opinion on pond floor substrate

[cas]

Springknee, How bad would the pond look if you just lowered the water by 6"?

 

[Lisak1]

yes it's code

So who in the heck is out there measuring your pond depth? And I have the same question as @Meyer Jordan - at 900 gallons, how deep are we talking here? What's the allowable depth? How old is your pond?

Anyway, I think I'd be tempted to put some nice 6" rocks in the bottom, let them measure again, and then pull those suckers out.

Ugh. Like 6" is going to make a difference in whether someone drowns or not in a pond. A small child can drown IN 6 inches of water given the right conditions (or wrong, in this case) - sad but true. I hope none of your neighbors have buckets. Or toilets. Or kiddie pools. Far more drownings happen in those than in garden ponds.

 

[springknee]

It can be 24" deep. I would rather raise the base than lower the top.I think I'll try rock first and if that causes a problem Then I'll pull the liner fill in and reinstall it.I'm guessing that I should use some sort ofa river rock verses are local limestone.

 

[Lisak1]

I understand that you're respecting the local ordinance - but seriously, is someone out at your house measuring your pond depth?

If you need to fix it permanently I would go right to pulling out the liner and filling underneath. Any substrate you add to the bottom that is 6 or 8" deep is going to cause you problems over time. Definitely don't add 6 inches of any kind of gravel - that's a recipe for disaster! And imagine trying to get that back out again - not a fun idea!

 

[jdfn213]

gravel floor!!

 

[morewater]

I'm curious what do you use on the floor of your pond and why

2"-8" river rock, because I like the look and it gives additional surface area for bio-film growth.