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

[addy1]

Yep there are strong opinions, I just offer what I know works for me and works very well. Whom ever reads it can either use or not makes no difference to me. I will say this is the easiest pond I have ever had as far as care is concerned, I really do nothing except once a month or so rinse out the leaf basket if I think of it. I used to net the bottom of the pond for muck, didn't have enough muck to make it worth doing this year. I have not netted it since spring of 2012

 

[bobchapman]

Thanks for putting this thread together: it's a real help to beginners like me
Bob

 

[addy1]

You are welcome, we were all beginners at one time. You should have seen my first pond, 2 x 8 , 1 foot deep, luckily in the shade of our patio in phoenix, ow the fish would have cooked. Late hubby went pig hunting one weekend, I dug a hole for a pond............no clue on what I was doing, no clue on water tests, the fish survived.

 

[Mmathis]

Debated whether to post here or start a new topic regarding bogs & construction....

I'm remodeling the turtle habitat -- digging them their own mini-bog inside their habitat. It's going to be roughly 6' x 3' [or a little more, depending on how much liner I have left over from the pond build that's available] and somewhere between 16"-18" deep. I already have a split coming from the pump and going to their current "turtle bog," -- should be enough head pressure (or whatever it's called) to handle the extra distance. I will be using PVC pipe under the gravel to distribute the water.

Questions I've come up with:
1. I have 1 1/2" tubing from the pump. For this small bog, what would be a good size to put underneath? I have a bunch of 2" PVC. Would that be OK? I don't want to BLAST out the bog and thought that going bigger would make less pressure.

The PVC coming from the pump will enter the bog at about the center [see drawings] and split to each side. Do you see a problem with that?

2. About how far apart should I cut my slits?

3. Bog is going to be slightly elevated [sorry, couldn't show that in my drawings], maybe a few, up to 6 inches. If I made a "stream" for the water to return to the pond, will that be high enough?

4. How do you calculate how wide & deep to make a stream? This would be, maybe 10' long, but in miniature [in keeping with the proportions of the habitat].

5. Want to try really hard to have graduations in the depth of the gravel. Of course, want the turts to have several inches of water to soak in, but want them to be able to walk in like a beach. And I know that gravel will shift. Thought about taking a length of plastic landscape edging and forming it into a loop [like making a floating ring], and sticking that into the gravel to act as a damn. Does that sound like it would work?




Can kinda see how I have the water distribution now (sorry, it's sideways)

 

[addy1]

Debated whether to post here or start a new topic regarding bogs & construction....

I'm remodeling the turtle habitat -- digging them their own mini-bog inside their habitat. It's going to be roughly 6' x 3' [or a little more, depending on how much liner I have left over from the pond build that's available] and somewhere between 16"-18" deep. I already have a split coming from the pump and going to their current "turtle bog," -- should be enough head pressure (or whatever it's called) to handle the extra distance. I will be using PVC pipe under the gravel to distribute the water

Questions I've come up with:
1. I have 1 1/2" tubing from the pump. For this small bog, what would be a good size to put underneath? I have a bunch of 2" PVC. Would that be OK? I don't want to BLAST out the bog and thought that going bigger would make less pressure.

The PVC coming from the pump will enter the bog at about the center [see drawings] and split to each side. Do you see a problem with that?

I don't see a problem with using 1 1/2 inch pvc or 2 inch pvc, just put a bunch of slits, that will keep the water pressure down. I used two inch just because mine is so big.
The split should be fine, with a nice T the water should flow equally to both sides.





2. About how far apart should I cut my slits?

For 6x3 I would cut the slits around 6 inches apart more or less, it is not a hard fast precision cut


3. Bog is going to be slightly elevated [sorry, couldn't show that in my drawings], maybe a few, up to 6 inches. If I made a "stream" for the water to return to the pond, will that be high enough?

As long as it is flowing downhill your stream will be fine.

4. How do you calculate how wide & deep to make a stream? This would be, maybe 10' long, but in miniature [in keeping with the proportions of the habitat].

I would make it at least 10 inches deep, if you can, by the time you add liner, rocks etc it gets shallow real quick. I also have small depressions in my stream here and there to have mini pools along the way. I did that mainly since mine is on a steep slope and I run it on a timer. Keeps some water in the stream even after turning it off.



5. Want to try really hard to have graduations in the depth of the gravel. Of course, want the turts to have several inches of water to soak in, but want them to be able to walk in like a beach. And I know that gravel will shift. Thought about taking a length of plastic landscape edging and forming it into a loop [like making a floating ring], and sticking that into the gravel to act as a damn. Does that sound like it would work?

