If your unsure about what the nitrogen cycle is you should read our article a quick guide to the nitrogen cycle. These are keeping the nitrogen cycle running smooth and water quality pristine. Meanwhile the filtration units (seperate from the pond) wether large drum filters or a bog/ wetland filter are providing a home for billions of beneficial bacteria and microorganisms. These organic materials will affect the water quality if allowed to build up. The bottom drains allow for any solids like fish waste, uneaten food and sunken plant materials to be easily drained from the pond. Even better the use of large bog or wetland filters. These kinds of ponds are often designed with bottom drains and large external mechanical and biological filtration units. Keeping the area in which the fish live as clean as possible is seen as the optimal way to keep them safe from parasites and diseases. When you are spending so much money on fish their health is paramount. Koi fish can be incredibly expensive and serious collectors will spend a pretty penny on the right fish. When you wouldn’t add pebbles to your pondĪs I mentioned the majority of pond owners who don’t want pebbles in their pond are serious koi keepers. This will help provide them with a more balanced diet and a good source of exercise.Īgain this is just trying to replicate a more natural feel for both you and the fish. The smaller gravel on the bottom provides homes for tons of micro-organisms.įish will spend ours scouring the gravel in search of food. You really need to have those hiding areas in place to give your fish a sporting chance. Lastly adding rocks and gravel lets you create caves or even tunnels for the fish.Įventually every pond owner is going to encounter predators. The roots will grow into the gravel.Īs the plants seek out nutrients they will outcompete algae.Īdding soil or potting mix into the pond (via pots) will introduce extra nutrients.Īlgae is very fast growing the second there is excess nutrients it will start growing.ĥ. This allows us to complete remove all soil from the plants. In a bare bottomed pond plants need to be placed into pots.Ī pond with rocks and gravel we can create planting pockets. I don’t want to see the pump, the skimmer or any biological filtration units. Having large rocks and small gravel makes it easy to hide filter components. This is pretty self explanatory a pond with plants, rocks and gravel blends more naturally into the landscape. Having that protective layer of rocks and gravel over the liner protects it from sharp claws, sticks, ect. We are always into the ponds seeing what we can find. Secondly rocks and gravel will provide a barrier.Īt my house it’s me, the kids and the dog. If you buy a good quality pond liner it will be uv stabilised and guaranteed for a certain number of years.īut by blocking out the light you will be extending the life of the liner. So first up adding rocks and gravel will protect the liner from ultra toilet light. If you haven’t yet purchased a pond liner or shell you might want to take a look at my article on pond liner choices. There are quite a lot of different liners that are available. If you want to learn more about bog filters you can read my bog filter overview article. I thought i had enough surfaces for the bacteria. Here is a short video showing a small pond i created with bare liner. I believe the best type of filter you can add to any pond is a bog filter.Īnd guess what… it uses rocks and gravel to provide plenty of surface area to house all that good nitrifying bacteria. They provide a home for bacteria to grow! There are many different types of filters. In a bare bottomed pond it’s important that you need to add more external filtration than a rock and gravel pond. The argument goes that its easier to clean a bare bottom pond.īut the reason it needs to be cleaned all the time is because there isn’t enough bacteria in the pond to process all the muck. In a pond with a bare liner bottom there is much less surface area than a pond with rocks and pebbles. So the bacteria that are responsible for the nitrogen cycle colonise every wet surface in the pond.
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