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

This is basically sand,not sure if it's going to be any good time will tell

Plants started glowing already

I brought this product to repot all my pond plants before growing season really kicks in. It came well packaged and I read it was dry but mine came moist and ready to use. Had no issues with it leeching when pots were returned to the pond. Overall brilliant product and still have loads left after completing 9x11cm pots and planting 3 bog plants. Well impressed.

makes a mess of pond water that took weeks to clear

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.

I bought a sack of this. Cut top off and popped it in my fishtank. It's smelly solid wet sand there is absolutely zero compost in there. U can see from the front of my glass it's just sand. (Yes I got a fair bit) I had broken my tank down already to refresh it as it's been a few years and nothing lasts forever. so I had no choice but to use it as I wasn't keeping my fish in plastic tubs. Sadly though, 1 month later, none of my plants are taking to it. Where as a month normally it would already overgrown. I'm loosing plants even my lilly pads ain't happy so I was better off not doing anything to tank. Looks like il be breaking it down again at some point 😭 seriously save your money don't bother...

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.