Durable tool Westland Pond Pride Aquatic Compost 20L

You can’t see the product here because I capped it with sand to lock down any nutrients to avoid spilling into the water column. However, you can see my plants are the most beautiful green (apart from the foreground plants as I’ve just planted those) and it took little work all I did was plant and wait. Amazing value because I’ve only used a few cups worth (80cmx35cm tank). I can use this and have used this in 3 of my other tanks and I swear by it. I think theoretically you could use this as the capping layer too as it is very fine and only has the slow release nutrients. This is the reason I say versatile because it can be used as a substrate layer in tanks AND ponds, and in some cases it doesn’t need capping. Since there’s almost 0 organics in there I don’t need to worry about an excess of co2 or breakdown of plant matter which effects quality and oxygenation of the my water. And as you can see in the picture it is definitely fish safe. The ONLY downside is it’s a heavy bag the reviews aren’t lying lol

Great product

This is like a very heavy clay soil rather than compost. Ok for small plants in small pots but I’ve really hurt my back and hip trying to place my very heavy pots in the pond. I’ve put gravel on the top inch of soil to prevent it being dug out by the fish and to stop clouding. This of course adds to the weight. To place the roots in the compost I had to place the plant and fill in around it to avoid damage to roots as it’s really heavy. It is really good for bottom dwelling plants to prevent the plants floating back to the top. I really would not buy this again just because of the weight, and because it does cloud the water until settled. Using a hessian liner inside your pot and gravel on top of the soil helps to prevent this problem.

Made my first aqua soil aquarium with this! Added fish after it had settled for 4 days, and was clear within 4 weeks even with the filter running. After 18 months it has now sufficiently settled that even if the fish propel soil that it settles immediately within a few seconds. A great price at £10 a bag for my 130litre tank. Mixed opinions on how well plants take into the soil though. At least none of the fish have died due to high nitrate or ammonia levels from the compost. Recommended.

Excellent product, competitively priced. Delivery late, and badly damaged packaging. Reported to seller. Response - telling courier.

This is a good compost for use in containers for pond plants, in both deep water and marginal locations. Being an aquatic compost this compost is largely sand based and has a low nutrient status, to reduce the risk of nutrients feeding an algal bloom in your pond. It's important to plant into aquatic pond plant containers lined with hessian to prevent the compost washing out and turning your pond water cloudy. Once planted the compost should be topped with pea gravel to stop the compost washing from the surface and likewise turning your pond water cloudy. You then need to lower your planted pots very gently into the pond to further reduce this risk of clouding the water. This 20L bag was sufficient for me to plant up three marginal plant containers and I'm pleased to say the plants are growing well and the pond has remained crystal clear throughout.

A bit more expensive than the store bought version but it got delivered at home. It was also at the peak of lockdown when I couldn't find any so no complaints. I do grow a lot of aquatic plants and this compost works well with all plants I have tried so far.

I have an issue with this product and it is the weight my 20L bag of aquatic compost weighed approx 56 lbs the man who delivered it could not carry it properly was slipping out of his hands.building products like sand and cement used to be sold in 56lb bags but are now sold in20kg bags. the picture of the product shows what appears to be a cardboard carton with a neat handle on top for carrying mine came in a bag inside a plain plastic bag rolled up tightly so there were no corner sticking out for anyone to get a grip on it was in effect like trying to pick up a large smooth boulder I would not have bought this product if I had known how big the bag was there is far more compost than I need anyway. Westland know how much these bags weigh and they should also have a good idea of how much is used in the average garden pond so why not make the bags smaller and anyone with a large pond can buy more bags .

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