Ever wonder? Who started putting rocks in the bottom of ponds? And why? I have never been in a natural pond, lake, or ocean that had a rock bottom.
how did the rock bottom trend start?
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ZmanArt007
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I wonder if perhaps in the early days of ponding, since both concrete and rubber liners did not exist, maybe rocks were used to hold the soil or clay in place in mud ponds. That would make sense to me if you didn't want the soil to stir up and make the water one big muck pit, put rocks down to weight the soil down.
Actually it came about by accident back in around 1975 when a small struggling start up pond building outfit started an advertising campaign to drum up business. Sales were slow, and in an attempt to sell more ponds their advertising said they were selling all ponds at "rock bottom" prices. We'll when the customers had the new ponds installed they saw that the company had only installed a small amount of rock around the edges of the ponds and in the waterfalls. They felt they were being ripped off because the advertising said the prices included rock bottoms, so to avoid a bunch of law suits the company complied and started installing rocks in the bottom of all their ponds.
That company is known today as Aquascapes Inc.
That company is known today as Aquascapes Inc.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
Time to make fun of the rock bottom ponders, is it?
I would really like to hear from ponders with successful rock bottom ponds. Photos would be a great place.
The guys at the pet store advised me to add rocks to the bottom of my pond - they are from the Philippines. They said it helps by having all the (forgot what they called it) gunk, settle/trapped in the rocks. Then when the fish get big they don't stir up the stuff in the bottom.
I didn't do it.
Why is it done on aquariums? To make them look good? Or does it prevent the fish from stirring up the poop? Or both?
I didn't do it.
Why is it done on aquariums? To make them look good? Or does it prevent the fish from stirring up the poop? Or both?
Another good question. Both of my aquariums are bare bottom. Some people use the gravel to root plants. In my opinion, it traps the poops, which is gross. With a bare bottom, my filters are powerful enough to remove the poop.
JBtheExplorer
Native Gardener
To be fair, natural ponds do not have liner bottoms either...
I think rock bottoms look great in ponds but too much work for me. Easier to keep clean if debris and muck has no place to hide.
Are you actually wondering why people rock in their ponds? It's quite obviously for aesthetic reasons. I refuse to believe that's a genuine question.
As far as it not being natural, well it looks far more natural than a rubber liner. Furthermore, natural rock bottom ponds DO exist in nature. They're not as common as mud bottom ponds, of course. When I was traveling through Newfoundland a few years back on my motorcycle,I remember being taken aback by the many beautiful rocky ponds there. The Adirondacks are another place I recall seeing several rock bottom ponds. Stream bottoms are commonly rocky. Many northern beaches are rocky, such as the Maine coastline, and there are many natural rock bottomed tidal pools there. So, rocking in a pond is a quite natural thing to want to do if you're trying to replicate nature. Sure is not as natural looking as a mud bottom in most places, but it looks FAR more natural than rubber or cement.
In all of my travels, I don't recall ever seeing a natural rubber bottom pond.
I suspect the whole point of this thread is to trash rock bottomed ponds though...
As far as it not being natural, well it looks far more natural than a rubber liner. Furthermore, natural rock bottom ponds DO exist in nature. They're not as common as mud bottom ponds, of course. When I was traveling through Newfoundland a few years back on my motorcycle,I remember being taken aback by the many beautiful rocky ponds there. The Adirondacks are another place I recall seeing several rock bottom ponds. Stream bottoms are commonly rocky. Many northern beaches are rocky, such as the Maine coastline, and there are many natural rock bottomed tidal pools there. So, rocking in a pond is a quite natural thing to want to do if you're trying to replicate nature. Sure is not as natural looking as a mud bottom in most places, but it looks FAR more natural than rubber or cement.
In all of my travels, I don't recall ever seeing a natural rubber bottom pond.
I suspect the whole point of this thread is to trash rock bottomed ponds though...
Well that is a good point. However the water needs to be contained somehow.
Good for you. Please show me some bashing.
It's been a while since I had an aquarium set up, but at one time I had what they were calling a reverse flow under gravel system. You had a fairly standard under gravel set up, but the main filtration was in a separate filter canister, the aquarium water was sucked out of the aquarium through a out-take port close to the bottom of the aquarium and was filtered mechanically in a detached filter canister to remove all the solids and sediment, then it was pumped back into the aquarium below the under gravel system and up through the gravel. This system actually had a cleaning effect on the gravel as any poop or sediment was sort of levitated off the gravel and became buoyant and would eventually get sucked up by the out-take port and filtered out. The advantage of this system was you still had good oxygen and nutrient flow though that gravel bottom thus helping to establish a good bacteria colony (and also providing nutrients to any planted plants), but all the sediment and large solids were filtered out before they could get stuck in the gravel. I actually had a similar setup in the upper section of my last pond.
Blatant or subtle? Because I'm not seeing much of the former here.