Bare Bottom Pond Or Not

[waynefrcan]

I have the deep part not lined with rocks. Thought no one will see it. Well this skimmer system is working so well, the liner still looks bare, black and ugly. Can't wait to line it with rocks this fall to cover it.

POnds in the wild you can't see bottom anyway past the edge. With built ponds you can see bottom to almost 5ft deep and 20 - 30 ft across. So make them nice to look at I say.

I have hiding spots built into the rocks which give cover for the fish, less stress. And less likely to be eated by Herons etc.

 

[multifasited]

I DEFINITELY THINK THAT YOU NEED ROCK IN ALL OF YOUR POND ,BIG ROCKS WITH LOTS OF HIDING PLACES ,STRESS ,and emotional concerns are important considerations ,I never realized till now the trama my poor fish must be going thru ,so far they are holding up ,but rest assured I will keep a eye on them .You learn so much on this forum ,when you keep an open mind!

 

[waynefrcan]

OPEN MIND, YES, well I see many strange things done to ponds that I read on this forum.

Some official garden pond books need to be re-written lol

 

[waynefrcan]

delete

 

[FountainMan]

Had a quick look at a garden pond book at H-depot. 100% of all pictured ponds, waterfalls, streams which are the 45 mil EDPM ALL HAVE ROCK bottoms and sides. No bare bottom ponds looked good enough to make the book?? :question:

Your refering to the Turquoise book "Water Gardens 1-2-3"?
Define rocks in pond or around pond? Also one thing you have to understand about Home Depot, they're about home decor instead of natural look. While the book shows different ideas they're about what looks best in the average backyard. And as I have the book your refering to from what I can make out from the pictures glare and murky water make it impossable to make out bare liner or rock bottom. Some of the ponds were but the rest are uncertain. Rock bottom looks best in small backyard ponds as they are more for display and "WOW" factor. But bare liner after a while of a layer of algae looks natual like a bare dirt pond found in nature which many water gardeners shoot for.

Conclusion, Bare bottomed ponds with stone edging is best. It's also a matter of opinion.

Also rock bottom kinda gives away plumming pumps and other componets unless you do extra to hide those items. Black componets on black liner blend in better.

 

[waynefrcan]

No, different book, Sunlight, Sunquest, can't remember. Not Orthos.

I was reading on another forum, that what some of us are wanting is a water feature. That is the clincher for me. I want a water feature not a ugly bare bottom thing. I'm willing to do the extra work to keep it clean, no problem. A bare bottom also means bare sidewalls, yuk :wacko:

If a person is having expensive koi and thats the most important to them, then bare bottom.

 

[FountainMan]

No, different book, Sunlight, Sunquest, can't remember. Not Orthos.

I was reading on another forum, that what some of us are wanting is a water feature. That is the clincher for me. I want a water feature not a ugly bare bottom thing. I'm willing to do the extra work to keep it clean, no problem. A bare bottom also means bare sidewalls, yuk :wacko:

If a person is having expensive koi and thats the most important to them, then bare bottom.

Of course Bare bottoms are perfect for larger ponds. Smaller ponds are okay with rock bottoms.

 

[waynefrcan]

You guys will like this. I have decided on my deepest part 4', that I will go only a few large rocks. The rest will be bare for ease of cleaning.

 

[addy1]

lol still your choice!
I had a few rocks fall into my deep end. I went swimming and pulled them out, what a pita to net the bottom with them there, kept getting the net caught on them.

 

[jbjabber]

I Love My Rock!
There is a skimmer that sucks most of the big stuff up before it settles. I sometimes net it in the fall but I don't have a lot of deciduous trees.
I suck out the big detritus once a year (when I cut back and divide plants). I use an algae product when I get the carpet algae, but mostly scoop out the big chunks. I do have a small water capacity though like some have said.

 

[Mucky_Waters]

All the best looking natural ponds I have seen all have bare bottoms with rock, or faux rock, around the edges and sometimes down the sides. Most botched pond builds where the owners have ongoing water quality problems and sick or dying fish inevitably have rocks covering the bottoms and/or liner exposed along the edges above the water line.
These aren't hard and fast rules, just what I have personally witnessed here in these forums.

Here is a pond that has been an inspiration to me for years, I don't think the bare bottom looks too bad, do you?

 

[waynefrcan]

It is nice, but not the pond for me. Wow cute fish!

As you can tell this forum is in love with bare bottoms. It's a big world out there. Other forums and sites are go with rocks and bare bottoms. To be totally against them is wrong and an unfair view.

As I have mentioned in other topics. If you have rocks, you need a good pump and a skimmer and you will be fine. Yes their are nightmare pond builds with rocks that have problems. It usually isn't the rocks, but poor design and/or poor filtration etc. And a lack of proper cleaning when needed.

 

[addy1]

Most people love bare bottoms, but in saying that a pond can have a bare bottom or a rocked bottom. Totally your choice.
We all have opinions on what is right or wrong, what works does not work.
But most on this forum try not to trash someone's pond just because it is different.

Like jw...........GASP............she has no filter running.............me .............GASP.........I have only a bog for a filter............others GASP..........use skippy style filters...........lmao but our ponds are doing just fine. and others .........double GASP GASP have rocks on the bottom .........OH MY! lol but if they work for you and you like them go for it!

 

[waynefrcan]

I Love My Rock!
There is a skimmer that sucks most of the big stuff up before it settles. I sometimes net it in the fall but I don't have a lot of deciduous trees.
I suck out the big detritus once a year (when I cut back and divide plants). I use an algae product when I get the carpet algae, but mostly scoop out the big chunks. I do have a small water capacity though like some have said.

But you still broke the pond rock lovers rule, bare bottoms?? :question: lol

 

[ididntdoit99]

I don't know why everybody just doesn't build their pond my way... I mean,my way is the only correct way to build my pond.

Seriously though, I love how ponds look with a rock bottom, and my skimmer does do a very good job of not letting stuff settle to the bottom, which is amazing considering the amount of trees I have in my yard, so I could probably put rock all over the bottom and have no issues. But in the spring, after the skimmer hasn't ran all winter, I'm sure i will need to net some stuff off of the bottom of the pond.

Also like I have said many a times when people commented on the shape of my pond (completely rectangular) I decided I had in my budget to spend a certain amount on a liner, and as much as those things cost, I'm going to use every square inch of that thing, which means making my pond rectangular, to give the fish the most room they could possibly have with that liner. There's not much point in going back there now and sticking rocks in there and displacing a bunch of the water.

And as far as my fish being stressed and NEEDING rock to hide in, I would have to put huge boulders in there for 2 foot koi to be able to hide, that's what I have lilies, floating planters filled with water lettuce, pots with iris, not to mention just the 4 foot depth to stay away from a predator, the fish have plenty of places to hide without rock. In fact, the rock i DO have in the pond around the edge has caused nothing but problems for me this year, almost lost two koi that thought they needed to scrounge back there for food and got stuck, and I did lose one goldfish who did the same.