Fine Soot at bottom of pond

[fullcircle]

I finishing doing my spring cleaning and water change out on my pond and started the beneficial bacteria about 3 weeks ago. The water is crystal clear but at the bottom there seems to be a thin layer of soot/dirt on top of the river rock. I assume this is dead leaves, etc that have decomposed but will the the pond naturally consume this stuff or is there any way to clean it out? Any time I try to clean it out with a fine net, it just stirs it up and I can't get any out. I think that it is too fine for my skimmer filter too. Any suggestions?

Thanks....

 

[koikeepr]

This is called mulm. It is made up of various debris, poop, rotted leaves, etc.

The biggest problem is that you mention you have rocks on the bottom of the pond. This is why it's critical NOT to have stones on your pond floor. Because mulm gets in between these rocks and is impossible to get out. Eventually, this poisons the fish.

If I were you, I would get a bucket and remove every one of those rocks, as you will never be able to be rid of the mulm with them there.

If you just won't do that, you need to stir up the the mess and put a fines filter under your waterfall where you can catch all this in cotton batting or some kinda material.

But, basically, as long as those rocks are there, you will never be rid of mulm.

 

[koidaddy]

Koikeepr is correct. My feeling is that the fish are the focal point of the water, not rocks. Use the rock for a shallow area for your fish to dig around in, @ 1' deep. Koi love this. Or use it for a bog garden.

 

[Squidhead]

Here's my 2 cents.

The one thing I am not liking about building my pond is that most not all mind you but most pond keepers have tried to discourage me from placing any rock in the bottom of the pond I am building. Don't get me wrong I understand totally about all the detritus build up becoming toxic to fish. I am not saying I will, but if I had anything in the bottom of my pond it would be a micro-gravel approx 2-3 mm diameter. It would have to be treated like an indoor aquarium. Durring water changes the crud is removed by syphoning the gravel with a big gravel vacuum. Even if you have rooted plants in the gravel, every 9 months the plants should be pulled out , the gravel vacuumed and then replant. I would never return any water that had built up "crud" in it. It will be great fertilizer to water your terrestrial plants with. You may be able to remove the bigger chunks but now the micro crap gets released back in and is now free floating. Talk about your bacteria and algae blooms, yuck! Not to mention the toxicity of the water. When you remove that junk, maybe a micron filter, but I still wouldn't do it. This is one area that I will be researching more before a final decision. I guess the worse thing is the swim I may take to remove them if I do go with it. I think the fish really pop at you with the natural bottom look and plants. Just my feeling. But even with planted inside aquariums fish first, then plants and decor.

 

[koikeepr]

Theoretically, you could put gravel in the bottom (with no BD of course), but just keep in mind how you'll be feeling when you are reaching down into the depths of your pond to reach that gravel to clean it with a python or similar tool.

I would consider that back breaking work, personally. Plus, you better be doing that task very often because goldfish and koi are monster poopers--unlike dainty aquarium fish.

And, of course, you have to account for leaves, and other flying debris that will fly into pond (which you also don't have to account for in an indoor aquarium).

It just ain't worth the hassle in my opinion. A black liner just gets a nice green cast from fine algae and sooner or later it just looks fine.

 

[mrteach3]

Okay, if you read my other posts, I have been dealing with your exact problem. I took out a lot of the bottom rock out of my pond and am now dealing with the liner. Honestly, you can't even figure out it is a liner. It looks just fine. I am even considering taking out a few more of the rocks down below as there truly is a bit of a green color showing up from algae as koikeeper said. In the long run, I believe that I made the correct decision.

 

[fullcircle]

Thanks for your advice, I spent the last 3 hours taking 1/2 of the river rock out from the bottom and will finish the rest tomorrow. The water is very stirred up now so I filtered out as much as I could.

Thanks again!

 

[3qtkidz]

I had rocks in my pond or about 6 months. My pond continued to look at mucky on the bottom. (I had egg shaped rocks - no larger than 3 inches) When I stirred them up the water would be totally contaminated with fish poop and other debris.
My boys got in the pond and removed 90% of the rocks and within 1 week the pond looked so much better. I also added Sludge remover for a little help.

I personally love the way the rocks look but I just couldn't live with the muck on the botttom.
I think you will be much happier without the rocks. Good luck!

 

[koikeepr]

good for you fullcircle. I think you will find the pond much easier to care for now, and you will be able to to get at that mulm and remove it. Congrats on making your pond easier to maintain.

 

[Mrshkoiluver]

Just want to remind everyone that even large flat rock like moss rock or the like can cause problems. Hubby and I have been removing since last year. A portion at a time. Much easier to maintain.

 

[koidaddy]

Also a note on aquariums and gravel/rock. I have a 180 gallon oscar tank. They are the poop masters or the aquarium world. I have removed all the gravel from thier tank and just use coarse sand. It doesn't look as nice but it is much easier to keep my water in check.

 

[joshk87]

I'm also in the process of taking the river stone out of the bottom of my pond. I didn't realize that was my problem until reading the posts on here. I have the entire floor covered with a 2-3" layer. :regular_waving_emot

 

[fullcircle]

After I get the rest of the rock out of my pond, is there something that I should use to try and get the fine mulm out of the water. I have tried pumping it through a filter and it takes out some but it seems really fine and hard to filter. Do flocculant solutions work for this application? It seems like it is what it is made for but I was not sure. I was going to try EcoFloc by EcoSystems. Anyway used it before?

Thanks....

 

[Squidhead]

After I get the rest of the rock out of my pond, is there something that I should use to try and get the fine mulm out of the water. I have tried pumping it through a filter and it takes out some but it seems really fine and hard to filter. Do flocculant solutions work for this application? It seems like it is what it is made for but I was not sure. I was going to try EcoFloc by EcoSystems. Anyway used it before?

Thanks....

You could use some sort of micron filter. A micron filter "sock" , a micron filter pad or you can build a polish filter with an extra submersible pump, some tubing and a whole house sediment filter from Lowes or Home Depot

I never heard of EcoFloc but am interested in what it is. There few chemicals that I have found really "safe". There are a few really excellent ones, most are crap though.

 

[jason081180]

After I get the rest of the rock out of my pond, is there something that I should use to try and get the fine mulm out of the water. I have tried pumping it through a filter and it takes out some but it seems really fine and hard to filter. Do flocculant solutions work for this application? It seems like it is what it is made for but I was not sure. I was going to try EcoFloc by EcoSystems. Anyway used it before?

Thanks....

you could use a pond vac to vacuum out the water at the bottom once the soot has settled. or if you don't have one try a shop vac. it will fill quickly but you will be able to suck the soot right off the floor and out of the system. a fines filter would also work like Squid said. i think the whole house filter would work best with maybe a 5 micron filter, if you have the other stuff out of the water. if not try a 20 micron if you still have poop and other stuff than just the soot. you could build your own by putting pillow stuffing in a laundry basket. that seems to be a popular option. cheap and easy. just run your water thru the pillow stuffing and most should be caught.