Plant life is not a problem. Put them in. They will help start the cycle. You will bring in many different species of things when you add just one plant. You are using a filter? Activated carbon? That will remove chlorine. but it needs to be a big enough one. The only way to know, is to test after filling, otherwise wait a few weeks to add life other than plants. (most folks are in the range of 3-6 weeks) Adding other pond water is a good idea if there is no chlorine in your pond already, and you are willing to take the risk. You really have no idea what is in that other pond without comprehensive testing. I would chance it if life abounds in the donor, but that is my opinion. Expect an algea bloom in 1-3 weeks. It usually happens with new ponds. Be patient, run your pump, and filter, and it will clear in time. But whatever you do, don't change the water! It will just feed the algea. Add what you need to top off as it is summer. Many folks say it takes up to 5 years for a pond to mature and stabilize. Meanwhile, there will be over and under populations of things. Some you will see, some you will not see, but they are there. Be patient. What do you want to put in? My pond was finished filling for the first time on Sept 29th 2006. It is pretty big as backyard ponds go. 24X30X4. It barely bloomed due to the declining sunshine at that time of year. I also added a few plants immediately, and noted that by the time it was filled, several water bugs had moved in. I also started adding some rocks around the shallows, after they were cleaned with the hose. After about two weeks, I added some bait shop minnows. They were still in there in Novemeber, but I haven't seen one since winter ended, so after the frog season is past, and the tads are grown up and out, I will add a few more. I don't think there was enough time for natural food sources to develop to hold them for the winter. But, maybe there is a fisher type animal in the hood. In any case, I need to re-stock. Good luck, and enjoy. How big is it? Got Pics? -TT

Need more information: Did you fertilize the lily when you planted it? Did you plant it in a pot, or is it in a mesh bag? Overfertilizing a lily can cause the leaves to die back and injure the plant. I would do a partial water change, replacing with fresh water. I don't use rain water in any of my lily containers, just fresh tap water. Likewise, not fertilizing at all might make the plant's growth slow down, the old pads might not be replaced with healthy new ones. Some people use Miracle Grow spiles or Jobs spikes, others use Osmocote pellets, others use plant tabs made for aquatics. Those mesh bags are, in my opinion, completely worthless. I have never managed to grow a healthy water lily in one. Water lilies generally do better when planted in a large container of clay-based soil. Garden soil will also work, but you'll need to hold it down with sand and gravel. Otherwise, there could be aphids on the pads or maybe a caterpillar that you haven't spotted yet. Moths will also lay their eggs on plants, and the larvae are tiny green caterpillars that easily escape notice. I don't think you need to scrub out the tank. If it was used for animals, it shouldn't have anything in it that would harm your plants.

Not to quibble, but I don't think that 95% of the world figure is accurate. In China(20% of the world's population) most everyone uses Chinese measurements like lÇ, chÇ, mÇ, jÄ«n, etc. as do many SE Asian countries(especially ones with significant historical interaction with the Chinese). I'd bet that probably 1/2 of English literate people on the internet(ie. potential posters on gardenweb) use Imperial measurements still. I try to post both measurements to save people from having to convert them themselves, but I also like number crunching so it is also for a bit of personal want as well. I do forget to do this from time to time though. Anyway, back to the original posting, I too enjoyed the new website and thought it was very convenient to have all of the information brought together in one website. I think the general public(non-plant people) will find it easy to navigate and perhaps start a passion for plants within them(hopefully).

Well, I'm almost afraid to say this but I haven't seen a moth in 2 weeks. Of course I still have my HVAC registers covered with insect screen but I haven't seen any behind the screen either, as I was seeing before. This happy state of affairs could be due to one or more of the following factors: 1. When the pest control guy applied a little bit of spray in about four places (without drilling the walls... heck, he hasn't even called me back about that...what am I paying these people for anyway??), by incredible good luck the spray happened to hit exactly where the larva were (yeah right). 2. My sealing up of every opening I could find from those two walls into the house, was a better job than I thought. 3. The moths are "between flights"; meaning that one generation is finished, and I won't see any more until the next generation of larva pupate into adult fliers. That could take anywhere from 3 weeks to almost a year. About the pheromone traps, when the pest control guys first came out they did try those, although they explained that normally they only work on the smaller moth species such as meal moths, clothes moths, and such. The big brown suckers usually aren't attracted to them. I think they were correct because I had adults flying in the same rooms as the pheromone traps and none went anywhere near them. Mona, how are you doing? Who is winning, Team Mothra or Team Charlotte? (okay I read 'Charlotte's Web' a long time ago but I still don't like spiders much)