I got some plant growth but not to bad. It was the life of the pond, there was small fish and the bass to, probly because of the weeds. The gravel seemed to keep the weeds sparce then where there was no gravel a little more weeds, nothing overwelming. I am new to all of this but I used my bass fishing experiance for those ideas. I will tell ya, I thought I would get bass bites on the steep drop next to the shelves but I really didnt, the cats are there though. I drop the worm off one of those drops and hold on to the pole...