do away with the trees totally the view to the house is horrible... as for the color of the grout im not sure maybe a lighter spanish terra cotta would look cool next to the fence and it would base the brick caping coloring add some white to the area to pick up the windows and add variety a simple park bench and some white pea gravel.....also you have the makings of a beautiful japenese garden do away with the shrubs add a small water feature with a few koi or a pergola add some vines for a splash of color with a inside seating area maybe a swing i would fill that area where the shrubs are with white pea gravel and add maybe some caladium...maybe a small fountain or a water feature such as a large terra cotta pot with a simple pump feature with a return of some sort also...i think it will be a beautiful area just play with the ideas and pick the ones that are more like your personality you should never lose that in planning any area hope this is useful...donna

Well, you raise a lot of questions here. First off, how big is this container? Goldfish can get BIG, my feeder fish on their 3rd year and are 6 to 8 inches long. The "book" says 20 gallons min for the first goldfish and 10 gallon for each additional. 1. I would let the pump run 24/7. First if it is always on you can't forget to turn it on for a day or week. Next, it being hot you need to get all the oxygen you can into the water as hot water holds the least O2. 2. Feeding my fish is the best time of my day, but some people don't feed them and they seem to do fine. I guess it depends on how much algae and such is growing. If you expose your plants to the fish you may find the fish have completely eaten the plants, stems and all! Maybe not this year but maybe next year. I have to put slate tops around my Lilly to keep the roots intact. That said, I have my plants in those plastic baskets with lots of holes so the water can flow in and out. 3. Don't empty the pond if you don't have too. Good things like good bacteria will grow. ("Good" smells like fresh dirt, "bad" smells like rotten eggs.) The main reason for a filter is to run water thru as much surface area as you can to get bacteria to grow to take care of the fish waste. Bacteria turn ammonia to nitrite to nitrate and the plants love to eat that! If you empty the pond you have to start all that over again, and good bacteria can take months to grow. I have a small 200 gallon pond with a small pondmaster filter and I use batting from a craft store as the pre-filter to accumulate muck. Every 2-3 days I need to pull the pre-filer and rinse it off. I actually have 2 pre-filers so I never put one back in full of city water. I've seen arrangements for small ponds where they just drop the filter into a small sealed plastic jar, punch holes, and fill with gravel. That gets a sort of filter going and leaves places for bacteria to grow. That needs to be rinsed out with pond water every so often. 4. Texas stays warm all winter, I go there from New York to enjoy your lovely warm Christmas! So that shouldn't be a worry. 5. Keeping the pond in the shade helps too, but it will eventually warm up to the average air temperature. If it stays in the low 80's it should be fine. 6. If the fish have good water and good food (either feed or from plants) then they will definitely grow. You'll see them get bigger month by month. Good luck, I hope your fishies give you years of enjoyment!

Hi Geoff, In regards to the foot valve and filtration, yes, I would suggest the use of a filter, why? Because small bits of algae, sand and other debris over time will build up in the valve diaphragm. The sprinkler heads can pass a small amount of debris fine (they have filters under the nozzles) it is the valves you should be most worried about. For your application, the use of a disc filter would be most appropriate. Disc filters use a series of screen discs that the water is forced through the amount of filtration is measured in mesh. The recommended mesh for a irrigation system is 100 mesh. Most disc filters need to be cleaned on a annual or bi-annual basis by unscrewing the filter top and hosing it off well. Disc filters are not as easy to come by as their cousin the screen filter. However a trip to a local irrigation supply house, like Ewing, should produce some nice results. Oh, a regular irrigation valve should NOT be used on a system running off lake water. You need a "Scrubber valve" which incorporates a very heavy duty diaphragm and stainless steel hardware (like molded stainless bonnet studs for easy service) The model is suggest using is the 100-PEB from Rain Bird. Once again, not going to find it at home cheapo, go to a irrigation supply house. About the sprinkler heads. I would suggest going with the same brand of sprinkler heads as long as they are not orbit or toro. Hunter makes a wonderful rotor as does Rain Bird. I will assume you have Hunter PGP rotors (they are very common) and they work great, some of the guys have complained they stop rotating as you mentioned, but it's luck of the draw. Because of the rotating issue, many have switched to the Rain Bird 5000. I haven't tried the 5000 but Rain Bird makes excellent products so it couldn't be half bad. Both the 5000 and PGP come with a nozzle tree and adjustment key. You can match the numbers on your old nozzle with the new when changing it out. And again, go to the irrigation supply house. Moneypenny: Any irrigation system running from a lake should incorporate disc filtration and scrubber valves. These will pay for them selves over time and will give you peace of mind. The pop-up rotors are personal taste but I like the PGP's just fine. With a filtration and care you will be good to go. Don't opt for the cheapest stuff out there, you get what you pay for and I can say this from experience. Cheap brands include: Orbit and Toro. Don't go to the big box stores like home depot, they won't carry the products you need, it's the professionals choice and why not support the local business? Links to products mentioned in this tutorial and other helpful links: Arkal-Amiad filtration: Mfrs. of manual disc filters. 322 Rolling Hill Road Mooresville, NC 28117-9920 http://www.arkal-filters.com/pro_manual1.html Rain Bird Corp: Mfrs. of high quality irrigation components. Rain Bird Corporation 1000 West Sierra Madre Ave. Azusa, CA 91702 http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/products/valves/PEB_PESBseries.htm Irrigation tutorials/help: Jess Stryker, professional irrigation system designer with 30+ years of experience. http://www.irrigationtutorials.com/ I do not endorse any of these manufacturers or people. I simply know good products.

The best source of answers to all your questions is your local natural gas supplier. When I was increasing the service to accommodate a pool heater, the gas utility changed the meter; I simply hired a licenced gas fitter to run and tag the extra lines.