Haven't been on here for a while as you can see. I have had my Aquascape SFA 4500 pump now for 7 years. Was debating if I should get another pump or have it repaired(noisy & leaking). Bearings & seals were bad. Had new bearings put in at local bearing store. Purchased new seals from Bergman Specialties in Michigan. & installed. Total cost around $150.00 Pump runs like new. No noise. Works great. This pump has a oil chamber for the seals. Use mineral oil in chamber. Hope to get another 7 years if I'm lucky. Happy ponding, Mike

I use 2L soda bottles with a mixture of yeast, sugar, & water to generate CO2 for my planted aquarium. This provides a continuous output of CO2 gas for the plants. This the safest of methods to generate CO2, plus it wouldn´t run out so quickly. The mixture I use is 1/8tsp yeast, 1/4tsp baking soda (this is to adjust pH), 2 cups sugar, and enough water (6 cups) to fill the bottle. In this type of experiment, it´d probably be good to use more yeast, that way there will be a more rapid burst of CO2. Just make a hole in the top of the bottle, run standard aquarium airline tubing from that hole to the $10 10 gallon aquarium, cover the aquarium with plastic wrap... and the CO2 level will rise. Just never leave the bottle closed without a hole in the cap, it will explode if left unvented. Maybe this would be more of a solution to flying pests, since you can have a consistent CO2 input over time? Anyway, hope that helps.

My elm has been a stump about 2 1/2 years. I covered it with plastic, and loaded woodchips on top. After about a year, I removed the black plastic. Since then, a lot of the neighboring groundcover myoporum grew over it. This summer an elm sprout emerged, so I recovered it with a lot more woodchips. After the resprout and the dry summer, the myoporum started to look really bad, it just couldn't compete with the other( close by & alive ) elm tree's roots. So I added even more wood chips and some horse manure, in a similar mad scientist, or just experimental fashion, as mentioned by border barb. Now I planted succulents on top of it and added some rocks to make it look like a more naturalistic raised bed.

Thanks caseby- your results are somewhat reassuring. I've recently started purchasing the Clorox wipes and use them in my weekly "house blessing". I quickly wipe all knobs (including outside door knobs) and phones and I also use one to wipe my chopping blocks (which are wood - another story but I DO wash them in dishwater throughout the week as well.) Something about sponges which I read here eons ago is that they can be disinfected by putting them in the microwave for 2 minutes (of course not if they have metallic parts). I've been doing this daily when I fix my coffee in the morning. Makes me feel virtuous. I just checked google and found a whole bunch of hits recommending that sponges be microwaved anywhere from 30 seconds to 60 seconds. So I guess I will continue. (Now I don't know exactly when to toss the sponges, always more questions, LOL). Anyway, I think the microwave cleansing should be considered a non-toxic cleaning method (if you don't have a leaky microwave which could be toxic in other ways - check google for ways to test your microwave or just buy the cheap end of microwave ovens and replace every 5 years or so, that's what I plan to do. My last one I had for 25 years and was horrified to read here about someone who had actually had their leakage measured - it pentrates walls - yikes! always something to worry about, maybe I'm one of those obsessive compulsive wannabes's, LOL) --Alice