How to get water from bog to pond, 100 ft away?

[Hop-frog]

I am trying to find a good place to build my pond's bog. I probably will just built it behind the pond, having it a foot higher than the pond, and having a simple waterfall return the water from the bog to the main pond.

We were planning to build a raised flower bed in the front yard (the pond being in the backyard), and it would be large enough for a bog, so if that served as the bog, that would kill two birds with one stone. It is easy to get the water pumped from the pond, to there, using a 100 ft long 2" pipe. How could I get the water back though? The ground is sloped, the pond being built on land that is perhaps 1 ft higher over the 100 ft length of ground, but I could make the top rim of the raised flower bed higher than the rim of the pond.

 

[poconojoe]

That's a tough one.

You may risk emptying the water out of the pond if the flower bed bog is too low. If you built the bog higher than the pond, as you said, that would be the answer.
But...the level of the waterway from the bog to the pond would also need to be higher. If there were any low points, the water will escape, even if you used a pipe. If you did use a pipe and a low point occurred, the water will backup into the bog and the bog will overflow.
If there were any ground settlement in the return waterway, that low point would cause a leak or a backup.

So, can it be done? Probably, but it would be easier and less complicated to build the bog right next to the pond. Build it higher and let gravity return the water via waterfall.

Curious....how big of a bog are we talking? The bog surface area should be about 30% of the pond surface area.
What are the dimensions of your pond?

Some people with smaller ponds use stock tanks or window planters for their bog.

 

[Mmathis]

I made a satellite bog for my box turtle habitat a few years ago. I had to raise the spot a few feet. I used 2” PVC to pump to the bog, and 4” PVC on the return side. It worked well. I would say that it was about 20’ or 30’ from the main pond.

 

[GBBUDD]

My bog's original topo was literally five feet lower then the top of the pond. I used mafia bocks to make retaining walls and built the area up. seeing as your only talking one foot there's not much to it. Now making your raised flower bed with a minimum of a 2 foot tall wall around it may not be your ideal but 2 feet can easily be hidden by plants like creeping jenny that not only will grow in the bog they will thrive. Get some large three foot boulders and you can make one heck of a waterfall and have the plants in tiers where your stream could come along in front of these rocks and have low growing lilies or such then create your meandering stream back to the pond and if it can cross your walk way that's one cool effect. here's a video that sold me on building the pond and bog. they have a couple of the ideas i mentioned here

 

[Lisak1]

How could I get the water back though?

Gravity! haha! It would be construction challenge though - you'd need a reliable outlet that would never clog and would allow the right amount of water to flow at all times. Too much and you'd empty the bog; too little and it would overflow.

 

[Mmathis]

Gravity! haha! It would be construction challenge though - you'd need a reliable outlet that would never clog and would allow the right amount of water to flow at all times. Too much and you'd empty the bog; too little and it would overflow.

Gravity, and yes, it was a balancing act for me, for sure! I had a valve on my pump to control the flow to the turtle-bog, but I still had to be careful that I waited around a little bit and did a follow-up check any time I made adjustments. My bog was pretty small, 6’x3’, so it didn’t take much for it to overflow. Actually, at times I did a deliberate overflow in order to water that section of the turtle habitat.

 

[GBBUDD]

between a sure vent and strategically drilled holes in the pipe just below the gravel and a check valve or two and you can most definitely stop
back flow

 

[Bluerooster]

I guess a stream is out of the question?

 

[GBBUDD]

A stream is a fantastic way to get water to travel 100 ft if you have the slope. but there has to be a two way street and water has to be pumped that 100 feet to. given the correct pitch or slope could be amazing for a 100 foot stream but if you desire lots of water it can get pricey too.