Can I get away with a 2" Bottom Drain, 5 Gallon Bucket? < 500 Gallon Pond

[Miami Al]

I'm willing to accept that the 2" drain will be a problem and do 3" all the way underground. I'm going to switch to 2" when it is near the surface and ready to go into the pre-filter, because 2" PVC is SO MUCH easier to work with than 3", but I'll do all the underground stuff in 3"

But Union Couplings, Check Valves, Bulkheads, are a fraction of the cost in 2" as 3". Alternatively I found a pre-made sump bucket with a 4 inch connector, and I could just reduce it, it's just so hard to work with 3", so I think I'll take the area I need to be able to work down to 2" for the last foot or so of the connection. Of I just suck it up and spend a few hours one time on this working with 3". Sigh.

 

[combatwombat]

Is my idea of multiple planters and one feeding the next reasonable for a bog system?

Yeah, I think so. Top of one gravity feeding bottom of next?

 

[poconojoe]

Having no cold winters and no "reset" as you call it, is an advantage in my opinion.

Your beneficial bacteria doesn't die off because it never gets cold enough.

Come Springtime, you don't have that waiting period for the bacteria to recolonize. The time when our ponds are having an algae bloom, waiting for the plants to mature.

 

[Miami Al]

Yeah, I think so. Top of one gravity feeding bottom of next?

Yup.

I wonder if I can route the output through a pond spitter for visual effect.

Neighborhood children come by and admire my pond when it's running, they love the spitters (and the fairy garden I built with my youngest). Adds some whimsy.

But yes, pump goes to "array" of holes at the bottom Planter 0.
At the top of Planter 0 is a 1" Uniseal that connects to the array at the bottom of Planter 1.
At the top of Planter 1 is a 1" Uniseal that connects to the array at the bottom of Planter 2.
At the top of Planter 2 is a 1" Uniseal that connects to the pond spitter (with a 1" to 1/2" reduction somehow)

 

[poconojoe]

Your idea about building multiple bogs is absolutely fine.

 

[Miami Al]

Having no cold winters and no "reset" as you call it, is an advantage in my opinion.

Your beneficial bacteria doesn't die off because it never gets cold enough.

Come Springtime, you don't have that waiting period for the bacteria to recolonize. The time when our ponds are having an algae bloom, waiting for the plants to mature.

Those statements are all true.

HOWEVER, you underestimate how many gardening tasks are built around your spring-time reset.

And gardening in 92 degree weather in the summer is really really hot.

 

[Miami Al]

Thank you to everyone's help. Moving into reality stage, parts on their way, digging taking place. Current Plan:

3" Bottom Drain + Aerator.
Using a 7 Gallon Bucket, going to do pure mechanical filtering of big objects. I have set of shelves. One will go under pump (keep it out of muck), one will go over the pump. And a "skimmer basket" - like a pool leaf catcher will keep big particles out. I'll probably put some mechanical filters between the shelf and the skimmer basket, but that is TBD.

Cleaning this out shouldn't be much more work than the pool skimmer / filter, empty the skimmer regularly, hose the filter less often.

The bog is NOT going into a complicated pass through. A pump will pump water out via Flex PVC, I will split into 3 large pots I found (using ball valves to rotate flow to keep all flowing, should be set and forget pretty quickly). 3 Bogs should provide a decent amount of Bog space.

I'm excited, this should be pretty maintenance free. I'll spring some money on some decorative scupper/spouts I'd guess.

Thanks to everyone for helping.

 

[poconojoe]

Don't forget to follow up with some during and after construction pictures!

 

[Miami Al]

Don't forget to follow up with some during and after construction pictures!

I will take pictures, I'm normally terrible at this, but you guys were super helpful. I appreciate that nobody started yelling when I questioned the conventional wisdom here. The explanation of DKP vs. Bog was AMAZING.

Since I have a tendency to overdo things, the bottom drain seems appealing.

 

[combatwombat]

I appreciate that nobody started yelling when I questioned the conventional wisdom here

Would be pretty boring if no one ever tried different approaches to solve a problem. If you tell us you're going to put 50 koi in there, some folks might start shouting.

 

[brokensword]

Would be pretty boring if no one ever tried different approaches to solve a problem. If you tell us you're going to put 50 koi in there, some folks might start shouting.

...and some might grab the popcorn!

 

[poconojoe]

Ditto! creativeness is a great thing. It's better to be creative and use your brain than to be brain dead like so many sheep out there.
If everyone did everything exactly the same, not only would it be boring, but there would never be any progress made.

 

[Miami Al]

Would be pretty boring if no one ever tried different approaches to solve a problem. If you tell us you're going to put 50 koi in there, some folks might start shouting.

Are we going to pretend that this is normal behavior on the Internet?

 

[Miami Al]

I think that my skimmer basket plan may fail from a lack of room, but we'll see. 19" is not as big as it seems with wanting to have some margin of error for the pond losing some water. I generally time autofill it for a few minutes everyday. I'm excited to get this all going.

Just need to figure out bog plants for the South Florida climate.

 

[Miami Al]

A quick question, it just occurred to me that the Gallon Bucket's seal is air tight/water tight. I'm actually wondering if that's going to prevent the gravity fed bottom drain from working. In generally, the Bucket Filter and the Pond should be at the same water level, and as water is pumped out of the filter is should pull more water from the bottom of the pond back to the bucket, right?

Should I incorporate an air vent, and if so where, on the intake side or the outtake side, or an extra gap?

My Pool has some things that look like upside down Js by my pool equipment, which made me think about it.