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The "All Natural" Pond
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First of all, get that thought out of your head and those words out of your vocabulary.  If you want an "All Natural" pond, buy a house on the lake!  "Natural" ponds have natural run off and are fed naturally.  Nothing we are doing here is "natural".  We are creating a confined environment and the best we can hope to do is to make it LOOK natural.  Even the FISH you will be adding are not "natural".  They are high bred something-or-other, even if they're feeder goldfish, and they are not as strong as the fish you catch out at that house on the lake you're buying.  By putting rocks IN your pond, you do several things, and NONE of them are beneficial. 

Numero Uno:  Fish swim in their own waste.  Their own toilet, so to speak.  Imagine your toilet at home with a bunch of crevices, nooks and crannies instead of a smooth interior finish.  How hard would THAT be to keep clean?  Now imagine living in it.  Not a pretty mental picture, eh?  At least you get to flush away the bad water and get all new water regularly.  Fish in the ponds we build are not so fortunate.  If you put rocks in the bottom of your pond, gunk will accumulate under them, and you will grow anaerobic bacteria.  Anaerobic bacteria grow in an oxygenless (is that a real word?) environment.
Filth.  Why in the world am I SMILING??? Pretty!
Your fish could be swimming in THIS!
Anaerobic bacteria create a perfect environment for pathogens that are harmful to your fish.  Don't believe me?  Look it up.  Oh SURE, the top of the rocks will look all nice and clean, but take your hand and scoot that top layer around and you'll have billows of black goo.  Think I'm nuts?  Go ask a "real koi snob" if they would consider putting one of their $3,000.00 koi (a cheap one) in a pond with gravel in it and they will have you hauled off in a straight jacket.  The fact is that anaerobic bacteria create the ideal environment pathogens, and pathogens will cause fish to succomb to a NUMBER of parasites and diseases.  Both pathogens and parasites are always present in your pond water, but reducing their number makes it possible for healthy fish to fend them off.  The most popular of the lovely side effects of a rock bottom pond is ulcers (a big, gaping hole in the side of the fish).  A fish with a healthy immune system in good quality water can fend these nasties off, but put that same fish in a pond full of pathogens and watch out!

Dos:  Rocks take up valuable water volume.  You want as much water volume as you can get out of your pond, and adding rocks can reduce your water volume by up to 1/3.  More water volume is easier to regulate both chemically and thermally, and your fish need consistancy in both.

Tres:  Rocks DO NOT "protect your liner from harmful UV rays".  GET REAL!!  45 mil EPDM pond liner is manufactured to last 25 years.  If you still live in the same house, and still have the exact same pond after 20 years, CONGRATULATIONS!!  You are one of the few - the proud - - -.  Do you still have the same roof, furnace, hot water heater too?  If you think about it, rocks can cause more damage to your pond liner than UV rays.  After all, we install geotextile underlayment under the liner to protect it from any protruding objects that may work their way up through the soil.  Ooo!!  Here's a good idea!!  Let's put the sharp objects INSIDE the pond liner!!  Surely they won't hurt anything THERE!  I mean, it's not like you'll be wading around in your pond, repositioning plants and such.  Oh, that's right, you WILL be wading around in your pond . . . . .  Do you see where I'm going with this?

I don't care WHAT you hear from other pond installers and kit companies.  Rocks in your pond are detrimental to the well-being of your fish AND your liner.  If you decide you want to take up the hobby of killing fish you actually paid good money for, at least do it humanely.  Then seek professional help.  Wait, better idea, seek professional help FIRST!!
Write me at:  pondgal@gridcom.net
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