hmmm... Ok. Maybe. If the walls between the chambers are lower than the wall between C and the pond. However, are A, B, D and E also designed as bogs? Or is just C the bog?
Will this homemade pond filter design work?
- Thread starter Hop-frog
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If there is some way to plum the smaller chambers as bogs too, then fine, but I don't know if that is possible/realistic.
Well if you did plumb them all as bogs, you'd need to have multiple lines - one feeding each bog. Like I said, do-able, but a lot of extra work. Two thoughts:
1. Why not make it one big bog? You can still have water exit into the pond from the two ends, or have it flow over the wall in various spots, whichever you prefer.
2. If you choose to use only the middle as a bog, the other separate chambers will, I imagine, need some kind of agitation to keep them from just collecting debris in the bottom. Maybe an air stone in each? A jet? I don't know - I just imagine those being four stagnant pools. Water will flow over the top, but it won't necessarily stir up the bottom.
What's the idea behind the separate chambers?
1. Why not make it one big bog? You can still have water exit into the pond from the two ends, or have it flow over the wall in various spots, whichever you prefer.
2. If you choose to use only the middle as a bog, the other separate chambers will, I imagine, need some kind of agitation to keep them from just collecting debris in the bottom. Maybe an air stone in each? A jet? I don't know - I just imagine those being four stagnant pools. Water will flow over the top, but it won't necessarily stir up the bottom.
What's the idea behind the separate chambers?
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he wants the cascade.
Ah... but sideways down the back of the pond? I'm a bit slow when it comes to drawings - just ask my husband! - so quite possibly I am missing the point!
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IMO, it would be easier to just make C the bog and have the water overflow to each side, filling B and A to eventually spill into the pond. As said above; make A and B gravel filled to gain some sort of biofiltration. You'll have to keep your water contained so it can ONLY exit toward B on both sides. Same going from B to A.
To me, this seems easiest and gains you a bog + waterfall cascades.
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no, down each side from C toward B then toward A; he'll have to contain the water within each chamber so it doesn't overflow, though it probably wouldn't hurt anything if going toward the pond.
50 X50 I WOULD LEAN TOWARD CLOSER TO 1100 POUNDS . If memory serves me correctly my liner was 30 x40 and that was 700 pounds
YOUR DESIGN IS FESABLE YES a little more challenging yes. Seeing a picture of your style helps in working with a design . but if i was to design what you have done i would look at the stack slate walls by aquascape. they are semi circular and would look very cool in your design. but they are not cheap either.
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With only a 20 inch lift and having three drops that's only 6 3/8" inches per drop not a lot but it doesn't have to be either. how ever with a bog in that space you'll need to have higher sides if you plan to put plants in the steps . this will probably remove line of sight on your 6" steps from anywhere but straight on and because your looking through the bog in the steps you won't see the steps or the water cascading at all. even the bottom drop of 6" with plants growing and dropping you may not see the 6" at all.
A 20 inch drop in a singular but double dropping fall can be very stimulating and i would bet with the soils your about to pull out you could get to 30" easily and that my friend is one amazing possibility
I can see you are working hard at a plan and taking advise from some posts here but have you been researching on you tube or surfing across this site? The other note i can see is each step will need to be recessed inside itself so that the water doesn't splash and leach out as it falls to the next step. so can it be done yes is it a challange and some potential issues need to be worked out yes.
Not nit picking we get so many who come here just trying to help as your ready to drop some good money on a good size pond.
1. Is the pond close to the house ?
2. With the three steps you probably won't see much of a cascade is these steps visible from the house or patio?
3. your design is leaning toward contemporary but it is large which is unusual for contemporary.? Is that the look your going for?
4. have you seen some of the builds on you tube team aquascape , tussey landscaping, the pond digger, Atlantis water garden ?
5 you have a natural slope does it come down toward the house? Theres so much you can do with that natural slope
I just tried to show that as a narrow bog and small drops and plants you won't see anything.
1. The pond is about 12 feet from the house, though still quite visible. I wanted to have it right under one back window, but that limits traffic too much.
2. The pond is low enough, the entirety of the pond is visible from the back windows. The waterfalls will be visible, they just aren't very tall. The effect maybe more of a sluice than of waterfall, but I don't know how the bog slows or affects the flow from the 4k gph pump.
3. As for style, I was inspired by this perfectly circular swim pond. I arrived there after watching many Pond Guy videos, realizing that if I didn't have $10k+ of stone, I would end up with "uncanny valley"-like affect where I knew it wouldn't quite look right, and instead decided to go for a completely unnatural look, which of course means I only need $1.5k in bricks.
4. I have been watching tons of videos from YouTube from various professional pond builders, though none seems similar to the design I'm using.
5. There is a natural slope. I set the bricks of the pond on a level, so the pond ignores the slope and I was able to lay the bricks fairly level to water, not the slope. The slope is such that the top rim of bricks is flush with the ground at the back.
With a 20 inch lift and all the soil you will have you can easily gain another 20 inches at least ten can be blended in with the hill side and another20 to raise the bog side walls having the water down 10 inches from that highest point and with only 20 inch lift on the side of a slope already it will not look like a volcano thats a 30 inch lift from your pond water level you can surely do a lot with that
I guess I don't see how a gravel filled chamber with water flowing over the top of it will give you any biofiltration. Once it fills with water, you won't get any water movement through the gravel. Am I imagining this correctly? And I'm also imagining realizing that gravel has gotten really gunky and stinky and having to deal with digging that out. Not to mention potentially toxic - much like what can happen if you have too much gravel in the bottom of a pond. Unless you have water up flowing from these chambers, ala wetland filter, I think I'd leave them just to fill with water.
@Hop-frog - kudos for thinking outside the box! You said you usually start to fill the pond to hold the liner in place - have you built other ponds? Have you already addressed the 4K pump on a 30K pond?