Yungman, Don't use multi-vis oils in a mower. Multi-vis (10w30 etc) are for cars, and water cooled engines which get started up in cold weather and have to run in a variety of temperatures. Air cooled mower engines run hotter than water cooled engines. The internal tolerances are designed to be looser at cold for this reason, so that when the motor heats up, the tolerances close up under normal running temperature. Multi-vis oils will seep past the piston rings when the motor is warming up. You will get more smoke and oil burning with multi-vis oils in mower engines. Most mower engines don't get used below 40 degrees (with the exception of snowblower engines), so straight 30W is recommended for most air cooled mower engines. In Texas we do have high temperatures, so I frequenty use straight 40W when it gets 90+ degrees here. While I'm ranting about oil, the owner's manuals always say 25 hours as the oil change interval. But that's under normal conditions. When it gets dusty and hot (like the 90 degrees above), forget that 25 hours, go for more like 10 or 12 hours sometimes. Remember these little engines usually don't have oil fiters, so whatever gunk that gets in the oil, just goes round and round in there, grinding away at the parts. With oil:When in doubt, change it out.

I think you are right; it's probably turning the water over about every 1.5 to 2 hours. Is that not good enough for a very few koi (4 maybe?) in such a big pond? I do want the water to clear up first. Your advice is very sage, Horton. And I had read something like this at the Skippy site. I kept telling my "pond guy" who works for a koi guy that one is supposed to leave the filter alone and not clean it. The bacteria is supposed to settle in that filthy filter. I was glad he cleaned the bottom of the pool -- he did not scrape the sides. Glad to see that it really wasn't that bad, but there was some sludge. Now we can start anew. We have a handful of small goldfish and a bunch of mosquito fish in there now, and that's all. Every once in a while we see a frog. That is all the marine life. We have tested with the little test strip that tests for 4 things, and the water tests normal. So should I just wait about 4-6 weeks without any filter cleaning and see what happens? Maybe it was good to clean it that twice because the pond had no aeration for many many months. Now that it's quite aerated and hopefully filtered, maybe the bacteria collection can start. All my previous floating plants died off (when there was no water filtering). My lilies are very happy though, and some other plant that is reed-like with violet tiny bottle brush flowers is enjoying it too. I am starting to order more plants -- ordered some hyacinths this week and will attempt them again. I can't imagine starting to "winter" one's pond. Poor cold climate ponders! :( But then you get the beautiful seasons. I don't suppose we will have to ever do any wintering like that. I am curious how cold the water will get in the winter, but of course we never even have FROST here with our marine layer of cloud coverage. It keeps us pretty mild. We have not seen any of this stuff you all describe, this string algae. It always sounds so horrible. All we have is something clouding the waters. There may be a few inches of visibility but I'd hardly call it clear at this point. It used to be that the steps where the plants are would be actually clear, only around the plants. No longer. I will try not cleaning the filter. My "pond guy" will not agree, but hey - I can try this. I'm the boss. Though he is pretty wonderful and a very hard worker.

I've been lurking here for awhile but just had to jump in here. Been doing my own version of Weight Watchers (old exhange plan) since Jan 6th and have lost 19.5 lbs. to date. I'm afraid the road to weight loss will get tougher any day now since I haven't hit a plateau yet. My point to posting on this thread is that I've noticed so many here have all these things they stay away from and I detect some feeling of deprivation there. I eat out several times a week including at the occasional greasey spoon. I eat everything. I can make a salad at home so other than one that comes with a meal I never have one eating out. I do make choices though. If I want fries I'll get a turkey or clubhouse sandwich (no mayo). If I get a cheeseburger it's fruit or veggies instead of fries. Everything is ordered on the side....I'll add my own butter,gravy or dressing so I control and know what's on my plate. I eat chicken or fish (even fried) when I want it and beef or pork when I don't. When I get a sub I order the usual 6" and eat it all including cheese but leave off mayo,oils and fatty dressings. Mustard and barbque sauce are my friends LOL. I see peeps in restaurants afraid to order 2 fried eggs (about 220 calories) but who will "diet" on a 400 calorie bagel. They will throw away an 80 calorie dinner roll and eat a 250 calorie scoop of cottage cheese instead. So I guess my answer is everything and I just want to encourage all who struggle along with me to get and keep these added pounds off to try to think of food as fuel we have a right to enjoy and to question some of the diet lore out there.

oakleyok, I used to have the same setup under my sink. In my new kitchen, I have a much smaller sink base (30"), and most of that space is occupied by garbage disposal, cleaning supplies, dish soap, and trash bags. My favorite part of the trash pull-out is the recycling bin. We used to just pile up recyclables on the counter until someone got around to hauling them out to the garage (our house is a split foyer, so it's a trip down the stairs). Now we just plop cans, bottles, and cardboard in the bin until it's full - out of sight!