Stick with actual.
how did the rock bottom trend start?
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If I misread your intentions than I apologize. If that's the case than I think this thread has ran its course since I gave you many examples of natural rock bottom water sources. Right?
I keep hearing about these natural rock bottom ponds, but I for one have never seen one, and I spent much of my childhood playing around natural ponds. Many rivers and streams for sure often have rock bottoms because the flow of the water helps sweep the rocks clean, but any natural pond I've seen usually has a layer of sediment on the bottom, some ponds I've been in that layer is 3 feet thick or more. If there was ever any rock at the bottom of these ponds they certainly were not visible, all you see is a smooth bottom with an algae coating.
I agree that visible rubber liner is more ugly then rocks, in fact I've never understood why people accept exposed rubber liner around the shoreline or waterfalls of their ponds when there are methods of hiding it that are pretty simple. But as for the liner under the water, it doesn't take very long to establish a nice algae coating on the rubber, in fact after a little while it's pretty hard to remove that algae (ask me how I know). So in fact you don't see the rubber liner anymore, or the printed company trademark, you just see a natural coating of algae, much like you would on the bottom of a natural pond.
If someone has pictures of a natural POND (not stream or river) with exposed rocks on the bottom, I'd sure like to see them.
I agree that visible rubber liner is more ugly then rocks, in fact I've never understood why people accept exposed rubber liner around the shoreline or waterfalls of their ponds when there are methods of hiding it that are pretty simple. But as for the liner under the water, it doesn't take very long to establish a nice algae coating on the rubber, in fact after a little while it's pretty hard to remove that algae (ask me how I know). So in fact you don't see the rubber liner anymore, or the printed company trademark, you just see a natural coating of algae, much like you would on the bottom of a natural pond.
If someone has pictures of a natural POND (not stream or river) with exposed rocks on the bottom, I'd sure like to see them.
Why are you trying to play forum enforcer and make up an issue that doesn't even exist?
Troutredds
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You're right. It's not the greatest idea. It's a sediment trap. River cobble does look great in streams, though. There are many alpine lakes here in the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges that have rock bottoms as well. Most of our mountain rivers and lakes are quite rocky from past volcanic and glacial activity.
Wow now that is cool.
j.w
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Rocks in streams to me looks very nice and the rushing water sends the debris downstream where the filter can pick up the crud. In the pond if not kept well maintained you can't really see how nice they look. I think this all started in caveman days when men stored up their weapon rocks in big holes. Holes filled w/ water and fish were added on prehistoric bird legs................VOILA!............the 1st ponderers
Troutredds
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Thanks, j.w. I always wondered how all those high alpine lakes were formed!Rocks in streams to me looks very nice and the rushing water sends the debris downstream where the filter can pick up the crud. In the pond if not kept well maintained you can't really see how nice they look. I think this all started in caveman days when men stored up their weapon rocks in big holes. Holes filled w/ water and fish were added on prehistoric bird legs................VOILA!............the 1st ponderers
LOL
Right after I posted my last post I thought, I bet someone will post some pictures of an alpine or glacier lakes. Of course those are not really ponds. Not that it maters, I guess if you want to make your pond look like a alpine or glacier fed lake that up to you, and it's just a mater of personal choice. But when you are talking about ponds we tend to think of places with frogs, turtles and lily-pads, which you are not likely to ever find in those icy cold bodies of water.
So here's the new challenge, find me a picture of a natural pond (with lily-pads) that has a rock bottom.
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I like the looks of them better than the liner. I did take them out one year, hated it. The liner turned green which made the pond look green. I'm sticking with my rocks, it's a personal preference.
Troutredds
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This place is in South Carolina - it's natural, with lily pads, frogs, turtles...AND they will host your wedding or bar mitzvah!LOL
Right after I posted my last post I thought, I bet someone will post some pictures of an alpine or glacier lakes. Of course those are not really ponds. Not that it maters, I guess if you want to make your pond look like a alpine or glacier fed lake that up to you, and it's just a mater of personal choice. But when you are talking about ponds we tend to think of places with frogs, turtles and lily-pads, which you are not likely to ever find in those icy cold bodies of water.
So here's the new challenge, find me a picture of a natural pond (with lily-pads) that has a rock bottom.
I guess my post got skipped in the rush to whatever. More about that post later on.
As for my pond, all peremeter side walls and slopes are covered with 1 to 3 foot roundish stones which break the surface. Some sloping areas have smaller oval and flat stones. The more extensive bottom liner has a nice attractive algae patina. I would love to have river rock on the bottom but removing the muck that I assume would accumulate even in a fishless nature pond would be a laborious, time consuming and costly chore. With that said I can't rule out the possibility that someone else may have had a good experience with a layer of rock over their ponds bottom liner.
