Cleaning up spilled pea gravel from pond bottom

10 years ago

We had some heavy rains and flooding last month while I was out of town. I'm not sure what happened, but half the pots (which for my tiny pond is like, two pots) were knocked off the marginal shelf into the deep water.

Managed to fish my plants out of the bottom and repot them (though I just found my poor helova lily this week, it's tattered but growing). But there's probably a nice mound of pea gravel now on the bottom of the pond. Should I be trying to get this out or is it safe to leave it till I clean the pond in the fall?

Comments (5)

chas045
10 years ago
To be honest, I don't have personal experience with pond gravel; but from reading most posts here for several years I believe I can safely say it won't be of any issue since you plan to clean things in the fall anyway. At that point you can just scoop it out and wash it. My own guess is that it wouldn't really be a big deal if you forgot about it for several years. The concern appears to be a build up of rotting plants in anerobic conditions. However, I have never cleaned the bottom of my pond in six years without issues.
sleeplessinftwayne
10 years ago
If you need to get them out and a scoop net won't do it you can get a siphon type bottom cleaner for small pools. It runs about $15 and attaches to a hose. The pea gravel should be light enough to be picked up into the net bag. Expect to use it with a water change since it adds water to the pond. This only works with tap water so if it is a problem this won't work for you.

There are other types of pond vacs that would work as well.
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joe_09
10 years ago
you can leave it alone as long as the gravel is not too thick,that it will trap the fish poop.a thin layer of gravel looks good.
catcatbar
10 years ago
I personally think you should consider removing the pea gravel as fast as you can if you have big fish in your pond. The muck and debris stashed in the pea gravel can be stirred up and end up stuck in your fish's gills. This can potentially kill them. I had to learn it the hard way a couple weeks ago when my ultraviolet (UV) pump/filter broke altogether, and fish poop started building up. Thankfully, my lush waterlily forest was able to get rid of the ammonia, nitrates, nitrites, etc. but the debris kept on building up and got caught in my big, expensive koi's gills. In the end, I lost 12 of my 16 koi fish dwelling in my pond. It was really heart breaking so I would advise you to remove the debris if the fish are either expensive, or very special to you. If the water has lots of floating debris, so I would advise a major water change. I hope this information will assist you with this issue. Good luck!

Cat
ademink
10 years ago
A small pile of pea gravel will be totally fine until Fall. Don't panic. :)