"Chris Gentry" wrote in message
news:XDO_d.494$fn3.72@attbi_s01...

"George" wrote in message
news:FgI_d.81408$r55.66832@attbi_s52...
Hi all. This is really a different kind of question that you guys and
gals are
probably used to seeing. I've seen a lot about the benefits of live sand
in
marine aquaria, and of course, have live sand in my tank and in my
refugium. My
question is what is the feasibility of using live sand in a freshwater
garden
pond? Has anyone tried this, and if so, what were the results? I
understand
that live sand in a marine tank is colonized by quite different creatures,
but
it seems to me that if done right, creating a live sand bed in a garden
pond
would be very beneficial to freshawater garden ponds. Any comments would
be
appreciated.



Well this post got me curious so I did some research on it. This is what I
found http://www.athiel.com/lib/lg-fw.html

It appears you can use the same technique for freshwater. It appears that
you can't use sand for it though. Some sort of "natural" gravel. I would
also think that the common bio-wheel or wet-dry filter would have a negating
effect on any DSB used in freshwater, since these types of filtration are
proven nitrate machines.


I completely agree about wet-dry filters, which is why my bioballs have all been
cleaned and my grandchildren now play with them. I have been reading about
Jaudert plenums, and it seem like it might be the way to go. And you might be
right about using gravel instead of sand. The article mentions gravel in the
range of 2-3 mm, which it pretty small, so that might work in place of coarse
sand. It will definitely be easier to install in a 1,200 gallon pond. Thanks
for the link. It helped.