Why ruin good fish that could be used for food? Just go to the store and buy some fish emulsion and use it. It will be a lot cheaper and better for the plant, and will smell a lot better all next week, and will be a lot less work and bathing, after you use it,LOL LOL Dan

I have a pondmaster pump with a prefilter attached. That has worked well for about 4 years and I love it. However, because my BF, on whose property my pond resides, dislikes algae in any form, I am thinking of adding a skippy filter or a UV light this year. I know that algae goes through blooms but he hates it with a passion. I'm hoping that the skippy filter will reduce the time. If that's doesn't work quickly enough for him I'll get a UV light. Plants: in the pond, I like the hornwort and anacaris (sp?), and floating water hyacinth and water lettuce. I have creeping jenny on the edges and in the rocks on the sides of the stream and that is perenniel and, as it grows, it will spread across the water. I also have a water lily that produces every summer in spite of my "wholesome neglect" (this is a family joke). On dry land I also have a lavender plant and a miniture rosebush that will be moved this spring (long story why I'm moving them) - the lavender is so wonderful when I brush against it. So is the mint, but I won't plant that again. Fortunately it has finally spread to an area that is not interferring with other plants Oh, I also have bloody dock to put in the stream or bog area if I get around to making one and a curly rush that hasn't done too well, but it is still alive. They are both wet-footed plants. So is lobilia which is pretty. One year I took a foam kneeling pad and cut holes in it and stuck ajuna in the holes, threw it on the water to float and they grew really well. Once they filled in and were making runner babies you couldn't even see the foam any more. I also tried this with hosta and it worked okay. If you have a boggy area, which it looks like you might from the pictures, there are many plants that will grow in this: pickerel plant, iris, cattail(watch out this can be invasive), and others.. I'm sure someone else will add to the list. The funnest (is that really a word) part of ponding is that you experiment and sometimes come up with something so weird it is fabulous!!! Anne

My potted dahlia wintered in my cool dark basement, I watered it once a month. 2 weeks back I left the pot outside in the sun, still no sign on life, any hope? Thanks

and a foam like stuff now in HD? Custom Building Products Easyboard. It's a brand new product, out just about a year now. I'll let it "circulate" for a while before I trust it. :-) As for the others, my own preference is for Durock, but any of the others will do fine. As for knowing where the correct height is. you can't install the tiles first, or the flange on the niche won't be able to slide behind them. What you need to do is figure out what your coursing will be (1 course is 1 tile plus 1 grout joint).Once you know what your coursing will be, check from floor to ceiling to see how you want your tile to fall ( this is what you usually see referred to as "laying out"). Once you know how your tile will fall floor to ceiling, it should be no trouble to find the top edge of the tile midway up the wall, and then you want the shelf on the niche to fall about 1/2" below the top edge of the tile, so that you have a little room to play, in case you're off just a hair. If you look in the pic below, you'll see a line on the side of the niche. That's my tile line, and you can see where the niche will site in relation to it: