I guess this leads to the next obvious question, what plants can or cannot
be planted directly in the pond gravel? I know invasive plants should be
kept in their containers. We have a papaya that's kept in its container.
We're told that it would quickly overtake the pond if left to grow outside
its container. Water hyacinth, too. Someone here (sorry, don't remember
who) said water lilies can be grown directly in the gravel, and I don't
think they're invasive. Anything else?

"PondScape1" wrote in message
...
We are installers for the AS system. We generally use a mixture of
"Canadian
Blue" gravel. This is a granite gravel that ranges in size from 3/4" up to
2".
Our experience with other gravels has led to using this size as a
standard. The
mixture will help "lock" everything together. Many people complain that
each
spring the pond awakens to an avalanche of gravel that has all accumulated
at
the bottom. We plant all of our plants directly in the gravel. We have
never
had a problem using this system in 7 years of business. As for the
"muck"... If
you have a well balanced system with added beneficial bacteria, true
biological
and mechanical filtration and the right amounts of fish and plants- the
muck
will not be an issue. We drain and clean most of our ponds each spring.
The
gravel ponds have very little muck in them. We simply pump them dry, rinse
or
pressure wash, then pump out again and refill. The bare liner ponds we
service
are full of muck every spring! The gravel will act as a bed for the
bacteria to
colonize on therefore consuming most of the "muck". We have used smaller
1/4"
to 1/2" gravel in past with no luck. It seems that the larger mix of sizes
allows for more oxygen to get into the cracks and help the bacteria work.
The
smaller gravel acted as saran wrap and therefore provided ideal situations
for
anaerobic bacteria (not good). Keep in mind that these facts are only from
OUR
EXPERIENCE, not from book methods or scientific studies. My advice is to
value
everyone's opinions in here as they will all have valid points to learn
from. I
hope it helps. Also, remember that the gravel pond is for the POND
hobbyist.
Many KOI hobbyists may argue the gravel "can of worms." Read into it and
use
your best judgement.

PS... That "prof installer" that made a 4 foot pond and filled it with 2
feet
of gravel should not be called a professional. The AS system requires a
very
thin layer of gravel and would never instruct them to add 2 feet of it.
They
should not be called a professional for that job.

www.pondscapedesigns.com