One thing you will need to purchase and learn to use is a pond test kit. Doing a test every week or so allows you to keep your water healthy and clear. Things that can mess up water chemistry are overfeeding, fish poop and other organics like the muck at the bottom of the pond, heat, insufficient oxygen, rainwater and a bunch of other things. Most of the bad things can be caught early with the test kit. Don't waste money on test strips. They are often inaccurate. Not all shop vacs are designed to pump out the water continuously. It will say on the box that it has a pump feature. I found mine for $85. There are other devices that work with water running from a water hose. The one I use most often for a quick fix is this type. It's found at WalMart and is for childrens pools. It costs $20. I am looking for one of a similar design with better construction. It is just plain flimsy and repairs don't last. Python also puts out a similar device. It is hard to hold, the capture jar is too large around for me to open and it is overpriced at $89.It is complicated. The shop vac removes water. You can run the hose that you attach to it to your garden. The dirty water is good fertilizer. The other two add water to the pond so I pump some water out with a sump pump or I drain the filtration tank. Either way is simple to do, even for someone with my current physical problems. LOL, sometimes I must be a sight to see. The fishies sometimes get curious but if you keep the nozzle moving slowly, they will lose interest without getting scared. Are you saying the pump and tubing are not submerged? If so, it is a different type of pump than I use. That isn't a problem but we need to get another forum member to discuss them. Mine are submerged and I hesitate to give advice on a type I have no real experience with. The other things function enough alike that I don't have a problem talking about them. If I do, someone else will be along. While the pond is dirty, that foam filter in front of the pump will need to be cleaned fairly often, just like Sheepco says. Most pumps can handle dirty water with some small abount of debris but larger debris needs to be stopped from going into the impeller as it can cause damage. I hate that tiny little filter. It is just too inefficient for words. I found a prefilter for a well pump at Menards. I used some stepdown PVC connectors, also at Menards to make it fit the tubing. It keeps anything above the size of a small pea from entering the pump and a decent pump can handle that with no problem. I threw away the tiny foam filter that came with the pump. The water exits the pump and tubing runs to a 100 gallon Stock tank which is my mechanical filtration It also serves as a home for the bacteria that cleans up organic matter in the water. That black bucket thing behind your waterfall is likely to be a mechanical and bio filter. The details are just a little different. My filter is called a Skippy Filter. It is not the only design out there. I just happen to like playing with this kind of stuff. Another small pond I have the care of changes drastically every year. No matter what kind of system you are using you should look at how effecient it is, whether it works for you and if it does what it is supposed to. There are many sites that explain how filter systems work. To see how my skippy works, google Skippy stuff. My pond is 1000 gallons so my system is probably oversized, but I want to enlarge it this year or next. I have to get my body working first then I can use it as physical therapy! You have either EPDM or plastic(PVC)as a liner. If it feels like rubber it is EPDM. EPDM is rubber, just like they use in innertubes or on roofs. 45 mil is best but it comes in a thinner version as well. The plastic liner isn't as durable but some people do like it. To figure out how many gallons your pond holds(useful for medications, additives, pump size, etc.)go to the link named pond volume calculator at the end of this post. Then you can figure out how much water you have, how much your pump should be moving, how many fish inches you can support and all sorts of other things. If you don't like this one, there are others. That is likely to be enough for now. As you think of questions just add on. Enjoy, Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: pond volume calculator

Lehua, Sorry for the confusing description. And I was wrong the flow regulator is labeled 1/6 gpm. I Have attached a photo of everything that came with my kit in order of connection to faucet to main line. And dont get me wrong I love watering my garden, but due to the current drought situation in California, I was trying to do this to save water. But I dont see how this saves me water based off the instructions I stated above. For my 3 beds each has 15 1GPH drippers and 12 2GPH drippers. So times 3 comes out to 117 GPH of water. The manual for the kit states depending on weather when watering veggies it should be done at an interval or 2-3 times weekly for 2-3 hrs each time. Thats where my questioning of saving comes into play. I feel that hand watering for 20 mins max, which includes turning off my wand to walk to my beds and containers uses less water than a dripper system running for 2-3 hours at a rate of 117 gph. Maybe Im still explaining it wrong but I hope I clarified my concerns a bit better. And yes I do suck at the math lol. This post was edited by flipback23 on Thu, Feb 27, 14 at 14:56

Good advice from all above. This client has probably pulled this trick a time or two with other contractors. And the "high ground" advice is good. However, if you feel you are being intentionally slandered, it may be a good idea to try and learn more about whether the slander is related to the lost business you mentioned, and if so, some action may be warranted. If there was a settlement, there was probably a clause indicating that the terms of the settlement were confidential. There may be other language in the settlement intended to protect you and your company from exactly what is happening now. If that is the case, I personally would not hesitate to have my lawyer fire off a letter to remind the deadbeat to knock it off. Finally, the "lost client" may come back. If they were good clients, write a light, breezy note to thank them for their past business and let them know that you look forward to working with them again in the future if the opportunity ever arises. Then leave them alone. There's a good chance, that if your service is as good as you claim it is, they will come back to you.

Based on what you described: Do not apply anything unless you know what the problem is. (Btw, where does vegetable oil idea comes from? Just wondering - didn't come across that recommendation yet) Chilly windowpane is no problem - unless leaves/part of plant is touching the glass, and there is frost on it. Or really drafty... In z5, I have them on windowsill a do not worry about chill.. Cooler temps during nighttime are often quite suitable for many plants. Watering 1x/week is probably too often, and even more so if the potting soil doesn't drain fast. I can see some perlite, but can't tell what is the mix made off - do you know? How warm is it in the room they are kept? As for the white spots, are they web-like? If so, it may be mealy bugs. But I really can't see detail well enough to be sure. Does it look/feel papery-like? The larger cacti may have rot problem - I never had to do surgery on something similar, so hope someone else will post with good tips. As for light, they need as much as possible - many of us use lots of supplemental lighting during dark & short days of winter. It is a good idea to isolate new or diseased plants from the rest, usually until there is no sign of disease/bugs anymore.