I found the same article and am going for it! I recently purchased 2-8' tanks and 2-6' tanks. I placed the tanks on cinder blocks to raise them higher. I used 12 blocks for the 6' tanks and stacked them by 2. I used 8 single stacked blocks for the 8' tanks and left them lower for a tiered effect. Then I move on to order the sheeting. When I called the maufacturer of the polypropelene, Ametco, they sell the sheets in 4x8'sections, cost is $144 per sheet, and they ship UPS after they cut the sections in half for ease of shipping. I have been searching for alternatives for the sheeting due to the cost and the time it takes for shipping. I agree that the problem are the holes in the sheeting. How would the holes keep the soil from filtering through over time? Eventually the soil would fill the bottom section. I am stumped to figure out a different medium for the sheeting. On one soil stained hand, if I use barrier cloth then any type of 'false' bottom that would support the weight of the soil should suffice. On the other soil stained hand, that raises another concern- what is a safe material that will not break down over time? I am researching the idea further but wanted to let you know that I am also pondering similar questions to yours. I will update you about my findings. Happy Gardening!

A good glass canopy/lid by Perfecto or All Glass Aquarium will keep evaporation and heat loss to a minimum. The plastic ones that are a hood light combo are not the best for your problem. IMO a fishless cycle is best. This is done by adding ammonia to the water and testing to make sure that you are turning the ammonia into the end product nitrate. Durring this no ammonia or nitrite should be detectable within 24hrs after adding a dose of ammonia. This way your tank is fully cycled before subjecting fish to toxic water. Some people do this to be "humane". I do it because it is quicker and a less PITA in the long run. I wouldn't count on the bacteria being there at all after 6 months without ammonia supplement. If no fish where inthere or no fish food was added periodically to let rot and produce ammonia, I would bet the farm that the beneficial bacteria is gone. Read the first 5 articles in the link below. At least the first and 3rd. If you want to have a clean start and do it right don't count on "maybes". Just my opinion, good luck. Here is a link that might be useful: Lyretails aquarium bio-chemistry 101

Forget about what sellers tell you re # of gallons - that's next to useless. Too many of them vastly overstate the capabilities of the stuff they are trying to sell Most people want to spend as little money as possible and the sellers want to sell you stuff - whether or not its ideal for your situation is not really important to them. Now there are sellers who will give good advice - look for ones who also professional pond installers/maintainers - their advice is less likely to result in fish deaths. Theres also another category of seller to avoid - people in garden centers who don't really know the answer to your question, and just read off the box and try to pretend they know what ttheyre talking about. If you haven't already done so I would suggest doing the research to understand the nitrification cycle and various type of filtration systems out there (generally some combination of mechanical and biological filtration is necessary) and how pump size correlates to the filtration. A rule of thumb is that the water should turn over 1-2x per hour, but then you would also need to understand how the height of the tubing (aka head height) and other factors play into the capacity of the pump. Biofilter - s/b 10% of pond volume or be able to provide equivalent surface area for beneficial bacteria to live on - I have had GREAT success with a matala biosteps filter for my 600 gal pond. That said... an overstocked situation is really something else entirely. Not sure why anyone would want to do that unless they are fish sellers - look into systems that remove/replace with fresh water because filtration alone may not be enough to handle large quantities of fish poop & the resulting ammonia. Generally, you should stock only 1 goldfish per 50 gals maximum - they will grow within 2-3 yrs. Generally if you stock appropriately you shouldn't have massive overcrowding because the fish will eat the eggs during spawning - I know it sounds kinda gross, but only until you realize its nature's birth control and the alternative is not good!

You can try but if it has a lot of tubers interwoven it will be hard to remove one without damaging it and they don't like to be injured. You might have to sacrifice a few to get a perfect one. Can you flood the tank every other day to rejuvenate the water? I wish you luck. They are beautiful.