uppers, height may be a deciding factor...I'm 5'10" and can reach into the corner easy-reach cabs fairly well.) In my experience a corner cab of some sort is standard (susan, blind, easy-reach) - if you want to eliminate that corner storage, you have to tell the KD or cabinetmaker you want it eliminated. Did the cabinetmaker include extra stile width on the sides of the cabinets to accommodate the filler that's needed in cabinets installed in a corner with a dead corner? You need either that or significant filler to allow the doors/drawers to open and clear the drawer pulls/knobs on the other side of the corner. The corner cabs mentioned above provide "natural" filler... Personally, I'd get the cabinetmaker to make a corner cabinet of some sort!

Have you tested the water? Ammonia, pH, nitrate, nitrite etc. I don't keep fish, so can't really advise you. Cloudy or green water by itself is not necessarily the sign of an unhealthy pond. Do you feed the fish, or do they just eat what is in the pond? Over feeding can cause water quality problems. You could try adding a few bags of daphnia, which can have a remarkable affect on the clarity of the water quite quickly. But you might wish to do a partial water change (with tap water conditioner). Have you been out at night with a torch to see if you can see more? Have you tried netting with a fishing net and tray to see what pond creatures you have (other than the caddis fly larvae)? Do you have any plants and oxygenators other than the lilies? Do you have a filter of any sort?