pond substrate

[boot full]

hello to all, and greetings from alberta......I am new to the idea of a pond in the yard as i have had two small children running around for the past years Now they are old enough to play safe I thought about trying it out..I have been lurking around this sight for some time learning what i can but i have a few questions

1) What type of substrate do you use at the bottom of the pond to plant your plants?


2)How deep do you need to lay that substrate?


3)Can i use rocks that i picked out of the river in the pond instead of buying tones of rock

Thanks for reading and answering and sorry for the newbie questions

 

[leeannecastro]

Hi and welcome. You will probably get a variety of advice on here. I started out my pond with small river stones and pea gravel in it because I wanted a natural look and somewhere to plant my lillies. After my water turned septic and my fish started dying, I drained the pond and got rid of ALL the rocks. Now my plants are in planters with pea gravel and any that my fish push out I scoop up and put right back in.
My advice... NO ROCKS!!

 

[boot full]

thanks for the info...!! so no rocks... your saying just set the planter pots on the bottom? how do you hide the plant pots?? it may be easy in the deep end but what about in the shallow area around the edge..thanks again this is all good to know, i'm glad i decided to find out before starting.

 

[koiguy1969]

yeah...rocks are a no-no on he bottom as a rule, even tho a pond builder will tell yu that its a good thing "looks natural" and "surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow" this can be true if you have a good size pond with a small fish load. but not many of us want a small number of fish in a larger pond. the pond builder probably also mantains ponds too and would be more than happy to come and clean it up for you for a fee. but fish poop and decaying plant matter and such are hard to clean from inbetween rocks. that said up near the surface a few dug out areas filled with pea gravel is fine for some border plants. but you'll find most plants will fair as well as if not better in pea gravel than their soil countrparts.....dont make your fish swim in their own toilet.

 

[oldmarine]

I agree with leeanncastro and koiguy. The bottum of your pond like the sides of your pond will take on a layer of green algae that will make it look quite natural. As far as hiding your potted plants, so far there isn't a simple solution to that one. Unless some plastic injection molding company has come up with a variety of plastic molded rocks that have screened potting hole in the center. I guess one could buy some fake plastic rocks and cut a hole in the center to accomodate plants to grow out through the hole. Fake plastic rocks can be found online in a variety if sizes, but uaually not in the variety of sizes that we might be looking for.

 

[boot full]

thanks people for all the great advice, bare bottom it is ,saves me from getting all those rocks anyway..cheers

 

[99SRXMAN]

I have a natural pond with decoritive stone on the bot. and lined the sides with field stone.12 koi and crystal clear water..NO problems as of yet..:biggrin:

 

[leeannecastro]

I put in medium sized boulders and I place flat rocks on top of that and the planter. I will take some photos tomorrow and post them. This gives my fish a great place to hide too.

 

[boot full]

thats a good idea lots of other places say to put pvc pipe in there so fish can swim in there, but i'm all for O'naturelle so a nice rock cave is cool...Also just a thought after reading oldmarines post about building your own planter pots i got to looking around and found this stuff called herpacrete it is a natural balanced ph concrete that they use to make water rockwalls for terrariums that contain sensitive creatures like poision dart frogs, safe for fish and can be put in the water I was thinking of making little volcanos with the plant comming out of the top..Just an idea though feel free to shoot it down if theres something wrong with it..don't want to waste money..thanks

 

[koiguy1969]

i think i might make a 5or6' round ring of black diamond landscape trim (its 6 or 7" deep) cover it with a cheap 20 mil liner and fill it with 1" river rock and / or pea gravel on the floor of my pond and plant all my lillies in it next year rather than have the pots scattered around the pond.. too bad they dont make black baby pools..

 

[DrDave]

Take a cheap baby pool and use it as a form for a concrete ring, then add your liner to the inside.