Decorative pebbles bad for pond?

[Joshi83]

Hi everyone,

In the never ending evolution of my pond, i have added a waterfall to add some aeration and movement to the water.
I have used a new paint roller tray with the shallow end edge cut off for a wide smooth fall into the pond. To help cover up the tray to make it not look like a paint tray (i.e cheap) i have put a few handfuls of white garden pebbles in the tray. (possibly quartz, not sure. Came in a 20kg bag when i did the courtyard years ago).
Is this kind of rock a bad thing to have in contact with the water?

I have an abnormally high PH and have read that sandstone etc can cause this.
It just seems no matter how regular i do water changes or try to adjust the level, my PH is always high?

Should i get rid of these pebbles and replace with 'Aquarium' pebbles?

 

[addy1]

If your ph was high before I doubt the pebbles caused the ph to climb. I have pebbles in my streams, bagged small rocks from a hard ware store.

I love the idea of a paint tray, they come in different widths, great job. What color? I have seen white, orange and black ones.

 

[Joshi83]

PH has risen but i don't know if its a coincidence.
The other thing that i have done is let the water level drop and fill up with rain water (coming into winter here in Aus with abnormally high rain fall recently, so thought id save on the water bill) but im just reading now it is soft water which can cause huge PH swings. So going to drain a bit out and fill with tap water to get some hard water in there.

Will post a photo of the waterfall/paint tray today after i top up. Pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

[addy1]

Please do will be fun to see. Our rain, well are both soft, still trying to make my water hard lol

Add some crushed oyster shells in your pond somewhere there is a lot of water flow. They take a while but help keep the hardness up in your pond.

 

[adavisus]

Quartz in itself is quite benign in a pond like sand, the only downside to pebbles or rocks in a pond is where they become a low oxygen, still water trap for decomposing stuff which can be a source of stagnant conditions in a freshwater pond

If you use peat a lot in your garden, placing a bag of peat in the pond where the acidity can leach into the water would help moderate a severe ph water supply

Regards, andy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21940871@N06/
http://swglist.wordpress.com/

 

[addy1]

The pebbles are just on the waterfall tray, not in the pond. Joshi is using them to cover up the paint tray.

 

[Joshi83]

Ok, here's the waterfall.

Paint tray with the end cut off.

The back is supported on an upturned plastic planter box and the front is supported by a metal pole suspended between the two large rocks. The two smaller rocks are to help hide the tray.
I also painted the tray with black pond sealer paint to give it a texture (plus the tray was a greyish colour)

The white rocks are there to help weigh down the back of the tray so it doesn't get front heavy from the water and to help slow down and spread the water across the tray for an even flow (loooots of trial and error there).

Im pretty happy with it, seems to add a fair bit of movement to the water in the pond as well as create a fair amount of bubbles. And its nice and quiet too because of the smooth water flow.

Hope you like :fish:

 

[j.w]

What a cool idea the paint pan is for a waterfall. It makes me hungry tho.................cuz those rocks look like marshmallows :fish:

 

[Joshi83]

What a cool idea the paint pan is for a waterfall. It makes me hungry tho.................cuz those rocks look like marshmallows

LOL thats what my wife said!

 

[fishin4cars]

I don't think the rocks are having a issue with the PH, I've used quartz before in ponds and tanks with no issue. Rocks can trap decomposing waste, A simple moving around of the rocks a little will release anything trapped and fix that, I Like it Now looking at your pond itself, what it is made of? Is that cement, or a liner , or??? It looks to be cement, if so what is it painted or sealed with?

 

[Joshi83]

The pond is just under 500mm deep. (half above, half below ground)
Reinforced concrete slab on the bottom, brickwork up the sides, rendered then sealed with Pond Sealer Paint (about 10 coats to fight the leaks, previous lessons learnt there lol).
Im a bricklayer by trade so wasn't too bad to build.

I did originally have bricks just on the exposed aggregate with a sheet of flexible liner down the sides and across the dirt on the bottom, but was never happy with the finish on the liner on the curve. This way with the full render and seal its a sheer drop from the top brick straight down to the bottom.

So fully sealed, nothing exposed to any concrete anywhere

The only other thing i can think of for the high PH is i have had in the last few weeks all my marginal plants die off (coming into winter) so had a spike in ammonia before i could remove them. Just put in a pot with some Aus Native Nardoo in it (which is suppose to grow all winter?)so will see if it dies off to, otherwise the pond is looking a little barren at the moment...

 

[fishin4cars]

I would start of seing what the water is that is being put in the pond. Tap, well, what ever it is see what it reads. If it's lower than the pond then you find out of it's from the pond or not, Plants dying would nave opposite reaction, PH would drop if anything. what media material did you use for the planting material? Nice looking pond BTW!

 

[Joshi83]

I would start of seing what the water is that is being put in the pond. Tap, well, what ever it is see what it reads. If it's lower than the pond then you find out of it's from the pond or not, Plants dying would nave opposite reaction, PH would drop if anything. what media material did you use for the planting material? Nice looking pond BTW!

Thanks!
Didn't think to test the tap water! Will test out in the morning.
Also the plants are in the soil in the containers they are sold in.

Iv only just today removed the previous diing/dead plants that I repotted into larger pots using soil from the garden that I was hoping would help spread the plant. I'm wondering if that soil was causing issues?

 

[fishin4cars]

Could be, that's what you need to find out at this point is what is causing the PH to climb. fresh cement is the first thing that comes to mind, NO chance the water has come in contact with ANY new cement right?

 

[addy1]

Very nice pond! And love your creative water fall. jw they would break you rteeth.....