There are a number of ways to make keeping your pond maintenance more efficient without the outrageous price your handyman puts on the job. The first problem of fine leaved Honey Locust leaves could be solved by making a screen sided or mesh sided basket to put into the top section of the pond to collect the leaves. Just leave it in place between cleanings. If you are handy, the screen sided bucket is simple enough but premade mesh fish nets come in some rather large sizes and shaping the handle to serve as a cup type handle is easy enough as is making some sort of shelf to hold the net in place. Just lift the net out by the handle, let the water drain back if it is sufficiently clear and dump the leaves out. I am putting in a link for a website that happens to show several products on the same page that would do a good job of cleaning the mulm under the bottom drain. The fish capture nets are there, too. The Muck Vac is about as simple as it gets. The price is a bit steep but it works. All you need is 50 lbs water pressure in the hose. The leaf vac uses a bag to catch debris and I use one to collect leaves on the bottom. It isn't as good for mulm unless you get the extra bags for that purpose. The price is hard to beat. It adds water to your pond so prepare as for a water change. The Python pond vac is a more elaborate version of the Muck vac designed to collect leaves and mulm. It is more difficult to get into tight places and I have a problem opening and closing the jar that collects the debris because my hands hurt a lot. The pond vacuum on this page is pretty expensive but you can get a garage(utility)vac with a continuous flow(water)discharge for between $75 and $90. It works, too. Just add a hose to run the water to the garden. I got one at Walmart and I've seen them at Lowes, Menards, etc. It took me a while to get the hang of it but Horton came through for me with proper instructions. UV, UV. Hum-mm. I don't see anywhere the flow rate would be low enough to let the UV work. I see you have valves all through the system that makes in-line space at a premium even if it lets you adjust the flow. It seems to me that adding another pipe with a valve to control that flow would make the system complicated to the point of maintenance inefficiency and it would certainly raise the scream level. Maybe I am wrong. Since you are going to move, I would use a small submersible pump and a stand alone UV + filter. It might even be possible to get by with only the sponge included prefilter to protect the pump. The object is to increase dwell time to allow the UV time to work. You can get small fountain pumps for cheap. Try Harbour Freight.I found the UV and filter from Laguna on sale for 45 bucks. several years ago. That screwdriver must be a sign of ingenuity or ineptitude. I don't know which. One of these days you will laugh at it. In a number of stores I see wire shelves that are stackable in the laundry and storage departments. I don't see how deep the hole is but I bet you could find one of those shelves that would fit close enough. You might need to do a bit of bending or cutting. Please do not put stones on the bottom of the pond. It will make cleaning an impossible task and eventually the water will become stinky. Now I will let the smart guys take over. I still like your pond. Sandy Here is a link that might be useful: Simple inexpensive ideas that work well

This is long, but important, so please read all the way through. My personal theory as to WHY the dirt in these pads do not like to come clean in the first place is because they are all made out of synthetic microfiber blends. This is NOT a rant about doing everything in your life all-natural so please stay with me. In the beginning of my Cosmetology education, I learned that synthetic fibers (such as those used on wigs and cosmetology tools and brushes, do Not like hot water. Only cold or at least tepid water could be used unless you enjoy having your brushes, cloths and wig hairs get all tangled and matted up in an instant, melted in some cases, or hairs/fibers fused together. It’s synthetic. It can’t take the heat. With that said, I suspect these companies insisting on using microfiber steam mop pads are setting us all up for failure from the beginning. Steam is insanely hot and WILL melt and fuse the little fibers together during use (this is why they say not to put them in the dryer). Steam blows open the fibers in an intense way which is something else I learned in Cosmo school. Steam always works better than hot water in opening up skin pores for instance. Material fibers are no different… unless that material blows up but then breaks down with said heat. Polyester and Nylon just can’t take the heat. You might ask why the heck these companies would make their pads with microfiber if that were true. I’m glad you asked - I suspect the mop companies use these materials anyway, because it’s much cheaper than cotton and will slide nicely across the floor. They know if their customers feel they have to push too hard, they won’t want to use it and will go with the other company that does use microfiber. Let’s be honest, “microfiber” is like some positive buzz word in the retail industry when actually many of us avoid it like Covid. It only has a few good qualities, none of which are involved with mop heads. Microfiber, is good only for scrubbing, acting as a water repellent in some cases, and behaving somewhat like Velcro when used for dry sweeping. Have you ever tried to remove things that stuck to microfiber material after being in the wash or dryer? It’s not fun is it? When microfiber is used in wet cleaning applications however, that synthetic material DOES NOT ABSORB. It just doesn’t. It’s synthetic. Synthetics don’t absorb like a natural fiber (e.g. Cotton) does. Try wiping dry your kitchen countertop with a microfiber wash cloth, and then try again with an all cotton and you will see what it is I’m saying. All of this to share that I finally found a solution to not only keep my microfiber pads from getting too dirty (or worse than they already are), but to also pick up dirt far better than what the pads were originally doing (I have one of the Bissell Power Fresh Pet steam mops for reference). SOLUTION: I take a damp, wrung out steam mop pad, flip it inside out (I also cut off the scent disk pocket), place it on my steam mop, then place the mop down on top of a 100% cotton shop towel and click down the flip scrubber piece in the back of my mop so that it grabs my towel. At this point, I use the mop as usual on the highest steam output setting. Why do I flip the mop pad inside out? Because I discovered that it allows the towel underneath to stay put a little better and glides across the floor better as well. I have also only ever done this with a damp, completely wrung out mop pad in place, but with a dry shop towel. After the towel gets dirty, I rinse out the mop pad and wring it out again as much as possible before placing back on my mop and grabbing another clean, dry shop towel. The benefit here, is not only are my floors getting that much more clean, but I can buy cotton shop towels by the mass for much cheaper than those mop pads AND they clean up white so much easier! If you want to bleach, then bleach. If you want to use your usual make-em-white method, then do that instead. The world is your oyster. Cheaper Works better Cleans up Whiter Easy It’s what has finally worked for me and my mop. I hope it helps some of you too.

fwiw...some cheapie hints... Home Depot online can be accessed through EBates, which gives a little rebate for the referral. Go to Ebates first (have to register), then go to HD. Some of the other online kitchen stuff companies are also available through the Ebates internal referral service. I got a $35 refund check from them one month. I wish I had known about Ebates before I spent big bucks on two cast iron sinks and two faucets through HDepot online. Look for online codes and/or holiday discounts from the various vendors. You'd be surprised what are considered "holidays" by the online companies. Mayday might be a 10% off day, that kind of thing. I know that "Black Friday" after Thanksgiving was a good discount day (actually the entire weekend and the Monday afterward) and even April Fool's Day had a discount for some vendors. Often the home web page for a company has today's discount code listed on it. I've sometimes emailed the company on the "contact us" and asked point-blank, "Is there a discount today or in the next week which I need to type in when I buy online?" Often they give me the info. Or they tell me to register for their email newsletter so I can snag the upcoming code for the next "sale." At least that tells me that there is a sale coming up.

Sofibebe - here is one of the solutions I use to protect my marble when I'm cooking with known "etchers". http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2540520/how-i-am-protecting-my-marble-and-wood-countertops The silver mats are lightweight & easy to pull out of my vertical storage. I have enough to cover my 3ft x 5ft island for major cooking/prepping projects. These are easier to manuever than plexiglass. I do have lipped plexiglass cutting boards. I use these on my walnut island when I'm entertaining a large group & using the wood island for buffet style serving. I purchased the lipped plexiglass cutting boards at Improvements.com. My daughter, son in-law & 1 y/o spent a large part if this summer at my house - no major etching accidents.