I have some lotus seeds you are welcome to for SASBE. E-mail me, and we will arrange it if you are interested. Natalie

One thing you will need to purchase and learn to use is a pond test kit. Doing a test every week or so allows you to keep your water healthy and clear. Things that can mess up water chemistry are overfeeding, fish poop and other organics like the muck at the bottom of the pond, heat, insufficient oxygen, rainwater and a bunch of other things. Most of the bad things can be caught early with the test kit. Don't waste money on test strips. They are often inaccurate. Not all shop vacs are designed to pump out the water continuously. It will say on the box that it has a pump feature. I found mine for $85. There are other devices that work with water running from a water hose. The one I use most often for a quick fix is this type. It's found at WalMart and is for childrens pools. It costs $20. I am looking for one of a similar design with better construction. It is just plain flimsy and repairs don't last. Python also puts out a similar device. It is hard to hold, the capture jar is too large around for me to open and it is overpriced at $89.It is complicated. The shop vac removes water. You can run the hose that you attach to it to your garden. The dirty water is good fertilizer. The other two add water to the pond so I pump some water out with a sump pump or I drain the filtration tank. Either way is simple to do, even for someone with my current physical problems. LOL, sometimes I must be a sight to see. The fishies sometimes get curious but if you keep the nozzle moving slowly, they will lose interest without getting scared. Are you saying the pump and tubing are not submerged? If so, it is a different type of pump than I use. That isn't a problem but we need to get another forum member to discuss them. Mine are submerged and I hesitate to give advice on a type I have no real experience with. The other things function enough alike that I don't have a problem talking about them. If I do, someone else will be along. While the pond is dirty, that foam filter in front of the pump will need to be cleaned fairly often, just like Sheepco says. Most pumps can handle dirty water with some small abount of debris but larger debris needs to be stopped from going into the impeller as it can cause damage. I hate that tiny little filter. It is just too inefficient for words. I found a prefilter for a well pump at Menards. I used some stepdown PVC connectors, also at Menards to make it fit the tubing. It keeps anything above the size of a small pea from entering the pump and a decent pump can handle that with no problem. I threw away the tiny foam filter that came with the pump. The water exits the pump and tubing runs to a 100 gallon Stock tank which is my mechanical filtration It also serves as a home for the bacteria that cleans up organic matter in the water. That black bucket thing behind your waterfall is likely to be a mechanical and bio filter. The details are just a little different. My filter is called a Skippy Filter. It is not the only design out there. I just happen to like playing with this kind of stuff. Another small pond I have the care of changes drastically every year. No matter what kind of system you are using you should look at how effecient it is, whether it works for you and if it does what it is supposed to. There are many sites that explain how filter systems work. To see how my skippy works, google Skippy stuff. My pond is 1000 gallons so my system is probably oversized, but I want to enlarge it this year or next. I have to get my body working first then I can use it as physical therapy! You have either EPDM or plastic(PVC)as a liner. If it feels like rubber it is EPDM. EPDM is rubber, just like they use in innertubes or on roofs. 45 mil is best but it comes in a thinner version as well. The plastic liner isn't as durable but some people do like it. To figure out how many gallons your pond holds(useful for medications, additives, pump size, etc.)go to the link named pond volume calculator at the end of this post. Then you can figure out how much water you have, how much your pump should be moving, how many fish inches you can support and all sorts of other things. If you don't like this one, there are others. That is likely to be enough for now. As you think of questions just add on. Enjoy, Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: pond volume calculator

Fill, level and lightly firm the compost in your seed tray; place on the ground and water thoroughly with a fine rose on the watering can; dry the rim of the seed tray with a cloth or kitchen towel (nothing worse than sowing begonias with wet fingers), even though you don't actually touch the seed. Now, sieve a thin layer of fine compost or sand over the surface (just to fill in the pits of the seed compost.), lightly press. Take a sheet of white paper creased down the middle and place on it a small quantity of perfectly dry fine sand; onto this place a small quantity of begonia seed from your packet and stir them together with a dry implement (the tip of your knife blade, the tip of a plastic label etc. Hold the paper over the seed tray and tap it with a finger to slowly move the sand/seed down until it spills over the end and onto the compost spreading as evenly as you can. If this procedure is new to you it is a good plan to practice on another tray using the dry sand alone. Learn how to hold the paper in the fingers of one hand and tap with a finger of the same hand to move the sand gently down the crease in the paper. Don't cover the seed with any compost; place the tray in a close environment and cover with a sheet of glass or perspex and then darken off. Darkening off is not essential but is my preference. Germinate at around 70F. Very carefully turn the glass daily wiping off the moisture collected on the underside. Once germinated remove to the daylight and a temperature of around 65F. Prick off into trays of standard seed or first potting compost as soon as large enough even if it means on the point of a knife. In the region of 60,000 seed per gram. My Website

Water lilies need to be divided. I have never know anyone who harvested seeds from them. Many plants that you normally plant in the ground are excellent pond plants. Many ornamental grasses grow beautifully in the pond, such as zebra grass. Iris, (not bearded iris) such as swamp iris or Louisianan iris grow like weeds, as do Elephant ears, Canna, horse tail (equisetum), and papyrus. Just pot them up, using heavy clay soil, if possible; Line your pot with screen or coffee filters if they have holes in them. Top the soil with small rocks or gravel so that your soil won't float away. Sink the pots in the pond and watch them grow! Good Luck! Janie