Post #236992 by Bamboo Boyd on Fri, Jun 9, 2006 1:59 PM

Chisel, are you talking about the concrete base for the pond? I know I mentioned sealer, but after asking around, most installers said they don't seal the pond basin unless it leaks. If you are going to put fish in it, painting it black could make it hotter and literally "cook" your koi. I've seen it happen. If you aren't going to put fish in it. You could use a coloring additive (see link below), but if it were me, I'd probably go for the more natural look and get a bunch of those black shiny 1-2" pebbles and cover the bottom with that. Out here they call them "black mexican pebbles". You could even "set" them in the wet concrete basin so that they were touching each other, and when the concrete hardens, they are set in place, but that would be pretty time consuming. If you really want a black basin, you might look at the plastic basins at home depot. They are pretty easy to use and camoflauge. Either way would work. I would, however, add a coloring additive to the mortar mix I use to build the waterfeature that matches the boulders so you don't see the grey mortar. The coloring additive you can get at any masonry supply house. Or check with a local pool builder, they might help. Here's a link to the local one here in Phoenix that we use. http://www.cohills.com/main.htm. Open the link, click on "Intrgral colors" and then on color swatches. They don't have a black, but I'm sure if you find something like this locally, they can tell you what colors to mix to get black. Let me know if you have any more questions.