The G Man wrote:


Thanks for all the advice so far - oh, apart from the one about the
bleach and not quitting my day job - very helpful. I can't help being
an amateur at something - after all, isn't that where we all start out
and learn by experience??

Yeah. It's my opinion that those people don't actually have ponds...

To try and answer some of your questions - I can't remember exactly
what I put in last year but they were all oxygenating plants from a
reputable garden centre (World of Water) - I definately put in about 6
bunches of Elodia Crispa (Goldfish Weed)

I haven't heard the name "Goldfish Weed" before, but elodea's good for a
start.

and a water lilly.

Lily ;-)

Am not 100% sure at the moment how many litres per hour my filter will
process. I assume this is determined by how powerful the pump is? At
the moment I am running it from a small fountain pump but I have
recently purchased a separate pump which delivers 1200 litres per hour
and will dedicate that to the job of keepeing the filter running.

Good idea. Fountain pumps don't usually put out much power.

It's in a semi-shaded area of the garden - ie. It probably gets about
three hours of sunshine a day.

Unfortunately a bit short for most lilies.

Not sure whether this is a good or bad sign - when I cleaned the pump
the other day I noticed some water snails attached to it (which I put

Snails are always a good sign. They're pretty sensitive to some problems.

back in with the pump of course!) Is this a good sign? Also, a big
blood worm came out. Blood worms are one thing I did have a lot of last
year!

They're _not_ a good sign. If you had them last year, then it's no surprise
they're still there, but bloodworms (assuming yours are the same as mine -
not guaranteed) tolerate very poor, nearly anoxic (lacking oxygen)
conditions.

If I empty the pond (as suggested) will this not kill the good bacteria
in my filter since I'll have to switch it off for a few hours while I
clean the pond?

No. Generally the filter needs to stay damp. As long as it's damp, the
bacteria should survive.

What about the bit of life I have in the pond?

Again, most of it needs to stay damp, not necessarily immersed in water.

Can someone tell me what a google converter is??

???? I missed that one. Of course, googling for "google converter" finds
lots of results...
--
derek