Not sure about the plastic stuff, it might try to float, how about an edging of small flat rocks the turtles could climb over, the rocks would hold the gravel back. Like you say hard to visualize sometimes.

 

[Mmathis]

Thanks, Addy!

Looks like I didn't make the bog wall quite tall enough [planted those darn blocks just a little too deep], so gonna have to play with that in order to get the "weir" at the right height. Having to consider not only enough height to get water back to the pond, but also keeping things low enough to make it easy-access for the turts.

Now for another question.....
Anyway, hope this question makes sense, and just so I don't have to deal with digging the stream right now [nothing to do with the weir issue] is there a way to wrap and clamp the liner around a section of PVC pice or non-perfed irrigation tubing, where the weir is, so that the tubing would act as a temp return-to-pond? Kinda like where you have it exit [via bulkheads] from a filter, but it would be bog liner wrapped around tubing -- nothing there for a bulkhead to attach to.

Comments or suggestions? I want to get the bog going, or at least up enough so I can test it. But have too much going on, and REALLY don't want to deal with digging the stream right now.

 

[addy1]

I used some pl roofing goop around my 3 inch pvc line coming out of the pond, gooped it up, used a hose clamp to tighten it down, 3 yrs ago, still holding water.

So yes

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

Where is Avon IN. I live in Knox IN NW part of the state.

Wow tons of great information and I am sure I will refer back to this really soon,thanks for sharing.

 

[Dave's pond Indiana]

I want to thank you for all the good info on bogs. With your help I have install a 4'X20' bog on my 19000 gal pond. the only thing I tried different was I heated and bent my PVC pipe at 45 degree angles to lower the head pressure and surrounded my PVC pipe with Lava rock then the gravel. Thank you again. You are welcome, we were all beginners at one time. You should have seen my first pond, 2 x 8 , 1 foot deep, luckily in the shade of our patio in phoenix, ow the fish would have cooked. Late hubby went pig hunting one weekend, I dug a hole for a pond............no clue on what I was doing, no clue on water tests, the fish survived.

 

[falconut]

I'm considering making a raised (container) bog. Maybe using a 50 gal. Rubbermaid stock tank. Question is, the tank is listed as 12" tall, is that tall enough? I imagine I'd have the pea gravel about 1" from the top of the container.

 

[addy1]

the pea gravel can be as low as 8 inches, most of the plants are shallow rooted.

 

[Mmathis]

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.

Still working on my "turtle-bog." In testing, had uneven water flow [and stinky spots] so I removed the gravel and made some changes. Turns out that a rubber gasket [or part of a turning nob] had fallen off my water hose nozzle and was lodged in the "T" [see pic]. Anyway, it was a good thing 'cause I'm going to change to a rubber liner [had PVC -- I didn't like the PVC at all!], make the walls taller [to be sure there's enough slope for the stream], and raise the bottom to make the gravel bed more shallow.

But I have a question about the weir. My little bog isn't connected directly to the pond, but will have a stream returning the water. You can see from the pic -- this was a "dry run," taken before I ripped it all out. How would you recommend placement of stones that will be the "porous wall?" IOW, if this was your bog, what would you do to make this work? The weir is 12" wide and 4" deep.

Also, I'd posted earlier about using landscape edging to make separate little areas, different levels, and pools for the turtles. Again, this pic is a "dry run," but I think it's going to work. I attached pieces of plastic mesh across the bottom edge, side-to-side. Once in the gravel bed, and with the gravel sitting on top of the mesh, it's held very securely in place, so no shifting. I also drilled LOTS of holes in the edging.

 

[falconut]

the pea gravel can be as low as 8 inches, most of the plants are shallow rooted.

Great. This size container seems to be the best fit for my setup.

 

[addy1]

By porous wall TM do you mean the opening you are showing in the picture, even though that does not exist anymore. That opening will be a porous wall?
If it was mine I would have the gravel level lower than then opening, just let the water flow through down the stream into the pond. You would not need a porous wall. But if you want one, just stack flat rocks, or even layers of round rocks in the opening. Keep the top edge of the rocks, lower than the bog edge so if there is a back up the water will not overflow out of the bog.

 

[falconut]

I'm using a stock tank for my bog, since the tank is rounded on the ends, I'll have my distribution pipe coming in the middle of the short side. I was thinking of having the distribution pipe go to the back and tee to both sides and follow the container around back to the entrance point. I can either have 1) both sides elbow up and have two cleanout pipes or 2) connect them with a tee and have one cleanout. Any idea which would be better? See below for a quick sketch of them.



After drawing them, I'm wondering if it would be better to tee them right after they enter the tank then run the pipe as I have with the cleanouts opposite the inlet. That way the water would start to exit the pipe furthest from the outlets.