I have a surplus of water lettuce, a crooked alligator that needs to be repotted & split, and some horsetail...interested? I'd share some of all 3 for ginger, dragon fruit and/or spinach? (in Sacramento)

There are a number of ways to make keeping your pond maintenance more efficient without the outrageous price your handyman puts on the job. The first problem of fine leaved Honey Locust leaves could be solved by making a screen sided or mesh sided basket to put into the top section of the pond to collect the leaves. Just leave it in place between cleanings. If you are handy, the screen sided bucket is simple enough but premade mesh fish nets come in some rather large sizes and shaping the handle to serve as a cup type handle is easy enough as is making some sort of shelf to hold the net in place. Just lift the net out by the handle, let the water drain back if it is sufficiently clear and dump the leaves out. I am putting in a link for a website that happens to show several products on the same page that would do a good job of cleaning the mulm under the bottom drain. The fish capture nets are there, too. The Muck Vac is about as simple as it gets. The price is a bit steep but it works. All you need is 50 lbs water pressure in the hose. The leaf vac uses a bag to catch debris and I use one to collect leaves on the bottom. It isn't as good for mulm unless you get the extra bags for that purpose. The price is hard to beat. It adds water to your pond so prepare as for a water change. The Python pond vac is a more elaborate version of the Muck vac designed to collect leaves and mulm. It is more difficult to get into tight places and I have a problem opening and closing the jar that collects the debris because my hands hurt a lot. The pond vacuum on this page is pretty expensive but you can get a garage(utility)vac with a continuous flow(water)discharge for between $75 and $90. It works, too. Just add a hose to run the water to the garden. I got one at Walmart and I've seen them at Lowes, Menards, etc. It took me a while to get the hang of it but Horton came through for me with proper instructions. UV, UV. Hum-mm. I don't see anywhere the flow rate would be low enough to let the UV work. I see you have valves all through the system that makes in-line space at a premium even if it lets you adjust the flow. It seems to me that adding another pipe with a valve to control that flow would make the system complicated to the point of maintenance inefficiency and it would certainly raise the scream level. Maybe I am wrong. Since you are going to move, I would use a small submersible pump and a stand alone UV + filter. It might even be possible to get by with only the sponge included prefilter to protect the pump. The object is to increase dwell time to allow the UV time to work. You can get small fountain pumps for cheap. Try Harbour Freight.I found the UV and filter from Laguna on sale for 45 bucks. several years ago. That screwdriver must be a sign of ingenuity or ineptitude. I don't know which. One of these days you will laugh at it. In a number of stores I see wire shelves that are stackable in the laundry and storage departments. I don't see how deep the hole is but I bet you could find one of those shelves that would fit close enough. You might need to do a bit of bending or cutting. Please do not put stones on the bottom of the pond. It will make cleaning an impossible task and eventually the water will become stinky. Now I will let the smart guys take over. I still like your pond. Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: Simple inexpensive ideas that work well

Sue I live in s. florida and find that they can survive everything though there is an obvious decline in the 40's I was always curious about "seeds " because they flower for at least 10 months of the year but seeds are never obvious. Nor have I ever had obvious seedlings and they never moved to another pond less than 15 feet away So my conclusion was that while they are a "Noxious weed " they can be controlled I find them irreplaceable as a water filter.lol So easy to harvet since they never root and make wonderful mulch . Another curious aspect to them is the dark purple ,surrounded with yellow "eyespot" Most plants that flower that way do so to attract a particular pollinator Seems odd they would expend so much energy flowering when they offset by the gazillions lol setconi Here in florida they will die if they don't have standing water. If there are heavy rains it will prolong the period . I find they make wonderful mulch for that reason very light and breakdown very rapidly and they pull nutrients from the water by the ton . Sue thanks for that info I can sort of fuigure out why mine don't seed. gary

Water hyacinth freezes to death in the winter. Down in more tropical locations it can be a serious problem, but at 3000ft elevation it turns to mush rather quickly. The parrot's feather is gonna be yanked out when the time comes as well. The pond is in an enclosed courtyard, too small for waterfowl to use (A major way floating plants move around), and on a completely enclosed system. I'm not planning on putting either species in a wild or uncontrolled habitat. Invasive is a relative term. Also, the federally listed species of water hyacinth is Eichhornia azurea, I was looking for Eichhornia crassipes. But that's splitting hairs. I have experience in aquariums/greenhouses with water hyacinth and parrot's feather and I know they're excellent for hiding fish larve from their hungry parents. If anyone can recommend another species which has finely divided roots or leaves that guppy/paradise fish fry can mature in, please recommend it. Peace, Nate