CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!

[combatwombat]

Just remember that you want smooth rock underwater. Here in the midwest "rip rap" is very craggy - almost like broken pieces of concrete. They use it to line the edges of retention ponds. But I think they use different terms in different regions. $18 a ton is extremely cheap so that would make me wonder what type of rock it is.

In my neck of the woods, smooth rocks only come out of streams and glaciers and they're small. Nothing over about 8". If you want boulders, it's basalt. Grey, dark grey, or black. It's what everyone builds water features with here. You can get round boulders, but they come from Montana and beyond and are shockingly expensive.

The way rip rap/class 200 was explained to me by the quarry is that it's "rough sorted" and that a load of it will get you about 80-90% "1-man boulders" (aka wall rock) and the rest of it will be smaller cobble down to about 6" and a little bit of fines that will need to be washed before placement.

All basalts here seem to be quite angular, but the edges aren't too sharp.

$18/ton is, indeed extremely cheap. Leaves me a little skeptical, too!

 

[GBBUDD]

There will definitely be some lights. Picking up some irrigation pipe today to use as conduit. Also thinking about how I might make the viewing edge cantilever just a bit over the top of the rock. Maybe I'll use retaining wall block in just a few spots to allow a patio edge to overhang.

I just have too many ideas for things I've never built before and too many details to try to manage and get right. I have a lot more respect for landscaping contractors now.

Your cantilever iis not all that hard it depends a lot on your rock and the sizes but one way is to set the stone you want to protrude into the pond be set in a bed of concrete. now if the rock has little to no detail and it has little for concrete to grab onto you can always drill into the rock and set some rebar into it and into the concrete on have a leg or two under the rock that supports the rock but is more toward the center and harder to see

 

[combatwombat]

Found a logging/rigging supply store near my hometown about an hour away with amazing prices on road building materials. Every diameter of culvert pipe you could imagine and 12.5' wide rolls of underlayment fabric for less than 1/2 the price I can find anywhere in town here.

About to drive my Ford Focus w/ homemade lumber rack up there and strap some sticks of big ass pipe to it. Gonna have an awesome bog filter and fish caves for days.

Here's a shot of the beast hauling some 20' sticks of pvc for an irrigation project a few months ago. Can also carry 4x8 sheet goods. Everyone who sees it laughs and asks questions, but it really works amazing and cost about $30 to build.

 

[TheFishGuy]

Found a logging/rigging supply store near my hometown about an hour away with amazing prices on road building materials. Every diameter of culvert pipe you could imagine and 12.5' wide rolls of underlayment fabric for less than 1/2 the price I can find anywhere in town here.

About to drive my Ford Focus w/ homemade lumber rack up there and strap some sticks of big ass pipe to it. Gonna have an awesome bog filter and fish caves for days.

Here's a shot of the beast hauling some 20' sticks of pvc for an irrigation project a few months ago. Can also carry 4x8 sheet goods. Everyone who sees it laughs and asks questions, but it really works amazing and cost about $30 to build.

View attachment 134967

Nice thinking! those pipes on top of your car are definitely a conversation point though!

 

[combatwombat]

Went for it. Forklift operator at the rigging yard was skeptical, but impressed when I got it all strapped down. And they had some scrap laying around that they just let me have! Couldn't even fit it all in the car.

I drove 45 min. to get this. First thing the yard operator tells me is that they source it from a plant 20 min. from my house. Ha! Probably could have picked up all the scraps I ever wanted for free just down the road.

Also, 18" culvert is BIG. Probably 22" OD. They had 36" culvert there, too. Considering picking some up to build my daughter some play structure thingies.

Safety first:

 

[GBBUDD]

Lmao too funny he's got the culvert in a seat belt ... Love the idea of culvert lol ... i hope they let you know about the collars to make a T out of the pipe and the end caps. they also have a cover for the snorkel where you can screw the cover to the pipe and no kids can get into it .
I had thought about getting aa plastic rod and drilling a hole on each side with the rod through the center of the snorkel so that no one could fall in . i took photos of the culvert as i cut it toward the top only i believe it was at the 10 and 2 o'clock position . i had two thoughts to this one was so if any debris or sediment did start to develop in the pipe the bottom was smooth and the debris could slide down the pipe toward the snorkel. T did not attach the horizontal to the vertical at the bottom of the snorkel as i set the snorkel about a foot deeper so debris and sediment could accumulate in this lowest area.

Are you using the culvert as the aqua block substitute?

I also pump air down about 3/4 of the depth of the snorkel to help pull the sediment toward the deep and and to give the bog all the o2 it needs to thrive.

I also thought about cutting the culvert in half to make it wider and less tall and use something like very heavy non woven to protect the liner or maybe even azeck.

Oh and yeah the culvert was placed on a good angle pointing down toward the snorkel.

If you are thinking aqua blocks there are two that i know of the aquascapes which i found to be more sturdy and a bit pricier then the easy pro version both were very close to the same size . i used both. one set in the bog and the other set was used to make a cistern

 

[GBBUDD]

ok after watching your video it's not saying where the bog is goiing to be i know at one point you were thinking around a tree that can be a challenge.
I wish i had the yard sloping like your does it makes it a heck of a lot easier to make your water fall into the pond. mine sloped away from the pond and it had to be built up with mafia blocks and excavated soils. One word of advice make sure you leave plenty of over lap between the stream/bog and the pond
or am i missing something

 

[combatwombat]

i hope they let you know about the collars to make a T out of the pipe and the end caps.

