Adding sand to a pond. WHY? - Ep 18

Zone11a - Gold Coast, Australia - I am demonstrating how I put sand into a pond, and it does not matter if it is small, like the one in the video, or if it was the size of a football field, it would be the same process.
WHY am I doing this?
I put sand in for the bacteria that it has within it. The sand has come from a river and goes back into water. I find that by using sand a pond will settle in a few months (instead of a year), if set up in the warm weather, which for us is from November to February. If set up later than that it will take longer to settle, and I never set up ponds from July to October. Sometimes I will not even do them in June if it is a cold one.
These two small ponds will be left to sit over winter with just some hornwort in it just to keep the water fresh.
This video was created on 21st June 2024. I live on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. We are in Zone 11a.

[@NicolaTierney-gg6hh]

I have found this video very interesting.

[@philxdev]

^^ ponds are just big outdoor-aquariums:))) having a big layer of sand and some gravel on the bottom is a good biofilter.... even "if" the sand is not fresh from a river... beneficial bacteria will start to grow there over time and provide a more stable water biology. good video. getting a bucket of mud from a nearby healthy river or small stream can of course accelerate this and provide some additional lifeforms that will help keep everything in balance.

[@TanglemireGardens-ni8vz]

BRILLIANT idea with mud. Glad you liked it. Do not understand people using rock on the base if their ponds.

[@philxdev]

@@TanglemireGardens-ni8vz Oh some bigger rocks so that fish eggs can fall into the crevices^^... do not know if this is something "pond-guys" would do... I just have a smaller aquarium and started one of those little ponds in a big zement bucket on the balcony as you can really breed some nice fish over the summer time. fish and plants go hand in hand so well... and/or small shrimp

[@TanglemireGardens-ni8vz]

@@philxdev So true about the plants and small shrimp. In the cideo I am doing know it is about moving one of my ponds that has shrimp in it. I am amazed how they survived after their rough treatment. I don't put rocks in my ponds unless they are for goldfish ( we do not have koi in Queensland - illegal). I only use river sand. I use pond plants for fish to lay their eggs in, but I mainly deal with live bearing fish in all of my ponds (except of course the gold fish).