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

[Cj Harvey]

I'm pulling water two ways. One will be a skimmer that provides water to a stream only. The other will be a mid height draw that is gonna mix with a second skimmer and a second mid height draw on the large side that will feed the bogs and a waterfall. The water will be well mixed that way. And filtered twice in some cases.

 

[Cj Harvey]

 

[IPA]

What is the consensus on gravel above or below the water line. I saw one with it below and liked it but noticing a healthy amount of algae quickly coating the pea gravel.

@Cj Harvey , do you have any updated pictures? Can't wait to see the progress

 

[addy1]

I get algae on the pea gravel early in the year, once the plants start growing it goes away. I have gravel above water and below water, plants above and plants below water line.

 

[GBBUDD]

Addy I read your post here quite the undertaking as i'm sure this post barely scrapes the surface of all you have done.
My question to you is i'm assuming you have multiple bogs I know you have said you have one large bog many times are they all up flow? do you use multiple pumps or the main pump and boost it's output .
I'm in the planning stages for my project and welcome all comments. My luck I joined this forum right after photo bucket started there suicide mission and most of your photos are blocked. but the couple I have seen are very impressive. I'm a builder contractor I know what it takes to get a yard to look as you have created and that's without knowing all the ins and outs to pond building. not many could duplicate on the best day . Beautifully done

 

[addy1]

I should go back and replace the photos, which would take a bunch of work, old computers, saved on hard drives or try and download them from stupid photobucket.

On this pond, I have one bog, one large bog. It is the length of the pond, around 27 feet long, it is 4.5 feet wide, 2.5 feet deep. Deeper than they say it needs to be. But I am on such a slope when I was building the pond to make it level I had to build up a dirt berm by 8 feet or so, dig down the up slope side of the pond by 4 feet. The bog is on the down slope side of the pond. I chose the most level spot in our yard. It is flatter down by the woods, near our septic field. But far from the house.

This bog is up flow. The pond is run by one pump. It is a dragon lim koi pond pump, puts out around 6800 gph. Very good on electric usage, external pump. I have almost all the flow going into the bog, I do have a T on the outflow, the ball valve is open about 1/4 that flow goes to my 1000 gallon stock tank pond that water falls back into the big pond. I have a small pump that runs on a timer to send water up our hill to the deck pond. 100 plus feet of head pressure. Harbor freight clear water pump. I run it a few times a day.

Two 2 inch pvc pipes with slots cut into them with a saw. slots facing down. I did put scrap liner under the pipes so the water would not pound on the liner for years.

38000 lbs of pea gravel, not washed, I used my tractor to put it in. We started with a wheel barrow, quit after xx trips and went to the tractor.

Planted it in the fall of 2010, added fish in 2011 after I got our acidic soft water balanced up to the level it no longer killed fish. The plants and fish grew, the pond is taken care of by the bog, the bog is taken care of by the fish poo.

 

[GBBUDD]

Wow,
So if i'm reading this correctly your main pump is 6800 with one smaller pump i'll go out on a limb and say 3000? gph to run your 10 ponds using these and gravity.

 

[addy1]

Wow,
So if i'm reading this correctly your main pump is 6800 with one smaller pump i'll go out on a limb and say 3000? gph to run your 10 ponds using these and gravity.

The small pump is around 1250 or so gph, it only feeds the deck ponds and stream. Only runs on a timer. The deck ponds are us a steep hill, 100 + feet of head pressure.

All of the main ponds are run with just the one pump, 6800 gph. They are all in a loop. The small ponds are fed by a garden hose from a t from the output of the main pump, the 1000 gallon gets water via a ball valve and T from the output of the main pump. They all waterfall back into the big pond. The majority of the water goes into the bog for filtering. There are 5 ponds in the loop. The other five ponds are two on the deck, three in the stream. The blue circles are ponds not in the picture. Dark now cant move the cam and get you a pic of all the ponds.

 

[GBBUDD]

My main concerns right now is what size pump the pond will be close to 12000 and I see everyone saying the pump needs to push 1 1/2 times the size every hour or two so even at 9 or 10000 that's a lot of water to manage

 

[brokensword]

you could get one pump for the pond, one for the bogs (or use a T and one pump). Pushing the water fast through a bog won't filter better, just the opposite. You could use one large pump and T it off, providing water to something like a waterfall that feeds directly back into the pond and to your bogs at a reduced rate. Without some sort of mech filter ahead of the bog feed, your bogs will be susceptible to clogging (something I learned first hand), unless you have very large bogs (like addy has, and hers is fed from streams and secondary ponds which do a lot of pre-filtering).

Yes, the rule of thumb is 1-1/2 times overturning the water. Might be better to have two pumps; in case one goes down, you'll still have something moving water in the pond.

 

[addy1]

My main concerns right now is what size pump the pond will be close to 12000 and I see everyone saying the pump needs to push 1 1/2 times the size every hour or two so even at 9 or 10000 that's a lot of water to manage

I have around............10000 gallons, between all the ponds, very soft measure. My ponds stay great using the 6800 gph pump. But I always color out of the box. And I don't have koi

 

[addy1]

Without some sort of mech filter ahead of the bog feed, your bogs will be susceptible to clogging

I skirted that issue by drawing water from around 1 foot off the bottom of the pond. And have a huge leaf basket to catch any large debris from entering the bog. So far no clogging in the bog.

 

[GBBUDD]

I am planning around a 50 foot stream if not more as it twists its way down to the pond and one bog probably close to 10' x10' and a smaller 3'x6' with small pools above and below each falls. That's the plan any ways

 

[addy1]

My stream does switch backs on its way down our slope, ended up being around 85 feet long, with water collections built in and three ponds below small waterfalls. I wanted some water to stay in the stream beds and small ponds when it was not running.

 

[GBBUDD]

That was my thinking as well as to the little pools in the stream. leaning toward making the stream deep then not probably close to 2 foot deep at those spots at least a foot. again this all sounds good and is what I am planning time will tell what I have the patience to construct as I am not retired and generally work 50 to 60 hours a week. The honey do list was huge prior to this project I got the house caught up and this project is for me. But I know it's going to be time consuming as I plan to stone the interior walls and one wall is going to be 7 to 8 foot tall