They only had straight collars. Will have to fend for myself another way if I need to make tight connections. Don't suspect I do, though. Maybe one or two end caps would be nice.

Are you using the culvert as the aqua block substitute?

No, but that's not a bad idea. I was going to use the 12" pipe as the "centipede." and the 18' as the snorkel. I could only buy in 10' lengths, so I have a lot more 18" than I actually need. More 12" than I need, too, now that I have all the scrap 12" for fish caves that they just gave me. Nice crew!

On that note, I am testing some very cheap aquablox alternatives. Going to make a video about it eventually. Probably not sturdy enough to use in a bog, but definitely good enough for an intake bay.

If you read Aquascape's "Pond Builder's Bible" they still don't even mention any use of aquablox in their wetland filters. I feel like they were just brainstorming ways to sell more units. Can't blame them! I think it's a fine idea to use them in a bog, but a very expensive solution to what seems a very unlikely problem, especially if you have decent prefiltration.

Of course, I've never actually built a pond or had experience with any of this, so...

ok after watching your video it's not saying where the bog is goiing to be

It will be on the uphill side of the pond, in front of the deck. I've been tossing all my hand shoveling into a berm up there to give me a little more height for the waterfall.

I wish i had the yard sloping like your does

Funny you should say that. I'd always looked at the yard and thought, "not enough slope here to do anything interesting." Now I think it'll be nice, especially with the low berm I'm building. Nothing incredible—probably a foot of drop or less—but I am starting to see how it will come together and I like it. There's only 4" of natural grade change from one side of the pond to the other. My excavator added a couple inches to that while grading out the dirt that came out of the hole, but not a significant slope. Probably 6 or 7" now.

One word of advice make sure you leave plenty of over lap between the stream/bog and the pond

10-4.

 

[Lisak1]

We used that culvert pipe as a fish cave. Cut about a third of it off lengthwise so it would sit flat in the bottom of the pond. Worked great! We stacked stones along the ridges so you couldn't even tell it was there. We even managed to get hornwort to grow between the rocks, until our fish got too big and would root around and push the rocks off the top. We bought the piece off a plumber who brought us one about 6 feet long - we needed about 18 inches! So now I have a four foot long piece of culvert siting upright next to my garage that I use as a compost bin. Dump stuff in the top and every spring I pull the good stuff out of the bottom and then start over again!

We eventually switched to a clay chimney liner because I wanted something flat for a pot to sit on.

 

[combatwombat]

We used that culvert pipe as a fish cave.

That's what I'm planning to do with it, too.

So now I have a four foot long piece of culvert siting upright next to my garage that I use as a compost bin. Dump stuff in the top and every spring I pull the good stuff out of the bottom and then start over again.

That's a great idea! Trying to come up with interesting things to do with my leftovers. I have a rain chain in the front of the house. I think I'll bury a piece os scrap and fill with river rock to make a little drywell for it to fall into.

 

[GBBUDD]

The cost difference between aquablocks and a standard pea stone bog is substantial and i don't believe the rewards are that substantial. I see the benefit for sure but a oversized pea stone bog i believe can be as effective

 

[GBBUDD]

No, but that's not a bad idea. I was going to use the 12" pipe as the "centipede." and the 18' as the snorkel. I could only buy in 10' lengths, so I have a lot more 18" than I actually need. More 12" than I need, too, now that I have all the scrap 12" for fish caves that they just gave me. Nice crew!

i would lean toward the other way a smaller snorkel and larger centipede. i'd be willing to bet most of the external pumps will fit in a 12 inch but i may be wrong as most have the discharge coming out the side i know the 500 gph i have in my bog would fit and would do the job just fine for a clean out

 

[combatwombat]

i would lean toward the other way a smaller snorkel and larger centipede.

How do you drain an 18" pipe into a 12" pipe, though?

 

[Jhn]

How do you drain an 18" pipe into a 12" pipe, though?

Cut a hole in 18” pipe so the 12” pipe will fit into At the end and notch out the 12” pipe so the sediment can get to the bottom of the snorkel.
In this application the stuff doesn’t have to fit tightly, as long as the bottom of the snorkel is the lowest point and the bottom is pitched to it.

 

[Jhn]

f you are thinking aqua blocks there are two that i know of the aquascapes which i found to be more sturdy and a bit pricier then the easy pro version both were very close to the same size . i used both. one set in the bog and the other set was used to make a cistern

Got another quote from underwater warehouse for about 40 large easy pro blocks. Price has gone up about $8 from what we got it for in the spring.

An aside, We were thinking about getting a barge built, price jump from the quote we got last year to this year was like 40k. The tariff on Chinese steel, has brought it close enough to the cost of American steel that everyone is just using American steel causing a big demand hike. At least that is what supplier is telling me..... price hike on a lot of stuff now is getting ridiculous.....