Winterizing Bog

[Pond skipper]

You are indeed correct, because of the design and site limitations I opted to have a down flow bog. I think the upflow is a better design but I just couldn’t figures way to do it at the time. I have figured out a way it could work now but it’s taken me three years to get the pond and especially waterfall to a point where I like it and I’m afraid to mess with it. My design for the bog has an area that is void of gravel right where the water falls into it so the water fills from the back and flows through the gravel to fall again over a little two inch drop when exiting the bog. I do get a certain amount of water that I’m sure ends up just flowing on the surface right over the gravel but I think the majority goes through it. That along with the fact that the water flows through the bio filter before even entering the bog has always made me feel there is enough filtration even if the bog isn’t as efficient as an upflow one would be. Last November when I fell trying to get the fish out, nobody else was able to get the last 4 that I hadn’t caught yet out so I ended up leaving them in and figured it would be the experiment… they all died. They are only feeder goldfish so it’s not like they’re expensive koi or anything but I still felt terrible. As for plants, I’ve tried several different kinds and I’ve tried both bare rooting them in the pea gravel as well as putting them in along with their soil from the pot they came in I’ll attach a pic and thanks for your help and any ideas you might have. These pics were taken because of the pair of mallards that were visiting for a couple of weeks every day but they have stopped coming around now.. I’m not sure if the dogs scared them off it what. Anyway I think they show the main idea of the set up. The greenery on top of the garbage can filter behind the waterfall is just fake fern’s as there seems to have been a shortage of real fend in my area this year.

 

[Lisak1]

Thats an in-ground pond by my definition. If your fish died I really don't think it was from the pond freezing solid, if in fact it is 2 feet deep. Did you keep an air hole in the pond? An aerator or a pond breather is essential if you turn the pond off for winter. The solid ice cap will trap gasses the pond that will suffocate the fish. Are you sure of your pond volume? It's hard to tell from photos, but at 2 feet deep, your pond would need to be roughly 20 feet long by 10 feet wide to hit 3000 gallons - would you say your pond is close to that size? (I'm only focusing on your winter situation to try to avoid you breaking anything else bringing your fish inside when it may not be necessary!)

How does the water get from your bog to your pond? My assumption is it just flows over the side... which means you are getting not a whole lot of filtration at all from your bog. Most, if not all, of the water is just flowing right over the top of the gravel. I know this is "water under the bridge" (or in the pond, if you prefer!) but you could have skipped the garbage can filter and started your build with the bog: bog to waterfall to pond to skimmer back to bog is the usual set up. In nature, wetlands are flow through, but they are massive. We use the same concept but adapt to the size and function of a manmade pond. I do wonder if you've just created a stagnant gravel area though - how did you construct the bog? Is it just an area filled with gravel? No plumbing?

But your down flow bog should be just fine for growing plants. It's essentially the same as planting any marginal plant in the pond. I would suggest some of the more reliable things like reeds, sedges, irises... but the other problem with your set up is anything that you plant in the bog that's tall will block your view of the waterfall. So you'll need to stick with things that stay low, or keep the taller growers to the sides and fill the middle with lower growers. I'd even consider tossing a few floaters in there - floating hyacinths will happily root into gravel and maybe even produce some flowers for you. They aren't hardy, but they also aren't terribly expensive. If you buy one every year you'll end up with a wheelbarrow full by the end of the season. Plants like Creeping Jenny are good ideas for low growing spots. You could plant some bog bean and let it grow over the edge into the pond. Watercress - another annual, but a fast fast grower.

@addy1 - any suggestions for low growing bog plants? My brain isn't giving me anything to work with!

Please don't think I'm being critical - we all learn as we go here and the goal is to make your pond as fun, relaxing and easy to care for as possible!

 

[Pond skipper]

Thank you, I don’t take it badly at all. I welcome the input. The whole pond (including the bog) is about 20x 6 to 8 feet depending on where you measure, and anywhere from 1 to 2.5 feet deep (shallow by waterfall and deeper by skimmer at opposite end. As I mentioned, yes the bio filter is before the bog, At the time I didn’t know how else to make the waterfall. I wish I could start over.. well I guess I could but I’m not that young anymore lol. Anyway, as a compromise I dug the gravel out under the waterfall and placed some slate type rock and plastic with holes vertically in the hole to form a place for the water to get into the gravel at the bottom. Like I said I expect that a lot probably goes right across the surface but I hope some is going through the bottom and up and since there is the bio filter as well I think the water is getting well filtered. I actually worried that the water is too clean to feed the bog properly by the time it gets there. Also, I only keep about 10-12 goldfish (6 right now) and they mostly scavenge for food.. I only feed them once a week or so. About the planting yes, I didn’t think it through enough about the plants blocking the view of the waterfall. As you can see I do have the tall plants all in the back corner the calla lilies and a Cardinal flower and a couple of miniature cat tails are all that’s in it right now. Previously I did use creeping jenny in the rest of the bog and it did come back last year but this year there was only one tiny piece starting to grow and I didn’t notice it until I stepped on it and it never came back from that. I usually get 3-6 water hyacinths every year to put in the main pond. There’s only about half of one left now this year due to something taking a liking to them.. I’ll look into the ones you’ve mentioned. Any tips on how to plant things in the bog … like bare root out with soil etc. Oh and also, no, I have no aeration bubbler or anything for the pond. I knew that would be necessary for the fish to over winter but I never intended to over winter then since everything I’ve read always said the pond had to be at least 4 feet deep to do that. I might look into something for this winter. If it Expensive to run one all winter long? Thanks again

 

[Lisak1]

That four foot deep thing is a myth that has been proven to be false time and time and time again. My own pond is 39 inches deep at the very deepest part and we have overwintered fish for 8 winters now. And like I said - I have personally visited many many MANY ponds that are only 24 inches deep here in Chicagoland and the fish live in the pond all winter long. We've gone on countless pond tours where we see 20-25 ponds in a day. Most are less than 3 feet deep. All have fish that live in the pond year round. The myth prevails however....

Get a good aerator or a pond breather and you'll see. Your fish will be just fine. In our case we are able to keep the pond running all winter so we will have a complete and total ice cap, 30 inches of snow on the pond for weeks on end some winters - never a problem. The only year we lost fish was when our plumbing to the pump failed, and if I hadn't had a few warm days in January when I thought I could get it put back together, they probably would have been fine.

If someone told me I had to catch all my fish every winter and figure out how to keep them alive inside I'd just give up the pond - way too much work, stress, effort and not a whole lot of fun! And it will get more taxing every year as your fish grow bigger and breed and their numbers increase. No thanks!

Like I said - we can all tell you things we wish we had done differently when building our ponds, but that's all part of the process. Learning and growing and changing what we can, or living with it if we can't... it's all good!

As for bog plants - I knock off most of the dirt and stick them in the gravel. I don't worry if some sticks to the roots - it works either way!

 

[Pond skipper]

Ok thanks for the info. I’m probably going to try wintering them in the pond again because it isn’t any fun having to look after the aquarium and water changes and all that for the winter.

 

[Lisak1]

Ok thanks for the info. I’m probably going to try wintering them in the pond again because it isn’t any fun having to look after the aquarium and water changes and all that for the winter.

When the time comes pop in here and post some questions - you'll get lots of helpful advice! We wanna keep your legs under you this winter!

 

[Pond skipper]

Lol. That’s for sure.