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

[addy1]

How exactly do you make this? I presume you need to be able to back flush due to silt etc accumulating.

Sorry I missed the ?

My input of water into the bog goes in at the bottom of the bog, the pipe that comes out of the bog, has a T, one leg stays at the level of the bottom of the bog, the other leg goes up to the top level of the bog. The high leg is where the water goes in, the lower leg, if I ever need to drain the bog, has a ball valve on it that I can just open and drain.

I made it so the bog stays full of water even when the pond is off for the winter, ow the plants would die.

I have only used it once to fix something, can't even remember what lol.

Silt seems to accumulate on the surface of the gravel, when you dig up plants it does release some dirt. I have totally mucked up my pond more than once, but it clears quickly. I don't worry about it.

Then only cleaning I do is in the fall cut off dieing plants, and in the spring clean up leaves, winter dead plants, I usually take a rake and clippers, to it before I turn it on for the first time.

 

[haver79]

So if you add a bog to an existing pond, what is the best wall to separate the bog from the pond? Cement blocks? I would be adding to my existing pond and it would be a separate piece of liner in the bog. Probably would just have a small open area for water to fall back into the pond. But wondering how to build the separation between the two. I would use cement blocks around the parameter of the bog but wondered if that would be best to use between the bog and pond as well.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I usually don't construct a wall of any kind. The constructed wetlands (bog) is connected directly to and is part of the main pond basin.

Constructed wetlands on personal pond right after construction completed. Notice liner showing near the table and chairs.That is the back of the wetlands. Constructed to be an extension of the primary pond basin.

 

[haver79]

Very nice Meyer.

 

[MitchM]

I usually don't construct a wall of any kind. The constructed wetlands (bog) is connected directly to and is part of the main pond basin.View attachment 80869
Constructed wetlands on personal pond right after construction completed. Notice liner showing near the table and chairs.That is the back of the wetlands. Constructed to be an extension of the primary pond basin.

Meyer, that looks great.
What do you do to control the water level?
Do you have a water auto top-off set up, or do you let the bog area dry out and flood as conditions allow?

.

 

[michey1st]

I usually don't construct a wall of any kind. The constructed wetlands (bog) is connected directly to and is part of the main pond basin.View attachment 80869
Constructed wetlands on personal pond right after construction completed. Notice liner showing near the table and chairs.That is the back of the wetlands. Constructed to be an extension of the primary pond basin.

Beautiful, @Meyer Jordan! So, it looks like your wetlands and your pond are at the same level (ie, no waterfall from the bog to the pond). Did you run piping to the wetlands to promote water circulation? I'm toying with an idea similar to this, since I don't want to deal with another waterfall. Also, do you channel overflow anywhere?Thank you for the inspiration!

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Beautiful, @Meyer Jordan! So, it looks like your wetlands and your pond are at the same level (ie, no waterfall from the bog to the pond). Did you run piping to the wetlands to promote water circulation? I'm toying with an idea similar to this, since I don't want to deal with another waterfall. Also, do you channel overflow anywhere?Thank you for the inspiration!

The wetlands filter is plumbed upflow similar to others seen on this Forum. It has a dedicated pump and skimmer.
I have never had a problem with overflow, even after 12 inches of rain in 24 hours a year ago.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Meyer, that looks great.
What do you do to control the water level?
Do you have a water auto top-off set up, or do you let the bog area dry out and flood as conditions allow?

.

Mitch, the wetlands filter is directly connected to the pond (one liner) so the water level only fluctuates with the rest of the pond.

 

[tbendl]

Wow I love this..

 

[rrasco]

I've been struggling trying to determine the best way to build the retaining wall between an in-ground pond and a raised bog with waterfall. Do I dig out both sides of the divider and leave the dirt there or does it make more sense to dig the entirety of the pond/bog out and then build up a retaining wall with cinder and then stacking stones/bricks around that? More importantly, I can't figure out how to lay the liner. One continuous liner or separate? I haven't decided if the bog will be in-ground at all or not, since it doesn't have to be very deep, can I dry stack retaining wall blocks? If it's 2 maybe 3 stones high, do I need to mortar them or do anything else?

 

[tbendl]

Rrasco, for what it's worth, I dug my pond, used cinder blocks packed with sand and 1 piece of continuous liner. I might have some pictures.

 

[rrasco]

Pictures would be great. Lots of awesome pics of after the fact but seeing what's underneath is priceless. Were you able to dress up the side of the wall so the liner/cinder blocks were hidden?

 

[tbendl]

The raised is stacked cinder blocks

 

[addy1]

I dug out the pond then a shallower area for the bog (deeper than needed but what the heck, went crazy with my tractor) Anyways we built a retaining wall with landscaping timbers and some rebar 27 feet long, 2.5 feet tall. We also put the ends of the wall into some cement, outside of the bog and pond. Covered everything with one huge liner. 5 years now and still doing great.

 

[tbendl]

Oops sorry, here's a relatively final picture.