I was wary about buying this planter because a couple of reviewers said that it doesn't work properly. I read reviews about other self watering planters. The reviews on them weren't any better. This Crescent Gardens planter was the lesser of two evils. It doesn't seem as if the blue floaters are going down fast. But, the good thing about Alpine white is that I can see where the water level actually is when the sun is shining on the planter itself. And when I put my fingers in the soil, the soil feels moist.I got home tonight at around 10 pm. The soil on the top looked dry. And when I put my fingers in the soil down an inch, it didn't feel as moist as yesterday. All three floaters are visible. Only two of them were slightly lowered. Since polka dot plants like moist soil, I went ahead and added more water anyway. Now two floaters are all the way up. The third one is still slightly lowered.The soil on the top was looking dry today, April 18, 2018 and just the one floater was slightly lowered. I decided to see what would happen if I added more water to raise that one floater because I would add more water to a smaller planter with a window, when the water level was at 50%. After adding enough water to have all three floaters at the same level, the topsoil is no longer dry.Apparently, for polka dot plants anyway, the water reservoir must be kept full. I wish I had known this when I bought this planter. I would have known what to expect. I guess this planter is a five, after all.I am having much better luck with a lemon tree. The picture is vertical on my screen. But, it came out horizontal on the website.