Hi Gloria, Waterlilies really like to have several feet of water over them, but they will survive in shallow water. They just won't make as many blossoms. I'm not sure why that is. I used to have mine on a milk crate in my stocktank, about 5-6" under water, and it did okay. But when I put the container on the bottom of the stocktank, it started doing alot better. The leaves will always come up to the surface. So fill your container completely up with water. What kind of a WL is it? That's pretty small for anything but a miniature lily. You could probably start fertilizing the lily now........but try not to hit any roots or growing stems with the fertilizer tab. I did that once and it caused the leaves in the area to die. About your lotus, 4-6" above the tuber is good. Lotus grow upright, as compared to lilies, that grow outward, so your container should be fine, but you will probably need to thin it in a year or 2. Do you have any idea why your WL leaves are turning brown? Did you plant the lily at the right depth? Can you see lots of little leaves starting to grow out of the plant? I always just use poor soil for my water plants, and they do fine. Just remember these 2 water plants are used to growing in the bottoms of lakes, where I'm sure the soil is compacted, so you don't want any fluffy stuff for them. This is a learning process for all of us. Just have fun with it! We've all killed various things in the past. lol! We just buy more and try again. I'm sure your's will be fine. Keep us posted on how your plants are doing. Be sure to keep them in full sun.

Marginals don't need to be deep. In fact, I have a few that are in pots with holes in the bottom and the tops of those pots are above the waterline, but they stay wet, of course, because of the holes. In a holeless pot, they just need to be deep enough the soil stays wet, a few inches is good because it allows for varying water levels due to evaporation. If your overturned pots are stable, they will be fine to hold the marginals. If they are in danger of tipping, you can get those inexpensive milk crates from Office Depot (link below), turn those over and set the pots on them. Your fish will then have a safe place to hide. They come in all colors, but black is preferred because they don't show up as much against the black liner. Water lilies are very adaptable. They can be started out closer to the surface and then lowered as they grow. I've seen both hardies and tropicals lilies in as deep as three feet or water, or as shallow as one foot, all of them with plenty of blossoms. Here is a link that might be useful: milk crates

It is not for indoor planting, so before you plant it out, make sure that it is hardy in your area. If not, maybe you can plant it in a large planter that you can keep inside, then take out when weather allows, and it might flower for you this Summer.

Joey, Don't worry to much about it. An inch sounds fine. The bubils are actually tiny bulbs not seeds. they will be clones of the parents. Treat them as you would bulbs of the same size. If you have asiatic lilies they are kind of like the tiny bulbs you get from the stem just below the ground. I actually like to plant them in pots to grow on before I set them out into the ground the next year.