Water Gardening: Need to enlarge, add 2nd or do something, 1 by Spitzkopf

Spitzkopf wrote:
Thanks Bonnie for the advise.

Now I'm overwhelmed with reading material, have a lot to sort through this winter. I notice there are two courts:
1) Fish only - no plants and don't even mention the the word "rocks" or those guys will get outraged.
2) Natural or water gardens - I think I'm more in that category. Personally I can't see the purpose of having a pond unless you can enjoy the beauty of it. No offense to anyone but if one wants to just raise Koi and no other nature, would not a bare tank be sufficient. I want to establish a self sustaining Eco-system but make it low maintenance and inexpensive. Don't know if that can be done, but mother nature does it all the time. A lot of the ones on the web I've seen have tens of thousands of $ invested in specialized equipment installed by "professionals". Sorry but I can't go that route either and so much of that info can be misleading. I look more for the DIY stuff.

Speaking of DIY, I built a pond vac yesterday out of a dirty water pump and small air tight barrel. Going to hydro test for leaks today but need one more part to run the cord through the barrel before the test run and actual use (see pics).

On another note, I've never salted my fish before but from what I've read it sounds like it can be only be a good thing to do. Was thinking I may do it to help them through the winter in the small pond I have. Is there a down side of doing it? Will it benefit the gold fish as well? What about pump, filter equipment, beneficial bacteria and protozoa will that be OK?