I have a 10' x 14' pond 4 ft deep at the lowest with a 3 ft shelf and a 2 ft shelf. I'm steady sun all day and get pea green water. I added the lettuce and hyacinth. currently running a 30 gallon skippy with 2 laundry bags of bio balls and 2 matala mats. This is sitting in a 150 gallon Rubbermaid tub which is the waterfall. I wanted to put a 100 gallon Rubbermaid trough in the pond and build a bog, with the rocks, pebbled and plants to help control the algae. I would feed it via a tube fed from the top to under so the water feeds up through the gravel and out the top. I would also place a large diameter pipe in the center so I can drop a pump tp drain it out during cleanings. any thoughts/ suggestions?
Bog in pond
- Thread starter phillyofish
- Start date
am thinking addy and waterbug are two of the ones i can think of that may have the knowledge
As has been said thousands of times, literally, in many different pond forums and many web sites over many years....
Water lettuce, water hyacinth, and other plants cure green water.
Skippy filter cures green water.
Bogs cures green water.
Third time's the charm.
You'll still need to try...barley straw...magnets...salt...fewer fish...more plants...shade...quilt batting...less food...flocculent...remove rocks...peroxide...floating foam rafts...dye...veggie filter...settling tank...bottled bacteria...copper pipe...all things I've read have cleared people's ponds. And there were also a bunch of really crazy stuff. All were absolutely 100% convinced whatever they added cleared their pond because their pond cleared some time after adding the stuff.
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Water lettuce, water hyacinth, and other plants cure green water.
Skippy filter cures green water.
Bogs cures green water.
Third time's the charm.
You'll still need to try...barley straw...magnets...salt...fewer fish...more plants...shade...quilt batting...less food...flocculent...remove rocks...peroxide...floating foam rafts...dye...veggie filter...settling tank...bottled bacteria...copper pipe...all things I've read have cleared people's ponds. And there were also a bunch of really crazy stuff. All were absolutely 100% convinced whatever they added cleared their pond because their pond cleared some time after adding the stuff.
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I don't clean this bog, but it is huge. My smaller ones in arizona I had a bottom drain back flush them off and on.
You could build a island bog. An island of pea gravel, separated from the pond by a porous wall. Use a container like a laundry basket with some landscape fabric to contain the pea gravel. The water would passively flow through it.
If you put in a large dia pipe to clean it out via sump or whatever, you could have a raised floor, light grid or something strong enough to hold the gravel up. That would allow some of the muck to collect below the gravel for easy sucking out. Or you could clean it by back flushing with a hose as your pump pulls the water out with the debris.
I am assuming my planted bog and plants in the pond is what controls the algae, we stay green water and algae free in the big pond. No scientific tests to prove it just observation.
You could build a island bog. An island of pea gravel, separated from the pond by a porous wall. Use a container like a laundry basket with some landscape fabric to contain the pea gravel. The water would passively flow through it.
If you put in a large dia pipe to clean it out via sump or whatever, you could have a raised floor, light grid or something strong enough to hold the gravel up. That would allow some of the muck to collect below the gravel for easy sucking out. Or you could clean it by back flushing with a hose as your pump pulls the water out with the debris.
I am assuming my planted bog and plants in the pond is what controls the algae, we stay green water and algae free in the big pond. No scientific tests to prove it just observation.
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
@ Waterbug - He wasn't suggesting it would "cure" it. He is attempting "to help control the algae". I can see how a bog would provide an environment, even though inefficient, still where macroalgae and particular heterotroph or other bacteria can produce allelopathic chemicals.
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@ phillyofish
Best route is to purchase an inline UV light and read the instructions to properly install it. They're easy to install by simply making a parallel bypass so you can adjust the flow through the UV and be sure the UV light will work within the range of total pond gallons you have. Another route, if ya got some standing water near or know a fella with some string algae, see if ya can transport some to be put it in your pond; the string algae introduction might help remove the pea green water algae.
Bog implementation idea ya have there sounds really neat.
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@ phillyofish
Best route is to purchase an inline UV light and read the instructions to properly install it. They're easy to install by simply making a parallel bypass so you can adjust the flow through the UV and be sure the UV light will work within the range of total pond gallons you have. Another route, if ya got some standing water near or know a fella with some string algae, see if ya can transport some to be put it in your pond; the string algae introduction might help remove the pea green water algae.
Bog implementation idea ya have there sounds really neat.
