"john wesley" wrote in message
...
About a month ago we bought a pond lily: Nymphaea Marliacea Alblda in
aquatic compost of 100% clay granules it said on the packet.

The instructions were to remove fish put lily in pond and wait util the
water clears, then replace fish.

Since its difficult to find a place for the gold fish we left them in the
pond (or more accurately a large water storage tank about 4' x 4' x 5')
and put the lily in a large bucket (with a couple of goldfish to eat the
worms that are eating the leaves) and we occaisionaly run water through it
to clear the water, which is still going very cloudy.

Having just read the packet again more carefully it says *not* to change
the water to get rid of the cloudiness and let it clear naturally.

What causes this cloudiness ? And we wonder why we are still getting it a
month later. Grateful for any suggestions as to what we should do next.
Thanks.
Part of the cloudiness is being caused by the fish digging, part by the
algae which feeds on nutrients in the water, the reason not to change the
water is that eventually the lily will start growing and use a lot of these
nutrients plus its leaves will expand and cut the light available to the
algae. by changing the water you are constantly adding more nutrient which
will stop the water having a chance to clear, too many fish make getting the
balance right hard as well.


--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
Holders of National Collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cvs
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk