Hehehe...I just added 3 more pots: pink guava, pineapple mango, and butler avocado. It seems I'm collecting 2-3 specimens a week. Once my greenhouse is up...my addiction will have no bounds :) For a solution to my original problem, I went ahead and got a dial-a sprayer (ortho brand at box store). It is a hose end container with an adjustable siphon that you can set to 1 tsp/gal, 1 TBS/gal, X ounce/gal and etc. Again, unlike your regular garden feeder that I've been stupidly using to feed the containers, this sprayer is a siphon mixture giving you control of the exact concentration coming out at all times. Since I had a 16:1 concentrated stock solution already made, I went ahead and set the dial-a sprayer to 8 ounce stock/gallon of water which is a dilution if 1:16. After the stock runs out, I'll make a new one at 64:1 solution and set the dial at 2 ounce/gallon ( 1:64 dilution) so I don't have to fill it as often. If my math is wrong, someone please tell me before I feed the plants to death! The contraption seems to be working very well. It is very efficient because I use quick connects and this allows me to move from front to back yard quickly. Hope this helps someone!

Good looking set up. Not sure on your complete setup. First. Most electric motors only run at around 1700 RPMs. If your pump is designed for a gasoline engine (32-3700 RPMs) it will only work 1/2 as fast. Example: If it is designed to pump 20 GPM at 3600 RPMs. With an electric it will only pump around 9 or 10 GPM. Second. The filter appears to be located on the supply side (from the tank to the inlet side of the pump). It should be on the return side of the valve (valve to tank line). With the pump having to create enough vacuum to pull the fluid through the filter before it reaches the pumps inlet can make the motor work harder than it should. The beam and ram that pushes the log does not appear to be greased. Increased friction at this point will also put extra stress on the motor. Last thing I am not seeing. A vent on top of the hydraulic tank. If it is sealed when the pump is running and the oil gets hot and expands. A vacuum can be created inside of the system. Again forcing the motor to work harder to overcome it. Here is a little formula to ponder on. Look at your pumps output capacity (GPM) and do some math. Power required by a a pump with 20 gpm capacity and 1500 psi pressure. Example. 20 gpm X 1500 psi = 30,000 divide by 1714 = 17.5 HP needed to operate the pump efficiently.

As Bob said, a check in never dial a connection, and if you see Earthlink there, remove it. I found Earthlink in the registry 6 months after I used the add/remove to uninstall. The way I found these was with RegSeeker, 'Find in registry' & 'Search for' and typed in Earthlink. or if you wanted, start/run/regedit/edit/find/type>earthlink

I agree with Kelly. 2 speed pumps are the way to go when looking at turning a pool with the lowest monthly energy bill combined with lowest initial cost. Variable speed pumps are expensive because of the technology. They have expensive electronic variable speed drives and permananent magnet motors. The permanent magnet motors are slightly more efficient than the standard, low cost induction motors that are in 2 speed and single speed pumps. The bigger efficiency gain is with speed reduction which reduces head pressure and significantly improves gpm/watt efficiency. Both 2 speed pumps and variable speed pumps offer this efficiency gain. Variable speed pumps are expensive and have features that cater to a small market where comfort and sound are important (examples, multiple power settings on spa jets or multiple flows/sounds from water features). 2 speed pumps offer these same features, just not as many levels of control, cost a lot less and are simple to apply and control. OK...I'll get off my soap box....sorry, I work in the HVAC industry and we had this technology debate a decade ago and variable speed technology remains a niche market today that caters to a select few applications while 2 speed technology is gaining market share year over year. So, to answer the original questions: 1. Yes. 2 speed pumps work as advertised, as do variable speed pumps. The differences are cost and the level of speed control. Both offer better efficiency because of lower head pressure at lower speed. 2. With solar heat, longer run cycles are needed to extract the heat from the solar panels throughout the day, so a small single stage pump with large plumbing all the way up to the panels would be the best. Size the pump to match the solar panel system head loss. My guess is this pump will be no more than .75 HP unless your application has unusually long plumbing runs or solar panel elevations and I would recommend at least 2" plumbing even with a .75 HP pump. PVC pipe is cheap and the reduced head pressure will translate to better efficiency that will payback day after day. The solar panel mfg. should be able to help with pump selection based on your particular application (i.e. how far are the plumbing runs from pump to panels and how high are the panels). A 2 speed pump is not needed for this application and would only be overkill as high speed would never be needed for the solar panels. 3. Trickling Spa or Roaring Overflowing Spa....to each, his own. Some people may prefer the trickling while others the roar. 2 speed pumps will offer both. Variable speed pumps will offer a trickle or a roar and everything in between at a cost! Having control over the spa jet power will also be nice with a 2 speed. Variable speed will offer more levels of power control, but at a cost! I personally have 2 of the Jandy SHPM 2.5-2 pumps on my pool as well as some other very small pumps for other water features. One of the 2 speeds was selected because of a need for brief high speed operation for a floor cleaning system and the other 2 speed pump is used to control sound and water flow on 3 waterfalls depending on the desired mood. Hope this helps.