Natural ponds, streams, creeks, lakes, river and sea shore bottoms all vary. I've seen and been in waters with lovely clean sand, sand over mud, dark unattractive muddy sand, gross muck, rock hard stunning multi-hued hard clay, beautiful clean black sand, beach pebbles, river rock, small gravel over rock hard soil, pea gravel mixed with sand and small to large stone bottoms plus bottoms coverd with sharp, jagged rock and some bottoms covered in vegatation. We are all blessed to live on a big planet with tremendous geographic variations. Regardless of what we may prefer each bottom type is there for a reason.
About my earlier post in this thread. I asked to hear from pond owners who do have rock in their man made ponds. Photo's of such would be a big plus!
Thank you all!
As for my pond, all peremeter side walls and slopes are covered with 1 to 3 foot roundish stones which break the surface. Some sloping areas have smaller oval and flat stones. The more extensive bottom liner has a nice attractive algae patina. I would love to have river rock on the bottom but removing the muck that I assume would accumulate even in a fishless nature pond would be a laborious, time consuming and costly chore. With that said I can't rule out the possibility that someone else may have had a good experience with a layer of rock over their ponds bottom liner.
Natural ponds, streams, creeks, lakes, river and sea shore bottoms all vary. I've seen and been in waters with lovely clean sand, sand over mud, dark unattractive muddy sand, gross muck, rock hard stunning multi-hued hard clay, beautiful clean black sand, beach pebbles, river rock, small gravel over rock hard soil, pea gravel mixed with sand and small to large stone bottoms plus bottoms coverd with sharp, jagged rock and some bottoms covered in vegatation. We are all blessed to live on a big planet with tremendous geographic variations. Regardless of what we may prefer each bottom type is there for a reason.
About my earlier post in this thread. I asked to hear from pond owners who do have rock in their man made ponds. Photo's of such would be a big plus!
Thank you all!
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Here's mine. Tried to get it without the sun glare, impossible.
Troutredds
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We have a 20 in. ledge around most of the perimeter of our gunite (concrete) pond. The ledge has small (1 - 2 in.) and large (6 - 8 in.) river cobble in various places. The bottom and sides of the pond were textured and lightly grooved when the concrete was wet, to give the appearance of stone. We like the look of the river rock on the shelves. The water's only 18 in. deep there and the cobble layer isn't that thick, so I can vacuum up most of the sediment. The pond bottom is rock-free with a bottom drain, which helps when skimming out leaves, needles, twigs etc...
We have what I assume people refer to as a "rock bottomed pond" although gravel bottom would be a better description. Our walls and shelves are all rocked with boulders that range from hand sized to "three man" boulders. The shelves are also gravel covered.
We built our pond this way because we like the way it looks AND we believe in the concept of an eco-pond. Each element works to support the others - the fish feed the plants, the plants take excess nutrients from the water, the bacteria lives on the debris from the fish and the plants and breaks it down to continue to feed the plants and other pond life that makes itself at home. Having gravel on the bottom gives the bacteria an additional place to cling to, breed and multiply so they can do their job.
I know that many of you will not believe the rest of what I'm about to say, but that's OK. I know it's true, so I don't really care what you believe. Our pond is NOT muck filled. I get in the pond every couple of weeks to groom the plants and so I know what's on the bottom. It's a fine silt-like layer that is continuously breaking down. In our fifth year with this pond that layer has never gotten deeper and in fact at several points throughout the year will disappear completely. We have never emptied the pond, never cleaned the pond, never power-washed the pond, never do water changes (other than topping off due to evaporation). We do not have a bio-filter or a skimmer. We rely on a large gravel and plant filled bog to provide filtration. (And I get poked fun of on other forums for that, believe me.)
Our water is clear, our fish are healthy, our plants grow beautifully. The pond looks good, smells good and functions as we hoped it would. We stopped testing the water in our first year and instead rely on what we can observe.
I would also argue that you rarely see a natural pond with a waterfall, let alone pumps and skimmers. I would guess that very few garden ponds are actually "natural" ponds, even if you discount the liner. We all tinker with and modify the "natural" pond idea to suit our own desires. I would never want to mess with cleaning filters and maintaining the kinds of things that some ponders use to keep their pond clean - but that's just me. I like to see how close to nature I can get my manmade pond.
I will also add - ours is a garden pond that happens to have koi (and other fish). We do not have a dedicated koi pond. That's a whole other kind of pond. We intentionally keep our fish numbers down and feed lightly to keep our system functioning well.
We have gone on numerous pond tours in the Chicago area every year and have seen dozens of rock bottom ponds that function as well as ours does. It kind of amazes me that people still persist in the theory that rocks are a big no-no. I do believe rocks vs no rocks is a personal preference based on the type of pond you wish to have and the type of pond maintenance you are interested in doing.
Here's a photo for you BigLou, taken just a minute ago. You are looking straight down to the bottom. I can see a rubber band that my granddaughter dropped in last weekend that I need to get out! I'm going to wade in here in a bit to clean up some of those lily pads, too: