Loretta
Gorgeous waterlily - have you put that into the plant database? I really love the color.
Your clarity may very well be the medium you are using to pot up your plants. I know the koi are attracted to clay and will root around in the pots because they are after the clay - although, as I mentioned, my koi found tropical water lilies quite delicious and obviously you are able to get them to flower, whereas I was not able to do that.
I tried the aquatic planting medium, the kitty litter and finally ended up planting my waterlilies into washed off pea gravel. There is egg rock on top of the pea gravel so that the koi don't scatter the pea gravel all over the bottom of the pond.
We also use a bog as a giant biological filter. It is about 15' long by 3' wide and 10-12" deep. The bog is planted and we have a small pump - 500 gph Pondmaster that runs through the bog. This goes along way towards clarity.
We do put enzymes into the pond as well - Pondzyme with the barley. I buy it at the end of the season - around September or so. That way I don't have to pay full price for it as it can get pricey.
I also believe whatever works for an individual as there is no right or wrong and there are so many different ways that people have their ponds set up. I do think filtration is the answer to many problems though.
