Debris Stuck to Bottom of Fiberglass Shell

[peter hillman]

Could it be dead algae? That can be very adhesive.

 

[Steveareno]

Could it be dead algae? That can be very adhesive.

Thank you for your reply. I don't know if it is dead algae. It might be. This debris is white. Maybe because it has sand in it. There was some green algae that covered the bottom of the pond. The green algae cleaned up easily. Do you think that some sand blew into the algae and the algae bonded to it, then bonded the sand to the fiberglass? If this is algae, do you know how to clean it off?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

This is a pre-formed 350 gallon fiberglass basin. Thanks, Steveareno

Thanks. I will stick with my original assessment. The only other explanation would be that this is biofilm. If it is biofilm instead of degradation nothing short of sand-blasting will remove it.

 

[Steveareno]

Hi
It could be calcium deposits , once it takes hold it could be very difficult to remove.
Myself if it is not leaking and once water is it and not very noticable with plants in it and a few rocks. I would leave it be as scraping at it could cause even more damage.
I would also say if you are going to have fish and plants I would not use strong chemicals like that.
Because any residue could harm your fish and plants and the build up of the beneficial bacteria.
Ruben

Thanks for your response Ruben. I never put any calcium in this pond. I have never added any chemicals to this pond only plain water. Also our water supply has very low calcium. But who knows, somehow it might just be calcium. It is a very hard substance, and it's white, and its rough, so it could be calcium. The only thing is when I tried CLR on it, CLR did not dissolve it. I did have some white deposits at the waterline, which CLR did remove. If these are calcium deposits, how would you recommend I clean them off?

 

[Steveareno]

Thanks. I will stick with my original assessment. The only other explanation would be that this is biofilm. If it is biofilm instead of degradation nothing short of sand-blasting will remove it.

UGH! Well, I actually kinda got the impression that this stuff was so hard that something as drastic as sanding would be the only way to get this stuff off. I was just hoping that there was a magic product that would fix it. Thanks for your kind assistance.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Looking at your photos again, it appears that this problem does not cover the entire bottom of the basin. Is this so?

 

[Mmathis]

This is a pre-formed 350 gallon fiberglass basin. Thanks, Steveareno

Definitely not big enough for koi!

 

[Steveareno]

Looking at your photos again, it appears that this problem does not cover the entire bottom of the basin. Is this so?

Hi Meyer,
Thanks again for your gracious efforts on my behalf. Yes, you are correct; the debris do not extend over the entire bottom. Where the water return jets flow there are no debris. It's as if the force of the flowing water does not allow any debris to collect. Similarly, the debris do not collect immediately around the bottom drain where the sucking force speeds up the water as it returns to the pump, because the drain has a top cover. Does this give you an additional clue?

 

[Steveareno]

Definitely not big enough for koi!

Yes, definitely, I'm thinking gold fish.

 

[Steveareno]

koi will get to big for your pond stick with a fantail or 2

Yes, I'm thinking gold fish - thanks

 

[Steveareno]

Could it be dead algae? That can be very adhesive.

Hi Peter,
Thanks for your response.
I don't know if this is dead algae or not. It's white and has the surface consistency of rough sandpaper. It's as if someone dropped globs of glue onto the bottom, and then sprinkled sand onto the glue. Is this description consistent dead algae?

 

[sissy]

Thing is you clean it and it will never stay clean ,I would just leave it and forget it .Good muck will cover it if you decide on fish and you will never see the black liner again any way .

 

[Steveareno]

Thing is you clean it and it will never stay clean ,I would just leave it and forget it .Good muck will cover it if you decide on fish and you will never see the black liner again any way .

Hi Sissy,
Thanks for your response. Here's the thing; the attached debris will trap additional debris that would have normally gone into the drain and would have been trapped in the filter.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Hi Meyer,
Thanks again for your gracious efforts on my behalf. Yes, you are correct; the debris do not extend over the entire bottom. Where the water return jets flow there are no debris. It's as if the force of the flowing water does not allow any debris to collect. Similarly, the debris do not collect immediately around the bottom drain where the sucking force speeds up the water as it returns to the pump, because the drain has a top cover. Does this give you an additional clue?

So from the above info, am I correct in assuming that the surface areas that you are having problems with were, in fact, covered by other sediment (debris) that has since been removed and the surface areas that are not affected have been relatively free of sediment (debris)?

 

[Steveareno]

So from the above info, am I correct in assuming that the surface areas that you are having problems with were, in fact, covered by other sediment (debris) that has since been removed and the surface areas that are not affected have been relatively free of sediment (debris)?

Hi Meyer,
YES, you have it exactly correct.