Well, winter has killed me, my two small ponds are completely shut down and my large one has done great so far but I'm going nuts not being able to work on them!! Anyway, was wondering if I really need to line the bottom of my large pond with rocks? I've heard some say yes for looks and fish health and others say no...I'm confused. Also, anyone have any clever ideas about shelving for plants that looks natural? When we dug the hole, there were shelves in the plan but none were actually dug out...
Rocks in pond bottom?
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blazeyreef
Aquarium Advice Addict
I have heard yes and no. I have heard yes, for the same as you but no because it holds down on bacteria etc. but I wouldnt know for sure
People are really polarized on this subject (and aquarium people argue about rocks in the bottom too). Bottom drain people (and all "serious" koi people swear by bottom drains) don't like rocks becasue they can clog the drain. I have rocks on 2' shallows, shelves and boggy areas -- and whatever has sunk to 4' bottom (can't see that) and what I have noticed is that unless there is strong current from waterfall or water return, the rocks quickly get furry with algae and no longer have that clean colorful or patterned rock look. Furthermore, I am always concerned that I will puncture the liner with a rock on those occasions when I must walk in the pond to clean it or retrieve a water lily from the deep end. This spring, I am doubling pond from 1500g to 3000g and putting in a bottom drain so I'll probably go rockless. Good luck.
MsBeanCtr
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I ran a small pond (1800) for a couple of years without rock in the bottom and it was SO easy to keep clean. I ended up having to put rock in the bottom because a blue heron kept on poking holes in the liner with his feet (along with eating several of my favorite koi). I finally got so ticked off that I completely emptied the pond and ripped up the liner and went with a rigid liner instead. I don't miss the rock and after a month or two I couldn't see it anyways. Just my 2 cents here. 
I actually had a small shallow place on one end of the pond that I use as a bog that I put stones in to test it out. In less than a week they were covered with algae and brown goo. The millions of recent tadpoles took care of it but I decided that I didn't want to use the rocks especially since I don't have any kind of pond vac yet and I have a bad habit of climbing into the pond during the summer barefoot.
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