Water Gardening: Equilibrium, What do you think of the water garden so far???, 1 by snapple45

snapple45 wrote:
Equilibrium I understand your hesitation about rock bottoms. They can be tricky if overdone. The stones we used are thin, perfectly smooth and fairly flat, leaving only small spaces in between. It was expensive but I wanted a smooth surfaces to avoid the koi beating themselves up. The spaces are covered with large smooth pebbles. I vacuum with a pond vac once a year taking care to get in between the pebbles in the gaps. I avoid where the waterlilly got a root hold. It hasn't been much different in that respect than another smaller pond (380 gal)I have with an epdm rubber liner only. When I do the annual water change (25%) I put the pump at the lowest point and use one that sucks directly from the bottom and move it around the bottom from time to time as it is draining. I have had no noticeable sludge build up. I actually think the koi, in their continual rummaging around between the rocks, put any accumulating debris in suspension and allow it to circulate enough to be filtered out. It is a 2000 gal with seven koi and about 24 goldfish. I would dearly love to "relocate" the goldfish. They reproduce like, well like goldfish and they were a huge mistake. I removed nearly 100 this last spring. I hope to get the rest this year. The koi are approaching the 18" to 20" size. Any way, even with this fish load I have never, ever, had a measurable, ammonia, nitrite or nitrate reading. So far, so good.