"GrannyGrump" wrote in message
...

I'd be wary of the weeds, until I knew what they were. They could end up
choking your VF. Remember, you want lots of plants in the VF, but you
prefer
densely rooted plants.

LOL These weeds are very deeply rooted. The tops fall over into the
water, and new plants sprout from the seed heads...found this out
after hubby had weed-eated partially around the pond and the weeds
were left in the water... gads!

You may want to consider using lighter weight bio media, such as the
stuff
that is commercially available. It'll cost you more, but save your back.
I
am currently planning a trickle tower to be added to my VF, and when I do
it, I plan to use cross sections of PVC pipe. It'll be cheap. Easy to
make,
and lightweight.

bio media instead of lava rocks?

Lava rock is a popular biomedia because it has so many nooks and crannies,
IE, lots of surface area for the biobugs. Artificial biomedia provides
similar surface area without the weight of the lava rock. In the past
ponders have used artificial biomedia like, bioballs, plastic forks, pieces
of pvc pipe, curlers, etc.

BV.