Going for it! phase one 12,000 gallon pond.

[GBBUDD]

My pump is 6800 gph, the majority goes right into the bog. Some say slow flow, some say no issue with slow or fast. Mine is a good flow rate, keeps the pond perfect................very large bog.

Ug that makes things a bit more interesting for me. I was leaning toward 9000 gph but that was going to feed the falls with 4000 gph and splitting 5000 gph between three bogs and a return line circulating the pond down 2 feet below water level pushing toward the skimmer with 1500 gph. leaving 1500 gph for the three bogs I guess I am well below where I need to be. one bog will be approximately 10 x 6 and the other two were more upflow into the pond on wide shelves with cat tails marginal and lillys

 

[GBBUDD]

Ok thinking maybe boosting the falls to about 6,500 gph have some of the water fall off into smaller pools next to the bogs within the stream and place submersibles to each of the bogs?

 

[addy1]

leaving 1500 gph for the three bogs

As long as water is running through the bog and the plants it will filter. It does not need to be fast. My bog is my only filter for the pond, so I send almost all of the water into it.

 

[GBBUDD]

Materials are being stock piled, I spent a whole hour working on the 2" pipe perforations for the bogs . I took the 2" pvc and taped them together in two's then taped two bundles together and marked out every 6" and used a circular saw with a standard carbide tipped blade and cut a 1" deep cross cut across all four pipes at once. I do feel the drilling method would be a more efficient delivery through out the bog but if there's one thing water does, it takes the path of least resistance. So if the pressure is greater at the beginning of the pipe and little is making it to the end of the pipe I don't think it will take all that long for nature to balance its self out. Don't forget there's going to be a foot of 3/8" gravel on top of the pipe. I have also been playing with the idea of placing perforated pvc sheets a lot the pvc pipe creating a negative pressure or / reduced pressure area for solids to settle and not raise up and clog the stone and roots. But so far the only sheets I can find will add substantial costs it would have to be strong enough to hold up the stone and someone walking on it.

 

[cas]

I love that you are still working, gathering and planning your pond in the winter. It's nice to be thinking about ponds instead of watching the snow. Nice that you have so many rocks. It is amazing the places you will find for them if you have any left over from your pond build. I have used extra to line flower beds and create a rock wall.

 

[addy1]

We cut our pipes with a circular saw, just drag chop drag chop, not nicely spaced. I have the cuts facing down, a piece of spare liner under the pipes so the water would not pound constantly on the real liner. I figured facing down, less chance of gravel clogging the cuts.

 

[GBBUDD]

cas

did you build a reverse flow filter in the bottom of your pond ? I don't see a bog . are the water lilies etc you have in the pond sufficient to keep the algae in check ?

 

[cas]

did you build a reverse flow filter in the bottom of your pond ? I don't see a bog . are the water lilies etc you have in the pond sufficient to keep the algae in check ?

All I have is a skimmer for mechanical filtration, and a bio falls for my biological filter. If the pond has enough plants, they will controls.the algae. Water lilies alone are not enough, but flag iris and other sedges are really good about taking up the extra nutrients. A couple of years ago I removed the yellow flag iris and replaced them with blue flag iris and have had an algae bloom that lasts about a week ever since then. Waiting for the new blue flag iris to get established so hopefully I get back to no algae bloom.

 

[GBBUDD]

We cut our pipes with a circular saw, just drag chop drag chop, not nicely spaced. I have the cuts facing down, a piece of spare liner under the pipes so the water would not pound constantly on the real liner. I figured facing down, less chance of gravel clogging the cuts.

One of the reasons I was leaning toward the perforated pvc was to avoid clogging the cuts but I don't see 3/8" stone doing to much to block a 1/8"wie cut

 

[sissy]

The only thing that may clog it is roots and root rot .Fine silt that gets blown in or built up pollen and rotted leaves that work their way down there .

 

[GBBUDD]

The only thing that may clog it is roots and root rot .Fine silt that gets blown in or built up pollen and rotted leaves that work their way down there .

good point

 

[sissy]

I know nothing really in my waterfall pond but when I removed the few rocks to check roots of some of my waterfall planted pots ,the rotted roots and other mucky stuff down there was amazing .I had cleaned it out in the summer when I pulled some pots because roots were growing up the waterfall sides .I trimmed the roots and got rid of some of the rotted roots then ,I just did this again this past week .So far we have not really ha a bad winter except for that 1 week of zero temps ..Mostly we have been in the low 30's and now back up to the 50's to the 70's .I guess the longer the season and the more rain we get the more build up I get .

 

[GBBUDD]

Received a 15 x 300' roll of 8 oz non woven underlayment today and my lighting is rolling in I purchased Aquascapes 6 led pucks and 6 led spot lights all 1 watt Warm white, I want subtle lighting. along with some extensions and splitters timers and transformer. The plan is to use the underlayment on both sides of the liner. The soil here is loaded with fractured rock/ lots of points to the rock but not really sharp . like a slate can be but I didn't want to gamble th project so I stepped up the underlayment to 8 oz compared to the standard 4 oz. Believe it or not the underlayment came from Lowes. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN FREE DELIVERY BUT I decided it would be easier for me to pick it up . Well that turned out to be a bad idea it took over an hour to get it at the store. Company policy would not allow a fork truck to lift a 15 foot long roll that weighs 300 + pounds, due to it was a safety violation? . I know Osha regs all too well, there's no such reg even close to lowes policy. but it was ok for the employees to lift it by hand ! go figure. Now I need to find the liner that will deliver to a residential address reliably as the roll of edpm is going to weigh it at close to 700 pounds.

 

[GBBUDD]

I know nothing really in my waterfall pond but when I removed the few rocks to check roots of some of my waterfall planted pots ,the rotted roots and other mucky stuff down there was amazing .I had cleaned it out in the summer when I pulled some pots because roots were growing up the waterfall sides .I trimmed the roots and got rid of some of the rotted roots then ,I just did this again this past week .So far we have not really ha a bad winter except for that 1 week of zero temps ..Mostly we have been in the low 30's and now back up to the 50's to the 70's .I guess the longer the season and the more rain we get the more build up I get .

i'm hoping that having a turn around of once an hour with water flow will help to take away the worries of some sludge build up

 

[GBBUDD]

Tired of waiting for spring!!! Got the shovel out today and began to reshape the shelves of the pond. I got the Helix skimmer dug in and bought a 30x 50 tarp to keep the walls of the pond dry and to keep them from freeze and thawing loosening the edges of the shelves and washing down to the bottom of the pond.

Also built and air lift vortex to keep electrical costs down but filtration at its max I am going to put a under gravel filter at the bottom of the pond that will be 6 feet underwater and with that depth an airlift will have plenty of suction to do the job. A nd to make life more interesting I will be installing the bottom drain but it's going to be slightly elevated to keep the gravel from being pulled in. Just incase I do decide to put koi in the pond down the road.

Also got the garage floor opened up for the drain lines to enter the garage from under what will be the walk way . it will except a 3" two 2" and three 1" pvc pipes.