Rocks on the bottom?

[fishin4cars]

Natural ponds have rocks, mud, sticks and all kinds of junk on the bottom so you pick! Rocks or no rocks, if you have the right balance of fish, filter and plants, you'll be good to go. Try adding some more plants that will cover the surface and feed off the water: hyacinth, water lettuce, pennywort.....also some underwater guys like anacharis or hornwort will all out-compete your algae and eventually clear your water.
I do have pebbles on the shallower ledges and they're great for stuffing oxygenating plants or clumps of marginal plants; both of which will help clean your water up. The sludge junk that builds up underneath is natural goo so it doesn't bother me. Good luck

the gunk on the bottom may not bother you right now, but when it gets caught up in between rocks and goes anaerobic the you start getting deseases that are hard to treat. Everything will look fine but sores start appearing when all looks good, just warning. I've seen this plenty of time over the years, Rarely in the first 1-2 years, unless there is heavy stocking, Hits the worse in a early spring attack.

 

[koiguy1969]

rocks on the bottom...NOT!! unless your willing to put in the work of removing them and cleaning under them every year, 2 years if your lightly stocked. like fishin',(and most everyone else, including myself) said the debris and soot creates a low oxygen enviroment ant the bacteria there turns anaerobic...byproduct of amaerobic bacteria breaking down organics is hydrogen sulphide gas..its poisonous. how in anyway can that be a good thing?..a bare liner will build a bacterial colony of aerobic bacteria with good water movement in the pond, and allow a layer of alge in the form of blanket weed to cover it...doesnt take time for this to look perfectly natural...a few baseball and up sized stones in small groups can add to the effect without having a collection ground for every leaf, stem. flower, fish poop, and / or any other organic to build up and further polute the water.

 

[koidaddy]

I wanted to add this. I use to have rock/pea gravel on the bottom of my 180 gallon oscar fish tank. Water was crystal clear. I noticed some HTHD on day on one of my fish and did a water test. Amonia and nitrites were off the chart. Dark green and purple. I removed the rock and never looked back. Water has been perfect since I removed the rock. When I did remove the rock I couldn't believe how bad it was underneath them. I use sand now. Not as pretty but healthier for my fish.


So for those who have rock and think they are ok, Please be carefull. As fishin and koiguy have said in a couple years you will have issues with the toxic buildup.

 

[koiguy1969]

OH...just an aditional drawback...when you have to drain the pond, reomve the rocks, clean the liner, replace the rocks, and refill the pond. your kind of starting over and just may be subject to...the dreaded "NEW POND SYNDROME!" so if youve got them, when you take them out and clean..do yourself, your fish, and your pond a favor and skip the putting them back step!!

 

[Nova]

Funny how nature can do it just fine but human made ponds can't handle it.

 

[koidaddy]

Most applications in nature with still water do not have river rock on the bottom. Flowing streams with rock are something different as the water is constantly being changed.

 

[addy1]

Most still water natural ponds are full of muck, toe squishy, moving streams have the rocks and any slow area on that stream has muck accumulated.

Some still water ponds fill up over time due to the muck, become bogs then become a meadow.

 

[DrDave]

Most applications in nature with still water do not have river rock on the bottom. Flowing streams with rock are something different as the water is constantly being changed.

Exactly! Ponds do not have rocks, streams do, and and they have a steady flow of water washing the muck downstream. I have rocks in the stream that connects my upper and lower pond, but I also have 4300 GPH flowing over them.

 

[timelessr1]

so the consensus is not to put rock on the bottom....now what if you just put rocks on the ledges, and not at the actual bottom of the deep end?

 

[j.w]

I think it's still gonna collect debris on the plant ledge if that's what you are talking about. But maybe you could just take the garden hose every once in awhile and get all that's around the ledge to go down to the bottom where you could vacuum it all up. Still some work but if you must have them. I have rocks just below my top edge rocks but they are only a few inches down. Don't know if that would be the same or not compared to the plant ledge which is down about 18" and much wider also :nananananana:

 

[addy1]

I have rocks just on my shallow edge, the water level comes and goes. So far do not appear to be collecting a ton of junk. Like what you have jw, but even shallower, 0-2 inches of water. Mainly to hide the liner.

 

[timelessr1]

I think it's still gonna collect debris on the plant ledge if that's what you are talking about. But maybe you could just take the garden hose every once in awhile and get all that's around the ledge to go down to the bottom where you could vacuum it all up. Still some work but if you must have them. I have rocks just below my top edge rocks but they are only a few inches down. Don't know if that would be the same or not compared to the plant ledge which is down about 18" and much wider also :nananananana:

thanks....that is a good idea with jsut washing and blowing the debris out with a garden hose every so oftern down to the deep area which (will)has my pump in it. The reason i would like light onthe plant ledges is that it gives me some place to hide the LED under water lighting, I think it would look strange having the light jsut sitting there on top of the black liner. I guess its tough finding a balance between being functional and esthetically pleasing..and my plant ledge is about 12-15 inches below the water line

 

[addy1]

Well when you put plants on the plant shelf the pots the plants are in will help hide the lights too.

 

[timelessr1]

Well when you put plants on the plant shelf the pots the plants are in will help hide the lights too.

ehhhhh...didnt think of that either!!:nananananana:

 

[addy1]

lol that happens, sometimes right in front of the nose, just don't see it.