Slabs that are safe for pond edging?

HappyG1rl

Are there any slabs that should be avoided by ponds because of the lime in them?

wallbash

To put it really simply
You have a limestone border to a pond.
It occasionally temporary discolours the water .

Do you 'paint' the stones ?
Do you replace the stones ?

Me I put up with the problem water.

I spend half of the summer 'curing' green water or cleaning the filters
of mud , swap your problem for mine any time.

Kimitatsu

harrod horticultural sell "mud balls" is the best way to describe them which eat the sludge at the bottom of the pond - they are expensive for the first application but after that the maintenance is pretty reasonable.

For our green water we throw in barley straw a couple of times a year and it keeps it crystal clear - the trick is finding the farmer who will have the straw that year!

wallbash

Toots , can I ask why you think the 'very' small amount of lime , would be bad for your fish , have you lost some?

Kimitatsu I invested in a 'green' genie , combination of filter and UV lamp .
But too many fish stirring up the muck , still makes the filters clog.

laurel7172

I think the mortar could be more of a problem than the type of paving you choose.

When my father built a pond when I was a child, he used regular mortar, alkalinised the water and nearly killed the fish. The only cure was to test the water regularly and more or less replace the water when the pH started to rise...but it did get better with time.

Davesnave

laurel7172 wrote: »

I think the mortar could be more of a problem than the type of paving you choose.

When my father built a pond when I was a child, he used regular mortar, alkalinised the water and nearly killed the fish. The only cure was to test the water regularly and more or less replace the water when the pH started to rise...but it did get better with time.

Totally agree. The best fishing in this country is in chalk streams and the most stunted fish are in moorland rivers where the water is acid.

Obviously, extremes are to be avoided, but at the bottom of Cheddar Gorge, where the River Axe cuts through hundreds of feet of limestone, there are......fish!