In the areas where hardware stores have their drop-ceiling materials, they should have a plastic grate that fits underneath fluorescent light fixtures. It's about 2' x 4', with 1/2" squares and maybe 3/8" thick and comes in white and "chrome" and is easily cut to shape with plain old wire cutters - it's not necessarily cheap ($14 or $15 a piece), but maybe this'll work for ya? I use this grating in my biofalls as a support for the filter mats and as a fence to keep the hyacinth constrained - worked great!

I have plenty of frogs in my pond, which also contains goldfish. I seriously doubt goldfish would keep frogs away. The only threat is that goldfish eat frog eggs and tadpoles, but that's not going stop adult frogs from visiting a pond. The current tadpoles in my pond have grown large enough to be taken off the menu as fish food. I'm waiting to see if they are going to be green frogs or toads. Also, clear water and clean water are not always the same thing. A bio filter uses good bacteria to remove chemicals that can not be seen, such as ammonia.

Kaysbelle. The barrel I used has both 3" and 2" holes. You can buy reducers to bring it down to any pipe size you want to use. I found with a filter that I built sometime ago that a one inch drain pipe tended to plug up with sludge quite quickly. I had to keep clearing it out by pushing a wire up into it. Attaching a hose to a 1" drain, would in my opinion, heighten the plugging problem, as there is no pressure behind the out flow. You could pop a 1½" hole in the bottom of your barrel with a hole saw and an electric drill, quite easily. "Horton"

Good outing Matt for August! Very interesting where the milks were found. That would seem to indicate they are moving and not just coming up to shed. We found our resident 19 inch milk this week again on our property. Last sighting was first of June. The same snake meaasured 19 inches last year also. Would have thought it would have grown some. Enjoyed your Yellowstone trip report!