Should you add dirt or mud to your pond? 

I speak for everyone when I say, you sir, are not lazy.

Never boring! Always so interesting to learn from you

Hey oz! Im making a tv show in Slovenia,about ponds too. Im a biologist and comedian. Love your channel hit me up if in Slovenia

In aquarium sand they put coral or sea shell particles. This helps to prevent a PH crash. If the water becomes slightly acidic, that is below a PH of 7, the sea shells will dissolve and release bicarbonates, which will neutralize the acids. If the PH is above 7 nothing will happen. I would not recommend to put sea shells in a spot where lots of sun can reach it. But it is good to put a handful in a sock or so in your filter, or at a location where it is out of the sun but in the stream of water. This will help to keep some of the water hardness levels at the desired level and it will prevent a PH crash, it is very natural and it is without the risk that you hurt your pond and the aquatic life. However, some exotic tropical fish species prefer a PH below 7, so keep that in mind. Pond stores also sell oyster shells for this purpose, but in general those are expensive. You can also buy sea shells used for landscaping, or collect your own sea shells at the beach, and those do exactly the same thing for your pond, but it is much cheaper. Just be sure to wash them properly before you use them. The type of sand that you use to cover the dirt is very important. If the particles are too small it can work against you. Coarse sand with grains that are 1-2 mm is better, and it will also be less murky water when the fish go dig in it.

Have you ever built one in a cold climate that freezes during the winter months? I'm planning on building a small ~20x30 pond with a natural bog type filter you highlight in your other videos. I'm curious how freezing temps would affect this

My neighbour has a big pond and had heaps of koi, bin chickens 🐔- ibises got to them and ate all but the biggest 2. They are very beat up but alive, one just lays on its side. I have them in a small pond at my place now, do you think they will survive ?

Very informative my good man. Don't think the Koi brigade would agree lol.

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I love how you are always so curious and testing ideas. We all learn so much from your experimentation. Hmm you got me thinking I had a heck of an issue in the spring that silt and sand from the excavation ended up in the pond. Had a problem with iron bacteria until I added bubbles for aeration. But maybe the sand and silt have helped Kickstart things. Yes there is algae..the single cell stuff I had to hit it with a flocculant..but now it's not enough algae to really bug me. Baby fish are feasting on it too. Thank you for being such an awesome resource!❤

I'm building a patio pond 20gal. This was my debate. I have plenty of dirted aquariums. Why not my mini pond. Thank you for the confidence and experimental videos. Love the content ✌️

I love your work, please don't use forum in your channel because i cannot hide it... Thanks

My pond is mainly dirt and my plants are growing much larger than what I expected. All the water parameters and perfect additionally the white cloud minnows and Cory catfish I’ve stocked in there are having the time of their life! Another plus of having a mud pond is that blood worms make little burrows in the dirt which allows for the fish to always have a good source of food and not overeat.

Here in Germany they sell "pond soil". It's meant for your water lilies and other pond plants. They say to fill a basket with it, cap it with sand or gravel and add them to your pond. Essentially having potted Plants in your pond. I'm sure that's a thing outside of Germany too. However, I filled my Aquarium, a pretty large one, with just that pond soil and added water. Visibility for the first month was terrible, you could maybe see 2 fingers into it. It took about a month or so for everything to settle and the water to become clear. In the meantime I added aquatic worms (used as feeder worms, like tubifex and "shineworm"? (not sure if thats the right translation), as well as scuds and water isopods, alongside a bucketload of leaf litter and small sticks that sank over time. Once the water was clear enough to let light in, I added aquatic plants and a small filter, just for water movement. The plants grew like crazy, water quality is really good, and it looks fantastic. The tank is right next to a window and now that it's summer I have some hair algae infestation. But otherwise it's thriving. I added fish a couple months ago. They are doing fantastic. They ate all the scuds and worms they could find, but didn't manage to eradicate them fully, mainly to the layer of leaf litter, where they can hide. I have another tank, which I setup at around the same time, that one has also pond soil but also a thick sand layer. No cloudy water at first, but some of the plants are doing much worse. The sword plants in the fully dirted tank have grown outside the water and are longer than my arm. In the tank with the sand cap they have barely put out 1 or 2 new leaves in 4 months. Just valisneria is growing like no tomorrow. This tank is not right to a window, so there isn't much hair algae, or any algae for that matter. But when I put a super stonk light over it, it also grew there (until I removed the light). So my conclusion after about 5 months is so far that, ... it both works and you don't have to put in a sand cap. The "dirt" will always seep into the water, no matter what you do, just when there is sand above from the start, you don't have to wait a month for it just to settle. Of course, ... if your tank is smaller than mine (which is huge for a "test" like this 120x70x60cm) it may only take a week for it to clear up. Sorry for the long post... I just wanted to inspire you to maybe try a non-capped tank experiment :)