OP is wants green water, just not really green water? If that's true then my mistake. However this would be the first post, out of the hundreds I've read, that the poster didn't mean clear water.
I can see it too. A 100 gal filled with rocks isn't a bog. Way too small. It's a gravel filter. Adding a few plants it could be called a veggie filter, but still, pretty small to be a realistic veggie filter.
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
And ... as ya know, when anyone says "clear water", they really just mean "control the algae or floating particles well enough so it is not noticeable to the human eye unless they have eagle eyes". 
Technically, a veggie filter doesn't have any, or very little, medium (i.e., gravel, etc) in it at all.
Putting gravel in a veggie filter or veggies into a gravel filter. When combining a veggie filter and gravel filter, then it becomes something else ... Well, technically it's not a bog since plant decay is not used as the plant's soil, so ...
Come on man. It's a bog.
Just playing with ya. You're too fun. :razz: :razz:
Technically, a veggie filter doesn't have any, or very little, medium (i.e., gravel, etc) in it at all.
Putting gravel in a veggie filter or veggies into a gravel filter. When combining a veggie filter and gravel filter, then it becomes something else ... Well, technically it's not a bog since plant decay is not used as the plant's soil, so ...
Come on man. It's a bog.
Just playing with ya. You're too fun. :razz: :razz:
Depends on who you ask. If I ask you then yes. The veggie filters I've seen had a lot of gravel, like 1-2', which would fill with root systems.Technically, a veggie filter doesn't have any, or very little, medium (i.e., gravel, etc) in it at all.
Sorry, missed the punchline. Don't quit your day job.
@phillyofish - You mentioned that you have 30-gallon skippy sitting inside a 150-gallon tub? Could you please provide more information about this setup? Is there anything else in the 150gal tub? Does it just sit higher than the pond solely for the purpose of providing the waterfall, or does it serve some other purpose?
The reason I ask is, I don't believe a 30-gallon skippy is nearly enough for that large of a pond. I am wondering if you have considered converting the 150-gal tub into a large bottom-fed bog? This would give you much more filtration than the skippy, and you would still have the water flowing out of it for your falls.
The reason I ask is, I don't believe a 30-gallon skippy is nearly enough for that large of a pond. I am wondering if you have considered converting the 150-gal tub into a large bottom-fed bog? This would give you much more filtration than the skippy, and you would still have the water flowing out of it for your falls.
The 150 has filter media in laundry bags and houses my uv as well. I was going to move the UV out and have it away from the 150. Does putting the 100 in the pond as a bog not serve a purpose?
crsublette
coyotes call me Charles
It sounds like a really neat idea. Sound like it is going to become like the bog is an island in the pond ??
Definitely will serve as a purpose. Mainly as a particulate filter and also as a veggie filter and a low-grade bio-filter.
Ya might want to think about pre-filtering the water before it gets pumped into the bottom of the bog or ya may likely have to purge it more often.
Difficult to determine number of gallons in your pond since we don't know the dimensions of your shelves. With that many shelves, I am guessing it is around 3000~3500 gallon pond? Ya know how many gallons your pond holds?
Don't let the little "back and forth" here distrurb ya.
all part of the hobby experience
I would guess closer to 2000 gallons. My main pond is around 6x14 at 3' deep, and with the shelves it only holds about 900-1000 gallons
Many many many opinions and ideas will be thrown around for any question asked. Its up to the OP to decide what they think works best for their own situation. We might throw out 20 different suggestions for a problem, and each one of those suggestions could be equally 'right'. That's just the nature of the hobby!Don't let the little "back and forth" here distrurb ya.
im redoing my filtration. I used to have the 30 gallon feed the 150 but placed it inside because it overflowed due to filters getting clogged with algae. I'm adding a 55 skippy which will feed the 150 also. Both will be fed from the bottom via 1.5" pvc bulkheads and each will have control valves. there will be two outlets on each barrel. one barrel will have two outlets to the 150. the other will have one to the 150 and one to the bog which will be fed from the bottom. I will post a diagram one it is completly designed and am looking forward to your feedback.
pics of the filtration scheme
Please provide feedback, plan on completing this weekend. Also where the UV should be placed. possibly another feed from the 30 to the 150 with the UV in between? Or UV between the bog and the 55?
Please provide feedback, plan on completing this weekend. Also where the UV should be placed. possibly another feed from the 30 to the 150 with the UV in between? Or UV between the bog and the 55?
Any thoughts?