Bog building, also called upflow filter, eco filter, wetland filter

[pond maven]

Chris,

Where did you get your carnivorous plants? Will the little cheapy ones from lowes work if I bring the in during the winter?

 

[addy1]

I bought them off a different forum and from a web site, need to remember the name. The lowes ones might work, see what kind they are ie. name look them up for the zone they can live in. Might just be fine for your zone.

 

[Carolfromflorida]

Great advice and great idea. I read some where, where they cleaned out the pea rock, how was this done and will it disturb the plants? As I was under the impression that the roots went into the pea rock?

 

[addy1]

Great advice and great idea. I read some where, where they cleaned out the pea rock, how was this done and will it disturb the plants? As I was under the impression that the roots went into the pea rock?

You mean clean the pea gravel before it is used, or afterwards? I loaded my pea grave right into the bog, too much to rinse first, so the water was a little murky after I started things up, but it got filtered right back out. You can rinse it, a lot of dirt will come out of the pea gravel, before you install in to your bog. Once planted I leave mine totally alone except to pull some plants now and then. They grow like weeds, but sure do keep my pond in great shape.

I don't clean my bog at all, I do have a way to drain it if needed, have drained it a few times to work on the pipes, rerouting, the water that came out was nice and clean, no collection of murk. I drawn the water from about a foot off the bottom of the pond. Even with doing that I do not have a collection of mulm on the bottom of the pond, went to clean it, i.e. net the bottom, did not get much stuff off the bottom at all. I have not cleaned it since spring of 2012

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks to Addy and her big bog, I also built a pretty good sized one on my goldfish pond. I have not netted the bottom all year, there is nothing there to net! Koi pond had some stuff, much smaller bog, but nothing since netted it late spring. Goldfish pond is always clearer water than the koi pond. I'm a believer in the bogs, using up the nutrients of the fish and filtering the water back to the pond.

 

[watchingangels]

Wow....took 4 days to go through this thread and now I have to go back and re-read... I bought 3 55 gallon barrels to do a skippy filter but now reading this thread a bog might be a better option for our layout. Waiting on "B" to get back and read through all of this as he has more knowledge of the workings involved (engineer)... in the meantime I'm just trying to keep the pond going, feed babies and replanting pots as we had them setting on ledge and pots were too tall for the depth of ledge. Once he gets back I hope to be able to post options we have with this pond, utilize all the information this website and its members have to offer and get started with getting a decent filter in place....
In the meantime I will just keep reading

 

[CountryEscape]

Welcome, Watchingangels! This thread inspired me to build a bog, and this forum inspired me to build my two ponds, both of which were built in the last 2 years, all from knowledge I learned on this forum. You will gain tons of info just reading the different threads. Good luck, and have fun. :blueflower:

 

[bobchapman]

Can bogs be too large for the pond that they are associated with? Would that have any bad results?

 

[bobchapman]

A island bog. An island of pea gravel, separated from the pond by a porous wall.

Addy1: can you be a bit more specific about how to make the porous wall. I presume it has to be able to retain the pea gravel, but let the water through. What do you use to make it, please?

 

[addy1]

Can bogs be too large for the pond that they are associated with? Would that have any bad results?

The only bad result I can think of is the plants might not have enough nutrients. My bog is big, all of the plants do fine, the pond does great.

Addy1: can you be a bit more specific about how to make the porous wall. I presume it has to be able to retain the pea gravel, but let the water through. What do you use to make it, please?

I don't have a porous wall, currently. You can make it with stacked rocks (that stack tight i.e. won't fall over) the flat field stone stacks real nicely. If the rocks are stacked well the pea gravel will stay in the bog area. A few pieces might make their way out, but over all it will stay in the bog. When you dig the bog area, have the dirt slanted back towards the bog, where the first layer of stone will be. So the first stones are locked in by that backwards slant. It keeps them from slipping.

I have read of people using landscape fabric, shade screen, between the pea gravel and rocks, my concern would be that fine of material would get clogged up with muck.

 

[bobchapman]

Thanks, Addy1

The only bad result I can think of is the plants might not have enough nutrients. My bog is big, all of the plants do fine, the pond does great.


I don't have a porous wall, currently. You can make it with stacked rocks (that stack tight i.e. won't fall over) the flat field stone stacks real nicely. If the rocks are stacked well the pea gravel will stay in the bog area. A few pieces might make their way out, but over all it will stay in the bog. When you dig the bog area, have the dirt slanted back towards the bog, where the first layer of stone will be. So the first stones are locked in by that backwards slant. It keeps them from slipping.

I have read of people using landscape fabric, shade screen, between the pea gravel and rocks, my concern would be that fine of material would get clogged up with muck.

 

[addy1]

your welcome. Hope it works well for you

 

[bobchapman]

• I'm brand new to water gardens and fish, but am getting ready to build. I'm planning a pond with planting shelves in it, about 4000 gallons, and an adjacent bog. I will only have half-a-dozen goldfish in the pond. And there will be a 75-foot long stream running into the pond, driven by a pump from the pond's bottom drain.
• I'm thinking of having a settlement chamber in addition to the bog: pond bottom drain to settlement chamber to pump to bog.
• Another pump from SC to stream.
• is it realistic to expect that what I've outlined will be enough filtering???
• and will the bog get so filled with roots and muck that it's stinky???
• will I have to empty the bog periodically, as suggested in some forums, to clean it out? This is said to be a really obnoxious and smelly job.

Thanks for any advice.
Bob

 

[addy1]

My current bog is on its 3rd summer, it is not filled with roots, most bog plants are shallow rooted. I have not noticed any bad smells even when turning it on for the first time in the spring. I filter with only the bog, it keeps my pond in great shape, no string algae, no green water in the big pond. My bog is around 25-30% the size of the pond, full of plants
I do not draw my pond water from the bottom and do have a huge leaf basket before the pump. With a settlement chamber you will be keeping a lot of the debris out of your bog.

My previous bogs, I never had to clean them, one pond ran for 10 years, then I moved, it always had great water.

 

[bobchapman]

• Thanks, Addy. That's reassuring. There seem to be lots of very strong opinions in the water gardening and fish-keeping forums! For a newbie, it's very hard to sort out what's real and what's just opinion. Unfortunately, it's pretty expensive and time-consuming to try the various approaches oneself to see which really works! I'm planning to go ahead as I described, but leave room in the filter pit for added gear if I find that I have to do something different or more elaborate. At least t his way I won't have a bunch of expensive filtering gear that I didn't turn out to need!
• Bob