To bog or not to bog.

[Stouty109]

Im Building a new pond in my backyard and i was wondering If i should put in a 55 gal filter or at least a 100 gal bog filter. It will also b the start to my waterfall.

 

[taherrmann4]

I enjoy the bog that I put in last may and it has served me well. This is not my only filter, I have two other filters beside the bog.

 

[shakaho]

I love my bog filters. I'm replacing another barrel filter with a bog this spring.

 

[Waterbug]

Depends on the kind of pond you want and your goals. A bog is neither good or bad, it has good features and bad features. Pretty much like anything.

 

[Koiqueen]

After using every other type of filter out there I put in a bog. Love love love it and it is my only filter now and no more green water.

 

[pecan]

One of the reasons I love bogs is because of the possibilities with aquatic plants they provide. I initially dug my pond with a bunch of planting shelves but found plants do not do well in my pond. I think it might be lack of nutrients or the fish eating the roots. But for whatever reason they don't. I am as much of a plant junkie as I am a pond junkie. I put in a mini bog above my water fall and LOVE how I can fill it with plants and they do great

 

[Shdwdrgn]

It depends completely on what you intend to do with your pond. If you are only interested in a low-maintenance filter, then there are equally suitable choices. However if you enjoy live plants and want to be able to put in a wide variety, then as pecan says, a bog is invaluable. There are a number of marginals that simply do not do well around the edge of the pond, but will thrive in a bog. I also installed a mini-bog at the top of my waterfall, and am using this area to experiment with carnivorous plants. I put in my first hardy pitcher plant last year, which appears to have grown some deep, healthy roots over the Winter, so I am excitedly awaiting the first signs of new plant growth for this season, with plans to buy several more plants this year. A bog can give you a range of planting conditions because you can put a plant just above or just below the water level by simply scooping up a pile of gravel.

 

[brandonsdad02]

I put in my bog last spring and just love it. All of my plants exploded during the summer and my water was clear all year.

 

[Fishylove]

I too am looking forward to seeing how the bog does, this being its first FULL year. I am also going to try a few vegetables and do some aquaponics, maybe try a tomato plant or two and see how much better they can do? Anyone else here used their big for veggies ?

 

[Shdwdrgn]

Hmm my waterfall bog is against the chainlink fence. I wonder how peas would do, growing up out of the gravel onto the fence? I may have to try this!

 

[Waterbug]

Awhile back I documented a test on growing tomatoes in bog conditions.

For really serious vegetables a bog could be setup like an Aquaponic bed to various degrees. Lots of data and experience on that is available. But just varying the below soil water level would allow most vegetables to grow. There are lots of issues. High pH not allowing for nutrients to be available, vegetables requiring more nutrients than available, insects, etc. Lots of videos on YouTube of people setting up new systems and their high hopes, very few videos of anyone actually getting serious vegetables. Possible, not simple.

 

[Stouty109]

So I'm going with a bog and later ill b installing a skippy also if needed. But my new question is i have a 2" pipe running at the bottom of my bog and i have 3/8" holes drilled every 6" and the pipe is 7' long. Will them 3/8" holes b ok and not restrict my flow.

 

[addy1]

We slit the 2 inch pipe about 1/3 of the way through, the slits are the width of a saw blade, not a controlled cut. The slits ended up being around 1/4 inch or so in size. One thing I read was holes can get plugged by the pea gravel. We also installed our with the slits pointing down to the bottom of the pond. I put scrap liner below the piping between it and the liner, so the constant pounding of the water would not wear the liner.

Our piping is around 25 feet long, our slits are from 6 inches towards the end (away from the pump) to about a foot (closer to the pump). We have good flow through out the bog.

 

[slakker]

I like bogs as they are a more than just a filter for me. It's a place to plant stuff that normally wouldn't do well in the garden and get a different look/feel to the overall system.

 

[HTH]

How is the picture plant doing and if well what is the variety ?

It depends completely on what you intend to do with your pond. If you are only interested in a low-maintenance filter, then there are equally suitable choices. However if you enjoy live plants and want to be able to put in a wide variety, then as pecan says, a bog is invaluable. There are a number of marginals that simply do not do well around the edge of the pond, but will thrive in a bog. I also installed a mini-bog at the top of my waterfall, and am using this area to experiment with carnivorous plants. I put in my first hardy pitcher plant last year, which appears to have grown some deep, healthy roots over the Winter, so I am excitedly awaiting the first signs of new plant growth for this season, with plans to buy several more plants this year. A bog can give you a range of planting conditions because you can put a plant just above or just below the water level by simply scooping up a pile of gravel.