Well, looks like your fish are as happy as bugs now, aren't they? Spring is a great season!
Blondie, I assume you got Elephant ears then, yes? At least your fish won't eat those, no matter how hard they try...
For plants that require soil in the water, I use one of those plastic pots that are made for water plants, and therefore don't have any holes in the bottom. Either that, or the ordinary black HomeDepot plastic pots will do, and I line them with a small piece of pond liner or other fish safe plastic, so the holes are covered.
Then put in the soil, either aquatic soil or ordinary potting soil, no other soil. The "fancy" soils might have fertilizer and such in it, and that isn't good for the fish at all. Add the plant and more soil, until the soil comes up about 2 inches to the top. Then layer the entire top with rocks - bigger river rocks or lava rocks work fine for that - so that there is hardly any soil visible anymore. Then soak the whole thing in a bucket of water, and let it sit there for however long you remember. My pots are known for sitting there until the next day when "there is suddenly something I need to remember"...
Then you can put the container with the plant, and there should hardly any dirt clouding the water anymore. The most cloudy mess you are getting when you put the pot in with the soil still being dry. Whatever cloudiness shows up will get picked up by the filter in a couple of hours, and you should have clear water again in no time.
I love those elephant ears, although I prefer mine in the ground in the garden. I do however have pots and pots of the Papyrus plants in my ponds, and those guys grow enormously! They aren't even giant papyrus, just the ordinary dwarf ones, but with so much nutrients in the water for them to absorb they grow 6-7 feet tall in a few months time with no troubles, and form huge clumps of roots even outside the pots that take care of nitrates and such...
Happy ponding!
