More quesions about my pond.

[pilotfox01]

I'm going to mail order fish and pond stuff from Bigals Online and I wanted to see if theres anything else I need to get. Should I buy gravel for the bottom of the pond? Should I buy pond fish food or can I just use regular tropical fish food flakes? Should I buy water conditioner? I think I need to buy a big net too. Well thanks again.

[RogerMcAllen]

A big net is nice to skim leaves off. You can buy koi pellets, or flakes for food.

No gravel, it will just get all mucky, and you don't want to buy that online, the shipping will kill you.

Get a big thing of dechlorinator, whatever you like best. I have 2 nets, 1 large 1 small, for different uses in the pond.

Get 2 kinds of food, 1 fall/spring, 1 summer. They are different type formulas, the spring/fall (low protien) is easier to digest in cooler waether, the summer formula (high protien) is better for hot temps. I prefer pellets/sticks of some kind, easier to make sure you're not over feeding.

[pilotfox01]

I was just reading in the Aquascaping magazine that rocks and gravel are good to have on the bottom of a pond because it make a nice biological filter.

Hadn't thought of it that way, you may have a point. I live on a semi-wooded lot, backing on to a forest, so leaves and everything are constantly getting in there and mucking up the bottom. If your situation is different, it may be worth a try. I still think it would be hard to clean, but if the mag you read mentioned how to do that, pass it along here, you've peaked my curiosity.

[pondmom]

Rocks on the bottom of a pond can be deadly!!

2 years ago when we built our pond, I put in the bottom drain and then rocks all over the bottom.(Big mistake)
I am now in the process of removing them as they have collected so much mulm.
Cleaning the bottom is going to be so much easier.

I'm also hooking up 4- 55gallon barrel filters/ 2 more bottom drains/ and trickle towers.
There is no such thing as too much filtration

I'm also hooking up 4- 55gallon barrel filters/ 2 more bottom drains/ and trickle towers.
There is no such thing as too much filtration

In your case, I would agree, because you keep Koi. From what I've read, they are pretty messy, and will pretty much destroy SAVs (sumbmerged Aquatic Vegitation).

Fo those of us that keep goldfish or other less destuctive fish, I firmly believe in having a lot of SAV and letting it do its job, namely using nutrients, creating oxygen, and keeping the pond in balance. My pond has good strong pumps, but is VERY under-filtered, and it stays in pretty good balance, no greenwater, only algae that is problematic is string algae. I spend a lot of time out there during pond season, so i just remove the string manually. Plants grow well, fish thrive, virtually no diseases, so I'm happy.

I have 6 years exp. with ponds now, and the one thing I have learned for sure, is no 2 ponds are the same. There are guidelines to follow, but no hard and fast rules that apply to every situation.

[pilotfox01]

Well I went ahead and bought a few bags of river rock. I'm going to line the bottom of the pond and see what happens. The rocks are about the size of golf balls. Hopefully it will make a nice biological filter.