On 3/18/2012 6:09 PM, ~ jan wrote:
Good oldie picks JB.

Around here (local club) we're of the mindset of no rocks, though we don't
let ourselves get bent out of shape about it. Quite simply we state the
obvious, "you'll have more pond if you remove the rocks" and as we know,
once one puts in a pond they all wish for bigger, right? ;-)

I'll never forget the one ponder who had a pond put in "professionally"
when aquascape first came out. When he got more education on koi, he
removed the rocks and found just how much rock he had paid for... I think
it was something like 2 feet deep in just rocks! Eventually he really got
more serious and made the pond deeper and even added gas heat, so he could
keep his koi comfy thru-out the winter.

I have a neighbor that had her pond professionally installed and it has
small rocks, several inches deep on the bottom. Her pond guy told me
about all the "good bacteria" that would grow there. I could only think
back to my aquarium experience with an under gravel filter where the
gravel did serve as the filter medium; however, you had to pull water
through the gravel and a supporting frame for it to work. Otherwise, it
was just a mulm collecting field that you had to constantly siphon off
to keep clean and the fish healthy.

I've not visited with her in a few years. I'm curious to see what her
thinking is after having this set up for this many years.