Sand as substrate for goldfish pond?

[richardc1983]

What do you think? Trying to make it a little more interesting for Gilbert. Some people say it's a good substrate as they can pick through it.

 

[Lisak1]

Most don't recommend sand as it can trap waste and debris and quickly become a problem. A better choice is a shallow layer of gravel.

 

[Mmathis]

Most don't recommend sand as it can trap waste and debris and quickly become a problem. A better choice is a shallow layer of gravel.

Ditto!

 

[MajorDan]

You could use a thin layer of pea gravel and a few larger rocks

 

[HomerJay]

Gravel would trap more debris than sand and much more quickly. Waste sits on top of the sand, but it will settle between the gravel much easier than sand. The problem sand has is, if it's too deep and doesn't get stirred around it can develop pockets of gas that can poison fish if released.

 

[Lisak1]

Gravel would trap more debris than sand and much more quickly

That's true I suppose - however gravel is easier to stir up to get the debris moving. Also, bacteria will colonize the gravel and help break down the debris that settles - not sure if the same is true of sand.

Any gravel layer that you add to a pond bottom should be shallow.

 

[Criscar]

I

What do you think? Trying to make it a little more interesting for Gilbert. Some people say it's a good substrate as they can pick through it.

I have a small beach area in my pond surrounded by gravel, only like 1’x1.5’ and less than an inch deep to prevent the trapped ammonia danger. The fish seem to enjoy it and it gives a little bit of visual interest to the pond. I did have to scoop up and rinse out the sand around the one year mark as it was looking a bit green/grey, but it cleaned up easily with just swishing it around in bucket with pond water and since it was such a small amount it wasn’t a big deal. I think having the whole bottom sand would be a problem to keep clean and safe unless you are keeping fish and invertebrates that specific like to burrow in sand and thus churn it regularly in which case know it’s not going to look pretty as the years go on. My understanding of the ammonia poisoning danger is that sand can become layered upon decomposing material and water doesn’t pass easily through sand. If you don’t have animals regularly digging and tunneling in the sand, the products of decomposition build up in place and then if the sand is later disturbed it can release a methane bubble that will kill any fish in the immediate area.

 

[Jhn]

Have sand in spots in the bottom of my pond, as a planting bed for lilies and pickerel rush. as of yet to have any trouble with it or build up of the anaerobic areas. However, my pond is kinds big by most water garden standards. Also, sand provides more surface area than gravel for bacteria to colonize, if you picture how many grains of sand it takes to be the size of a pebble there will be a lot more surface area in all those grains of sand compared to pea gravel. Not why I put sand in the pond, but that is why in many reef tanks people use fine grained sand for the SSA.