That is really good looking and tremendous potential. I can't wait to see it planted and rock work done. I love the plantin island left between the two. Now to keep those pesky helpers out of the water after all is done and settled down. Labs and water go together like Phatboy the Squirrel and peanut butter crackers!

Ammonia is a very bad thing for fish but good thing for algae and bacteria that eat it. In the context of "cycling" a bio filter ammonia is needed to grow the bacteria. The bacteria require ammonia to reproduce and stay alive. You can't "cycle" a bio filter without ammonia. If you used a UV to kill the green water then ammonia from fish would be available to bacteria, which would reproduce to a level where they were consuming all available ammonia. At that point the bio filter would be called "cycled". And again, bio filter can just be the sides of the pond. Currently you could say the green water is your "bio filter" and that it is cycled because it, I assume, is consuming all available ammonia. When a pond clears that bio filter is gone as well. Cycling is a very general term that really has little meaning by itself. Certainly confusing when used by itself. If the hornwort you're talking about is the underwater kind then green water algae can kill it by settling on it, blocking light and taking up all available nitrate. Water lettuce can have a difficult time getting any nitrates as well because the green water algae are always first in the buffet line. People often say higher plants starve green water algae but the opposite it true. Lack of nitrate doesn't kill plants, they just can't grow without the certain nutrients. Your goldfish can also nibble the roots which doesn't help either.

If would try to identify that big frog. If he's a bullfrog, your son might want to return him to the river, because he'll eat anything he can fit into his mouth -- including the salamander. I've seen pictures of them with adult birds in their mouths. Pretty amazing creatures.

Thanks for the compliments Sheepco! The chubby Fuzzle thanks you as well :P That fountain thing is *so* late-60s style, straight out of Sunset magazine! We think thatÂs when they built the pond. . . So weÂre somewhat worried about the rust level on that thing, but it would be so cool to have water flowing again! IÂll take the water lettuce out right away. I didnÂt know if they could over-winter here or not, but apparently not. We have some oxygen plants (parrot feather) floating under the water. Do you know if that could stay in? Could the hornwort and anacharis stay in over winter? It doesnÂt get really cold here until late November, early December. ItÂs almost 90 degrees out today! Thanks again :) - A Hi PKPonder, I know what you mean about slow fish, as there are a few I could scoop up at any time since they always think IÂm there to feed them! But the tiny ones dart around so fast, IÂm worried about losing them in the muck. IÂve got a lot of screen-like nylon netting, so IÂll try to rig something up as you mentioned. The fishing net idea sounds good! As to the aquarium bubbler and air stones, do you have any youÂd like to recommend? Would they have to be huge? I really have no idea about these things. Thanks for your help! - A