For those who keep rocks and gravel at the bottom of ponds, how do you keep the poop and other bio wastes from collecting between the rocks and contaminating the pond? I would like to add rocks for aesthetic purposes but don't want to have to drain the pond every few months to clean it out.
Rocks/gravel at pond bottom
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GoldLenny
Senior Member? Do I get a 5% disc.?
If you insist on having lots of rocks on the bottom, you will have to do more frequent maintenance on the pond. You can get a wet-vac and use it to vacuum up the bottom of the pond. I used this on my mini-ponds every fall to remove all of the detritus/mulm prior to preparing the pond for overwintering.
Funny, I got a "20 Myths about outdoor ponds" brochure from my local nursery. One of the myths is having rocks in the bottom causes issues with your pond. In reality it is good for it. I can't remember what all it said, I would have to look when I get home. Makes sense to me though.
I had some gravel in my pond. Anytime I would scoop leaves or other stuff some of the gravel would come out. Soon there was no gravel left.
Yankee Dog
Yankee Dog
GoldLenny
Senior Member? Do I get a 5% disc.?
Is that the same brochure that tells you to fill the pond, wait 24 hours, add 1 goldfish per 10G or 1 koi per 50G and doesn't tell you anthing about the nitrogen cycle or owning a master test kit for testing ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH, KH, etc.???
Yep... you guessed it... I was being sarcastic.
Of course they want you to have rocks as they know they will cause you more water quality issues (or holes in your pond liner) so you will be back buying their "miracle" chemicals and repair kits that will supposedly fix everything. Then when your fish get sick, they will sell you more "miracle" medicines that will fix everything. Then when your fish and plants die, they will sell you more "miracle".... oops.. out of miracles... now you have to buy more fish and plants. Looks like they just made a few hundred dollars off that 25 cent brochure. The 21st myth should be "Always believe brochures with 20 myths".
They didn’t publish the brochure. Don't quote me, but I think it was published by the DNR or something similar. I will have to look. They didn't have anything but plants for the pond either, so I doubt they were trying to get me to buy "miracle" solutions. The brochure also was against putting any type of chemical in your ponds. It was about letting MOTHER NATURE do its stuff.
Before you get all high and mighty, you might want to know what the hell you are talking about.
Before you get all high and mighty, you might want to know what the hell you are talking about.
