Bog waterfall foaming..

[Faebinder]

I am having white foam coming from the bog waterfall, which is water coming from the pond and passing through/over the bog beds. I did not do a great job at removing all the old dead vegetation from the bog... It seems like a tough task and I'm not sure what to remove anyway.

I placed a bag of charcoal to help absorb DO but I'm not seeing a difference.

So does anyone have a good suggestion of how to remove that foam? Maybe I can have a settler but how would I put that for the waterfall?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Describe exactly what you did in "removing dead vegetation"
What is the depth of your 'bog'? When was the last time that it was flushed?

 

[Faebinder]

Describe exactly what you did in "removing dead vegetation"
What is the depth of your 'bog'? When was the last time that it was flushed?

1) I removed the some of the dead vegetation but some of the plans whose leaves died, were just shriveled and I wasn't sure if that means I gotta cut them off or wait till they are detached from the main roots. Unlike the Irises that stayed partially green, the others wilted and stayed attached. E.G. the obedient plant got brown and hard and I left the hard stems sticking out. Now I see green stems coming up that are different than these.

2) Bog is about 1.5 feet deep at one end and slowly goes to 0 feet where it connects to the pond (falls).

3) Flush?! how? I have a set of DIY pipes that spread the incoming water in the bed and over it but I cant imagine "flushing" it. How would that go?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

All 'bog' will accumulate organic debris over time. Some at a much faster rate than others. It is for this reason that a stand-pipe or similar device is incorporated in the initial construction to allow for removal of this accumulated organic debris.(see diagram below).
If this accumulation becomes to great it will cause 'channeling' of the water flow greatly reducing the efficiency of the 'bog'. If such accumulation does indeed exist and the 'bog' water flow is shut down during the Winter, the bacteria that are in the 'bog' will continue to breakdown this build-up of organic matter. Some organics such as cellulose and lignins take much longer to break down...weeks and even years in some cases. These are accumlating ovr the Winter in this shut-down 'bog'. When water flow is restored the cellulose and lignins are flushed out into the main pond often appearing as foam or a sheen on the water's surface.

 

[budgenator]

I've found my skimmer collected a lot of the foam, just scoop it out of the skimmer until you can get the bog cleaned. I had to build a http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?107532-How-to-make-a-phoam-phraxionator-1300-1500-gph phoam-phraxionator to get my foam under control and it made a huge difference for me.

 

[MitchM]

Some strong aeration and circulation will help the bacteria digest that extra DOC and the extra circulation will help transport detritus to your mechanical filtration.

 

[addy1]

I take a leaf rake to my bog, when it is shut down, and rake everything out, anything that will rake gets pulled out. Sometimes runners, small plants, roots, dead stuff, etc. I just toss it over the bog berm hill and it gets to become mulch.

I do it again in the spring before turn on. Getting rid of any dropped leaves etc from the bog surface.

 

[Faebinder]

I take a leaf rake to my bog, when it is shut down, and rake everything out, anything that will rake gets pulled out. Sometimes runners, small plants, roots, dead stuff, etc. I just toss it over the bog berm hill and it gets to become mulch.

I do it again in the spring before turn on. Getting rid of any dropped leaves etc from the bog surface.

Kinda scared to do that in case I hurt the plants but yeah I started doing something like that with my hand yesterday and its crazy the number of leaves that are in the bog coming off my trees. I may have to start doing something like that though.

 

[Faebinder]

I've found my skimmer collected a lot of the foam, just scoop it out of the skimmer until you can get the bog cleaned. I had to build a http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?107532-How-to-make-a-phoam-phraxionator-1300-1500-gph phoam-phraxionator to get my foam under control and it made a huge difference for me.

Thanks budgenator and Meyers.

So how do you guy put the water into this phoam maker? You use a pump to pump to the top?

How would you imagine this unit be installed into a bog? Like place it before the water goes into the bog or independent of the bog?

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Thanks budgenator and Meyers.

So how do you guy put the water into this phoam maker? You use a pump to pump to the top?

How would you imagine this unit be installed into a bog? Like place it before the water goes into the bog or independent of the bog?

Is the pond water subjected to any mechanical filtration before it enters the 'bog'? A Foam Fractionator will work but it must also be downline of adequate mechanical filtration.

 

[budgenator]

Thanks budgenator and Meyers.

So how do you guy put the water into this phoam maker? You use a pump to pump to the top?

How would you imagine this unit be installed into a bog? Like place it before the water goes into the bog or independent of the bog?

Meyer is correct about it working better with filtered water, mine wasn't last season and it did clog up a couple times but I was just trying it out to see how much of a difference it would make. I was just using the pre-pump filter and going straight to the fractionator. This year I'm building a much better filtration system, so a few things are set up to keep the pond going during the build, rather than how I intend them to be when I'm finished.

A fractionator will help keep your foaming problem under control until you solve the underlying problem.

 

[Faebinder]

Hmm... no the bog water comes from a semi-solid laguna pump. So I guess I'll get clogging.

The main filter is at the other waterfall and is the 10-biosteps filter. Connecting the device after that filter may be difficult since it pours as a waterfall.

You guys are convincing me to net my bog this fall.

 

[MitchM]

Where in your plumbing circuit you place a protein skimmer (phoam phraxionator...) doesn't matter.
It's purpose is to separate DOC's from pond water via mechanical separation using the physical properties of water tension.
If you would like to set it up, observe and learn about the process, it is interesting.

For in-depth information on removing DOC's, you can read up on the topic through these studies from Penn State University:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2009/1/aafeature2/
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2010/1/aafeature

The studies are performed with salt water, but the physical properties of DOC removal are the same.

.

 

[Lisak1]

Kinda scared to do that in case I hurt the plants

Once you get well established plants in your bog you'll realize it'll take more than a good raking to do any kind of damage. I spent almost two hours digging out one big clump of irises last spring. What you see on the surface is NOTHING compared to what's going on under the gravel! I could have potted that thing up into 20 individual pots - but on the top it looked like one nice clump of well-behaved plant... beware!

Some plants may be a bit more tender, but anything that comes back year after year is going to put up a good fight. It's you against them sometimes in a death match! haha!

 

[Faebinder]

Great articles... I need to figure out how to make one that doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.