yes the pump runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. i use a homemade prefilter that is a good bit larger than the one that came with the pump as it clogged way too easy. i have a pressurized filter with the bio- balls in it. the water itself is clear as gin. just that gookie stuff on the bottom and some string algae on the water falls, which doesn't really bother me much. the sides have a nice layer of algae on them also, but from my reading that is a good thing. my plants will eventually become clogged with the muck too. i have added 2 small bales of barley that is advertised as being sufficent for 1000 gals which is about what my pond is. i can't vaccum now because the toads have hatched and there must be thousands of them everwhere.

My first surprise was when I woke up to my pond down about a foot. I filled it back up and let it set without the pump running (wasn't leaking from the liner) and it didn't go down any. I then dug up the line from the skimmer to the water fall and it wasn't leaking. After that I tore the waterfall apart and discovered the water was going behind the falls because the water fall tub was slightly crooked. After that was fixed (6 weeks later)my pond pump quit and I had to buy a new pump. Then the dreaded algae bloom. I fixed that by filling a tall waste basket with filter material with rock and marbles in the bottom to keep it from falling over (like the last time I did that.) My pond was looking mighty clear and I looked out and thought I was seeing the bottom. I noticed both pumps had stopped and went out to reset the breaker. To my surprise the water was gone except maybe 2"x2' and my fish were dying. Three koi and three gold fish already dead. I ran and got a 40 gal. pond and ran the rain barrel water in it and put slime coat, water conditioner and peroxide. I put eleven goldies in that. I held up my white goldie till it started to recover. I discovered something had removed the tubing going from the extra pump to the home made filter. I then scrubbed down the pond took (5 hr's) and rinsed it a couple of times. Put goldies back in that evening. My pump and water falls are working and I haven't lost any more fish. I loved my koi and hated to see them go but I only have a 1400 gal. pond so think I will stay with only the goldies. I have had my pond about 4 years and this is the first time I lost any fish. Today I was emptying a rain barrel and discovered a goldie in it. Named it Lucky. I put it in the aquarium with my fantails. I feel blessed to have 12 goldies. I have learned some lesson's I won't repeat. It's been over a week now and thing's are looking brighter. If I had only remembered what GW member said about "never set a pump on the bottom of a pond".

Larry, that is about the way I did it back then. I let the fertiliser drop right onto the rocks of the waterfall, so as it would mix in with the turbulence. As I said I did not notice any harmful effect to fish or flora in the pond. The waterfall rocks looked like brand new with the algae cover gone and that was the only noticeable change that occurred. Like your situation, the plants were growing well, lots of Water Hyacinths and Watercress to suck up the nutrients. The only two things I add now, are Muriate of Potash and some Chelated Iron, but I don't go overboard with those. The lilies get a few chunks of broken up shrub spikes once a month. That's it for fertilising. A side note about cleaning off waterfall rocks, is about the experiment our old friend David [DRH] did with Hydrogen Peroxide. He turned the water off to the waterfall and poured the HP over the rocks while they were still wet. The HP foamed up upon hitting the algae covered rocks, he then let it sit for a few minutes, then sprayed it with water from the hose. All trace of the algae was removed completely. Buyorsell888, your are so correct. That's why I would be reluctant to suggest to anyone that they arbitrarily go around pouring any old fertiliser into the pond. You don't know what you maybe adding that could cause harm to the fish etc. I remember at the time, all this discussion was going on, someone contacted the manufacturer of Miracle-Gro, about using their product in a pond. The answer back, was that they would NOT advise that it be used that way. Sandy, great explanation once again! "Horton"

Kim, There was a big package of seeds waiting for me when I got back into town today!!! I was out of town for a few days so I'm not sure what day it came, but WOW! I can hardly believe all of the wonderful seeds that I received. I've been looking through them and there are lot of things that I wanted and some that I didn't know that I wanted (but I want them now that I see them.) For example, I received Mexican Sage 'Limelight' for my blue and green garden. It has blue flowers with lime green calyxes. How cool is that!! So thank you everyone for sending in so many great seeds. I'm thrilled with what I got back! And a special thank you to our hostess. When I was putting together seeds to send in for this swap, I kept thinking how much work this swap would be to host. Honestly, Kim, I don't know how you did it. My brain would have turned to mush trying to keep all of those themes straight. You did an amazing job! Penny