What can i use instead of Kitty Litter

[420benz]

I used it for 3 floating plants and now my pond is a milky white.

 

[Mmathis]

Give it time, and the milky white will settle out.

 

[mrsclem]

I used pea gravel in my floating planters or you can use the plastic round kitchen scrubbies.

 

[addy1]

The kitty litter makes dust in the water and it will go away.

 

[WaterGardener]

I use sand when I need to have a planting medium. There will be some dust when the pot is first put in the water, but it clears quickly. Sand also doesn't get that rancid smell that cat litter gets.

But most of my pond plants are in pots with small rocks to hold the plants in the pots. No soil at all. Not sure that would work with floating plants though.

 

[Marck]

I used a sandy-based commercial potting mix designed for succulents with a layer of gravel on top. I watered the pots first, so the media was wet when the pots were lowered in. I had very little floating debris and what I did have settled quickly.

 

[420benz]

I decided to use this. When my lilly's arrive i will use this soil but if i add a fertilizer to the soil will it kill my fish?

 

[mrsclem]

Have you checked the website on that product? A lot of customer reviews saying it clouds up the water. Adding fertilizer should be safe.

 

[420benz]

So far so good.

 

[WaterGardener]

I use Pond Tabs for fertilizer. I've also used those little tomato fertilizer sticks stuck deep into the soil. Some people use Osmocote for a time released effect or just loose fertilizer at the bottom of the pan before putting in the planting medium.

Just don't do what I did last year to my water lily pool. I threw a handful of loose fertilizer into each lily container on top of the soil. It turned the water an amazing shade of dark green and there was no way to see into the water. There are no fish in there so that wasn't an issue. The lilies loved it but it wasn't very attractive. This year I won't be so lazy and will go back to using the Pond Tabs.

 

[mrsclem]

That method of tossing loose tabs worked great on my 75 gallon preform pond with just a lotus. Entire pond was filled with roots!

 

[Mmathis]

@420benz Some people sprinkle pea gravel over the potting mix. It helps keep the “soil” and the plant from floating up. It can also keep the fish from rooting around in the soil. Please keep us posted on how this potting mix works for you.

 

[WaterGardener]

That method of tossing loose tabs worked great on my 75 gallon preform pond with just a lotus. Entire pond was filled with roots!

Probably would have been better if I had tossed the tabs in, instead of using the loose fertilizer. I may give your method a try.

It's a pain to lift every heavy planter and put the tabs in the soil since that pool is 30" deep and I'm anything but tall and seem to be getting shorter by the day!

 

[mrsclem]

I'm seriously considering the liquid for later in the year. Over 30 potted lilies! They were all given Osmocote so hopefully that will be enough to get blooms so I can tag them for colors and rehome. Going to need my tabs for lotus.

 

[WaterGardener]

Sounds like me. I have about the same number, way too many. I also keep loosing track of which is which and don't have a good way of labeling them. Maybe I should just offer a grab bag of unknown colors.

Please let us know how the liquid works. It would be nice to find an easier way to feed them all.

Sorry to the OP for derailing this thread.