Ka30P wrote:

Grandpa John wrote
Underwater, please expand.

Do you have a good nursery that carries pond plants? Many of them sell plants
that grow completely underwater. Some of them are getting hard to find now as
they can become noxious weeds in many states. Anacharis and hornwort are common
underwater plants.

We have 1 but they don't seem to have a good handle on pond plants,
great for other stuff though. Thets where I saw the 'expensive' barley
balls right after I started my pond. The only other place I've seen any
pond plants at all is WalMartsigh.

Substrate algae is more like a green fuzz that grows on the side of the pond,
the sides of plant pots. It should not fall apart when you touch it.

That describes mine but its so fine, almost like a foam, that when you
pick it up it runs out of you hand. It doesn't adhere to itself.

Stuff that falls apart is probably dead algae that should be removed from your
pond via a mechanical filter - what this could be is anything that catches
stuff before it goes into your pump or before the water goes over the
waterfall.

I had really good luck yesterday with a foam sleeve over the pump PU
tube. Had to clean it 8 different times as it plugged up, plus I got a
lot of stuff off the bottom. I've the unit sitting upon a brick so it
doesn't get plugged constantly. I may well pick up another pump of
sorts for filtering out the bigger stuff, like into a 5gal plastic
bucket, strain thru an old Tshirt then pour back into the pond.

One more Q on barley hay if I may, should the ball/bag be floating or
fully submerged. The friend who graciously gave me the plants etc said
submerged, the barley balls I saw said floating and that when they
submerged by themselves to replace them.

Thanks VERY much for helping a newbie'
Grandpa John

PS-you're making my beautiful little 3 yr old grandaughter very happy as
she is completely fascinated with the pond. She points out the fish,
the flowers and loves sitting by & wathcing it. She's a nature girl
(loves critters) we watch bugs & birds together and have a turtle in my
compost bin thats her buddy (Timmy the Turtle) and she feeds it carrots
and cantalope among other veggies.