Substrate For Preformed Pond

[Nyboy]

I want to lighten up the black bottom, so fish are easier to see. Choices are aquarium gravel, marble chips, pea gravel or sand. Other then aquarium gravel, can get others at big box store. Which would be the best to use long term ?

 

[sissy]

remember they will give covered in muck and you will be back to the same thing .Nothing is meant to be clean on thhe bottom of the pond .I have seen people here buy those expensive blue preforms so they have clear view and then find that the only way to keep the pond healthy is to let it get covered in muck .

 

[Nyboy]

Thanks Sissy you just saved me some cash.

 

[Mmathis]

As we've already stated in another thread, your fish will be easier to see.....with time. And as @sissy said!!!!! Substrate in a pond isn't necessary and will only make it harder to clean out the muck.

 

[sissy]

only miracle is if you had it professionally cleaned every few months and that is stressful for the fish and not cheap .My first pond was a preformed and I had put rocks in the bottom and what a nightmare it turned out to be .I tried to keep them clean but nothing worked

 

[Nyboy]

Ok thank you for stopping me from making another mistake. Good news is filter came today, will set up after work

 

[DutchMuch]

Rocks or pebbles, on a substrate aren't meant to look or be clean. Substrate is however a great place for beneficial bacteria to grow, which helps water quality itself.
Many people think the substrate must always Look like it came straight out of the bag when its been in water for a while, I have never seen a dirty substrate in my life (unless, someone threw some junk in there unnecessarily or something.) its just apart of the bio diversity in your pond, substrate is also a good place for micro organisms such as Cylops's to live as well as copepods.
"muck" as a previous member stated, is just usually regular fish feces, and waste building up. Other organisms live off this and is again, part of the bio diversity in your pond. You can plant plants in that substrate With the muck as nutrients such as Sagitaria sp. to form a pretty carpet plant in your pond. It also again, helps water quality improve. I strive to have a mulm in my substrate.
Hope this helped @Nyboy
Nate

 

[sissy]

I see to many people here that want that clean rock bottom and see the fish what do they get dirty rocks and what do they use to make them clean again ,CHEMICALS

 

[DutchMuch]

Chemicals In a pond or any source of water are all unnecessary. Unless its some sort of cycling agent which, even then, is unnecessary as you can just use fish food as a source of ammonia. People use chemicals to often, just like how people go to medicines rather than actually treat the source of the problem.

 

[sissy]

That I blame on the mass marketing done ,people believe what they see on tv and ads and say I need that or I should use that .I have never eaten meat and don't miss it .No meds. and 63 and soon 64 and no health problems that I can see or been told I have .I take care of 3 acres of property and the house and grocery shopping and cooking .Not saying I could not die tomorrow Things happen .Everything I was born with I still have .We need to look at ponds like we look at streams healthy moving water with plants and aeration .

 

[DutchMuch]

Well said @sissy! That was like a tiny inspirational speech haha!

 

[Nyboy]

My post was more about changing color of pond bottom to see fish better. Right now only fish I can see is the all white one.

 

[DutchMuch]

Substrate isn't your answer then, is it your water quality? do you know if you have algae in the water (free floating unicellular algae?) ? that's most likely what's making it murky.
In that case (if so) do you know your water parameters?
Ammonia
Nitrate
Nitrite
Phosphates
And size of pond?
Any plants in the pond at all? if so you could add Duckweed to (STRICTLY) your filtration system to remove excess nitrogen from the water column and down stock algae levels.

 

[Nyboy]

I was surprised when I got a cup of water to test how clear it was. I have duck weed, cattail, hornwart and creeping jenny. New pond only 2 weeks old, just added filter this weekend. At work will run water test tonight.

 

[DutchMuch]

If you just added a source of biological filtration that is the source of your algae bloom, there is/was no or little to none beneficial bacteria to eat all your nitrates, or ammonia you currently have.