Sandy, the day you sound like a fourth grader.....forget it.... it "aint" gonna happen! Glad that some of my blather seems to be relevant. I sometimes wonder whether Im answering a question or just yacking into the wind. Activated carbon. There are several factors in using and selecting activated carbon. Ive indicated a website/link below that discusses in general detail what activated carbon does without getting into too much theory. Activated carbon is made from all sorts of things: wood, coal, bone, coconut hulls, lignite (a form of coal-to-be), etc. The process is briefly described in the link listed below. To answer the question, yes, it has extremely large surface areas. The specification that is usually used is the "specific surface area", typically in units of square meters/gram of activated carbon. Values vary widely ranging from very low (100 sq. m./g) to very high (3000 sq. m./g) specially when looking at some of the activated carbon cloth. Another parameter you may see mentioned is the mesh size something like 8/12 or 10/24. This parameter refers to the granule size for granular activated carbon (such numbers arent usually used for powdered activated carbon) and, for example, means all the material passes through a number 8 sieve but not through a number 12 (usually referring to the Tyler sieve series). However the mesh size is NOT related in any significant way to the surface area! Think of activated carbon this way: look at a common household sponge - usually 3 inches x 5 inches by ½ inch thick or so. Notice all the pores. Now image a sponge that was at least 1000 times larger than your house but with the same pore sizes and pore geometry. Now you have an idea of where the surface area is located....not on the outside of the granule but inside. The pores of activated carbon vary from about 10 angstroms to about 50 angstroms depending on the quality of the carbon. But using the AC to get it to do what you want is an interesting problem. In an industrial or commercial setting 100% of the fluid (water or air/gas) will be passed through a bed of AC. Even then not all of the organics will be stripped out of solution. For an aquarium most designs have an AC held in place with filter cloth, "angel hair" or other physical restraint and the water flows through it (in some applications) or over it. But the pumps that most folks use in their ponds have a characteristic that makes it difficult to use AC by passing water through it: the pump curve or the rate at which the water being moved falls off rather rapidly with modest increases in back pressure (say a bed of AC). Furthermore, as the bed would also plug with solids (bactera, algae, sediment, etc.) it would bind or create even greater head loss very quickly. As a result most folks talk about putting a bag of AC in their system. At best this approach will mean that the AC will typically "see" about 1% or so of the water being processed at any one time. This is where our ponds differ from an aquarium. But as the water passes by the AC bacteria will attach and grow on it ... the AC offers an excellent growth medium. I do not know of any bacteria that will penetrate the pores (since the pores are so small) but the bacteria will colonize the outer surface with the result that they tend to cover up the pores. Think of it as putting a cork in a bottle! Some of the bacteria may come off with time but you probably will see a significant fall off in effectiveness of AC within a week or so but it also represents an increase in the bacterial surface area now doing its job just like your biofilter. So the net result that you still see an improvement but is it because of the AC or is it because youve now got an increased bacterial surface. I dont know....havent seen any studies out there that provide sufficient information to say. But I do know that our ponds and our pond water are not like that in an aquarium or the water coming out of a tap. Id like mine to be absolutely crystal clear such that a Sechi disk would give me a reading down to 400 feet! However, while it is clear and I can easily see each fish, pebble, etc. at the bottom I doubt if I could see much below 30 feet. As to your question on carbon dioxide...I wouldnt try to regulate it or worry about it. Your pond is open to the atmosphere. You have some (hopefully minimal) algae producing carbon dioxide at night and consuming it during the day. You have fish, bacteria, etc. producing carbon dioxide 24/7. Given such an open system I highly doubt that you can regulate it nor do you need to as pointed out previously. If your growing things are above the water then carbon dioxide will not be limiting since they will take what they need out of the air...if I recall correctly! David

Jamie_MS, have a super doper day. Happy Birthday. Dottie

Rebeccamom- here is my recipe. I don't actually measure when I'm cooking so the amounts are approximate. Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas 1 pound chicken breast 1 medium sweet onion 1 bell pepper 2 cloves garlic 3 Tb olive oil 2 Tb butter 1/4 cup flour 2 cups chicken broth 1 cup sour cream 1-4 oz can green chilies 1 cup shredded Colby jack 8 flour tortillas Heat up olive oil in a skillet and add chicken. Mince garlic over chicken. As chicken is cooking, chop up onion and bell pepper and add to the oil. Stirring and tossing until cooked. Remove chicken and chop or shred then return to pan and remove from heat. In a small saucepan, melt butter and stir in flour (making a roux). Add chicken broth and stir constantly until it is boiling, boil for one minute and remove from heat. Stir in sour cream and green chilies. Now time to assemble! Preheat oven to 350°F Spray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray. Take a flour tortilla, add some chicken mixture and shredded cheese and roll up. Place seam down in pan. When they are all rolled, pour your sour cream sauce over the top and sprinkle any remaining shredded cheese over it. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. Hope you enjoy it!

Same here and no more 90's in the 7 day forecast. I sure hope that hot summer is past us. This was the hottest summer since 2012. That was a BAD summer for us. Phew.