Wanting a bog for natural filtration

[pugle1]

Hi Nathan, yes, the skimmer would just be to catch floating debris. What's your idea regarding "under-gravel plumbing". If I can I'll post a pic of the mouth of the brook where it enters the bog (at least how it appears at the moment). Looking forward to your idea.

Paul

 

[Mike in Vermont]

We use sodium percarbonate to clean up the string algae in the spring. The first year we had to treat every few weeks pretty much through the summer. This year (year three of using it) we treated twice in the spring and have had no string algae since.

This is the same product that is packaged and sold as waterfall and rock cleaning products by pond supply companies. We buy it from a soap making supply company for a fraction of the cost. We just shut down the pump, sprinkle it on the algae, wait about 20 minutes and start the pump up again. Within 24 hours the algae is gone. The powder breaks down into hydrogen peroxide and soda ash when it comes in contact with the water.

If you have a lot of string algae you'll want to be ready with a net to scoop up the stuff that dies and floats loose right away. You do want to be careful not to leave a lot of dead and dying algae in the pond. When we first started using it, we would manually remove as much of the algae as we could before treating so there was less to scoop out after.

In early spring we sprinkle it liberally over the entire pond surface and it brings debris up from the pond floor to make it easy to scoop up and discard. We swear by the stuff - it's fish and plant safe, easy to use, and inexpensive when you buy it from non-pond related sources.

Our bog is our only filtration for our pond as well. Most of our water flows through the bog (we have a small side stream where we divert a small amount of water). We have a variable speed pump so we can change the water flow as desired.

Good work, by the way - looks great!

Great info. I will have to try this.

 

[herzausstahl]

Sure, you take a catch basin, large floor drain or a drain for removing excess water from a yard. Connect your under gravel plumbing to it (as if it was coming from a pump) so that it delivers water under the gravel. Set the drain at the base of the stream so that the majority of the water flows into it. They have channel drains at the hardware stores here. I think some water might flow past it into the bog but the majority would flow down the drain to the bottom of the bog. I haven't gotten that far on mine but will by fall. Will let you know how it turns out.

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Have you thought about drilling a hole through the base of the bird-bath so you can keep the feed line on the underside? You can get cement drill bits for a few dollars, and then just use some suitable caulking or silicon to hold the water line in the cement. With your setup, even if you spring a leak you won't lose any water.

 

[pugle1]

Have you thought about drilling a hole through the base of the bird-bath so you can keep the feed line on the underside? You can get cement drill bits for a few dollars, and then just use some suitable caulking or silicon to hold the water line in the cement. With your setup, even if you spring a leak you won't lose any water.

I've thought of several ways to treat that bird bath. The pillar is solid concrete, and the bowl just sits on top of it. I've thought of drilling through the bowl, but I'd have to rig up some kind of elbow as I don't want it to look or act like a fountain. I actually need to get a slightly more powerful pump for it as I'd like the water to drip off all the way around the edge of the bowl. With the little pump I have on it right now, even though the bowl is just about perfectly level, the very small flow rate only allows the water to drip off the lowest side. "She needs more power!"

 

[pugle1]

Sure, you take a catch basin, large floor drain or a drain for removing excess water from a yard. Connect your under gravel plumbing to it (as if it was coming from a pump) so that it delivers water under the gravel. Set the drain at the base of the stream so that the majority of the water flows into it. They have channel drains at the hardware stores here. I think some water might flow past it into the bog but the majority would flow down the drain to the bottom of the bog. I haven't gotten that far on mine but will by fall. Will let you know how it turns out.

I've tried to figure out a few ways I could do it including a catch basin type of set up like you're suggesting. The problem I have with doing something like that is in trying to hide the catch basin / drain so as to keep it somewhat natural looking. Thanks for contributing to my think tank though I like the idea, I just need to figure out a way to camouflage it

 

[herzausstahl]

Sure I understand completely, haven't figured out mine yet since my project isn't that far. Mine might kind of waterfall into it, where yours is more of a gentle in from the stream. Look for yard drainage solutions & see what you feel can be reconfigured to suit your needs. One way to disguise it would be with 1-3" river rock over the opening. Would allow the water to easily pass in between, but still drain freely. Just a thought, sorry in haven't tried it yet to offer more substantial advice than my theoretical so far. I'm sure it will have snags that require troubleshooting if you decide to try it.