Is a Liner necessary for clear water? Our soil has very poor drainage and many farmers create ponds just by hilling up soil and digging. The water does not drain at all. As I work to convert the former sewage lagoon into a clear pond I wonder if I need not line it or if the liner is needed to prevent cloudy water?

Over the years, “dirt” accumulates in ponds anyway

What plants are you putting under the water? What kind of sand are you using?

awesome videos mate! question: would you add dirt base on a swimming pond?

I wish i could have plants in my pond. My turtles just eat it all up over night lol

What do you mean by dirt? Is this clay? Or just muddy soil?

I just discovered you channel, it's great! May I ask, have you any experience in using freshwater mussels for filtration? I'm planning to build a rather large pond (perhaps 500-1000 square meters) on clay soil, and add fish and crayfish. The crayfish especially can stir things up quite a bit making the water muddy. We have a lot of duck mussel (Anodonta anatina) where I live, and my hope is that they might contribute to clearer water. Because I suppose the nitrogen eating bacteria only helps with algae and not mud. Any thoughts on that?

Adding a sand cap seems unnecessary. If you want a natural system, I would eliminate the sand. I have been switching my aquariums to limited filtration. I plan on doing a dirted tank soon. But I am going to try something I have not seen. Mixing some old school with the Walstad method.

I have an 850 gallon pond thats fairly new the bigger plants are dying of, we add new big plants and they die off. It has fish and I added a bottle of fertilizer from petco to ratio but didnt seem to help. What combo of nitregen and ph should I buy and how much to ratio should strive to add? Where can I buy it from ? Thanks!

What kind of dirt? Just yard dirt?

I’ve though about doing this to my pond it’s 12 by 18, scary though to add dirt, if the cap layer of sand gets stirred up, I have a dog that likes to get in, I’d hat to have to scoop all the dirt and sand up to start over.

Dirt and sand are magic in an aquarium. I didn't put dirt in my container pond, but I did put a couple hundred pounds of pool filter sand. After a year, I am just now planting some stem plants in it. I bet it would have all been much faster if I'd put dirt in first.

I have sent you an email about the download of a PDF.

Great video. Thanks to one of your previous videos a few months ago, I built a bog filter (using an old beer barrel!) which transformed my pond from a murky mess (full of mosquito larvae) to a crystal clear goldfish paradise! 😊 I’ve also noticed a gradual build up of dirt on the bottom of the pond and this confirms my thought that it was natural and beneficial to the ecosystem. I noticed you also have some tree leaves in your pond. Would this also be beneficial, providing organic material to the water? Until now I’ve been removing leaves, thinking that they will eventually go rotten and potentially foul the water. Cheers from UK. 🙏

I have a small wildlife. I followed a method where I used low nutrient sub soil directly on top of the liner. Lots of plants, no algae, no pump.

Thank you Kev , for the information. I agree some dirt is very beneficial. 😊

Interesting observation Kev, I have a crystal clear koi pond with tilapia in as well, there's little bit of mulm on the bottom but otherwise perfect water for close to 2 years now with no water change. Just occasion top up

I have some non poisonous snakes in my little pond. They are eating my fish. How bad can snakes be on my fish population?

I have found the best sand to use is zeolite from bunnings. Pretty colour but also acts as a filtration source also 👍

how long does it typically take for a new pond to experience and algae bloom?