pond in progress started 4/21/10

[taherrmann4]

Ryan I just built a smaller bog than Addy's and I put a Y before my filter put a ball valve on each line so that I could control the amount of flow from one to the other and get it just right. In the pipe that is in the bottom of the bog with all the slits I put mine every 6" and afterwards felt I needed a little more flow so I think I would do every 4" next time, also probably depends on how big your bog is. Mine is about 7 or 8' long. Can't say enough about and absolutely love the bog wish I only had room for a bigger one.

 

[brandonsdad02]

My bog is going to be sort of a tear drop shape and hold 200-300 gallons. Last year my water was crystal clear but we have added 6 koi this year. Last year my pond was smaller and only had goldfish and shubbies. I have a 100 gal skippy with lots of plants in the pond but I just having a hard time with keeping my water clear. It was sparkling clear until about a week after the koi got put in.

 

[addy1]

addy1.....simply amazing...I have read your whole build thread and it has given me many ideas for my bog that I'm wanting to add. Can my bog be deeper at one end and slowly get shallow as it enters the pond? I currently have a skippy filter set up and I was wanting to put a wye and branch off from my skimmer box to feed my bog. Can I run both the bog and the skippy? My skippy feeds my waterfall.

You bog can be any depth you want it to be, the "recommended" depth is 12 inches of pea gravel, most bog plants don't have deep roots. The rush puts roots down pretty deep, it is a real pita to pull out I have removed some as it got big. So yes you could be deep at one end shallow at the other. You can also run a skippy and the bog. More filtration is always good.

Here is how my water looks with just my bog filter, I was turning everything off to cut a pipe, the ripples are from the bog draining back into the pond.

This pond has not been touched since the first part of march, when I netted out leaves blown in over winter. Those black spots are trap door snails, the depth is around 5 feet here.

 

[brandonsdad02]

What do you do during the winter with the bog? Do you drain it? I would be worried about the pvc pipes freezing and cracking.

 

[addy1]

What do you do during the winter with the bog? Do you drain it? I would be worried about the pvc pipes freezing and cracking.

We do nothing, we just pull the exterior pump, leave the water in the bog. The bog freezes, no clue how deep the freeze goes, no way to get through the ice and gravel to check. The first winter, the pond froze over with 8 inches of ice. We have a few pipes sticking out with water in them, nothing was damaged. The ends of those pipes are open, from pulling the pump. I do put in some plastic bubble wrap in the skimmer to force some of the water out, since it is plastic.

 

[callingcolleen1]

Been thinking of building a bog, I got this place in mind by the top pond, want to let my rush "loose" so it can get real big, love rushes. Your bog is giving me great ideas. Got to finish the fence first. The yard is just one project after another. Love to do things myself, that way I enjoy it more somehow, very nice lilys by the way!!!

 

[addy1]

Thanks colleen, the lilies are doing great, I really groomed them this year, didn't they would recover this quick.

Well figured out what to do with the present from my honey.

Started this friday, sort of finished, i.e. edging not done, as of today.

How the area looked when starting

One balanced kubota, it was on a steep slope, bucket anchoring it on the down slope. Only could take small bites, the right outrigger was balanced on a cinder block, if it decided to jump over into the lotus tub me and kubota would go lol.

My honey took these, wanted me off of the hill with the tractor while he was home.

I was only able to dig some of the large preform, the rest was done by hand.

What a pita to get these suckers level, first and last preforms I will mess with.

Had them level then it poured rain, not level any more, good old dirt settled.

We put in a T from the main pump flow, hooked up a hose bib, running some water through the ponds starting with the small preform to the lotus tub, to the larger preform, back to the main pond.

over view

 

[don't ask]

nice work addy

 

[j.w]

Beautiful job addy! Even w/ being such a bear to work w/ it all turned out perfect! Love how it looks like it belongs w/ your big pond!
Uh oh looks like you have room for more Lowes dead zone plants all around the new ponds now

 

[addy1]

need to be low growers, so they don't hide the ponds. We already have fish in them, baby rosey reds and tads.

This guy showed up today as I finished the ponds.

 

[brandonsdad02]

Addy thanks for your amazing work that you did on your pond and bog. I managed to get my bog done today. Took 40 bags of the 3/8 pea gravel. The ones you buy at menards. Love the defect bags that they have. Got the 40 bags for $1 each. I guessed the bags at 50 to 60 lbs. Still need about 5 more. One question. How long does it take for the chocolate milk water to go away. I tried rinsing the bags but after about 6 I just started dumping them in. My water was pretty clear before but now it looks like a normal Iowa river.

 

[fishin4cars]

you'll be surprised how fast it clears, probably take a few days to really start noticing but then it clears pretty quick. one thing you can do is filter the water with batting marerial where the bog water enters the pond. that will help too. As it starts clearing try and backflush and purge your bog if you can. it took about a month before i could start purging my pond and it still doesn't purge much water but enough to allow some of the bugger gunk to clear the lines.

 

[fishin4cars]

Addy, love the idea of the preforms for the lotus. I have a large kettle pot and trying to figure out something to use it for and how to make it look right in my setup. Are those lily's from the ones you divided? Mine is growing but not nearly that big yet. i've seen one bloom so far but it has more buds starting to appear.

 

[brandonsdad02]

Will a water change help. Just a partial?

 

[addy1]

We didn't wash our gravel, just too much of it. The first summer had just a 125 gph pump running while working on the pond and bog i.e. building. The water was murky for the entire summer. The next spring we installed the 4200 gph pump, it pushed pea gravel dirt into the pond, didn't want to drain and start over, too much water and it was so dry. So I gave it time, it was slowly clearing. I read in here about jw, sissy and others using the quilt batting. I put some under the water fall, it did catch a lot of muck.

Being a patient person............lol......I then built a temporary fines skippy type filter, put the low flow pump on it, used a spare 55 gallon barrel we had. Within 3-4 days the water went crystal clear, it has stayed clear since. The temp skippy sits unused on lower deck. The only time we have non clear water is when I net the bottom, or muck with the lilies. The water even then will clear up in just a few hours.

I have not needed to net the bottom, this summer so far, except the spring start up for leaves, there is no muck collecting worth netting. The plants are using up whatever the fish are creating.

The fish, before plants started to grow, very nicely spawned in the lily tubs with their new kitty litter. I now have a layer of kitty litter on the bottom of the pond around the lilies so it stirs up when I walk in the pond to groom them. But clears quickly. They knocked enough out of each pot to make a small mess, but the lilies are fine.

Any water change will help the dirt is just very fine, needs to settle or be collected by the gravel. I don't purge my bog, we have drained it twice to work on piping no muck comes out.


This spring before start up the water was getting the glacier water look, slightly cloudy. Once we installed the pump it was clear 24 hours later.