Great looking pictures! I was going to ask about the hoop also under the falls. Do you do that for personal preference or to help keep ripples off the plants? I have two sections of lily pads, one is near my falls that do see some agitation but seem to be doing ok. I've read that they need to have air contact to thrive. I arranged rocks under the falls so the water splashes on them before hitting the water. My thought was creating more of a waterfall sound as well as oxygenating(sp) a little more. The fish seem to like the little current there but wonder if I should do something like you are doing to decrease surface ripples, maybe it would make looking down into the water a little easier also.