No clue on hay vs barley straw - Lusk always recommends barley straw and literature I've read also cites it - no experience using it or hay to handle turbidity so I'm not an authority. All things being equal I'd try to at least source the barley if it's available just to be safe using something known to work. I don't understand why barley would work better vs various hays...

If you can be patient, the water will likely clear on it's own based on my experience...if you're like me and patience isn't one of your virtues, think about gypsum or alum - the former of which I believe is significantly cheaper to source but believe it requires more to effectively treat.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

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