JMJ
Marsh Gorilla
- Joined
- Apr 11, 2024
- Messages
- 54
- Reaction score
- 71
- Location
- Coastal Louisiana
- Hardiness Zone
- 9b
- Country
Hi everyone! My name is John, I found this forum while doing research on building a bog filter for my approximately 550-600gal in-ground concrete garden pond. We bought our house in September of 2020 that already had the pond since the 1980’s. It was a big draw to the house and property when we first looked at it because it hit a desire for a pond that I had since childhood going to plant nurseries with my grandmother. The pond had a population of both common and comet goldfish breeding in it when we purchased the house and was choked out with Hydrilla and Nymphaea odorata. In the first year of owning the home I started slowly removing the Hydrilla from the pond and the unbelievable amount of vegetative debris from the bottom just before we were hit by Hurricane Ida then the pond went on the back burner while we sorted through home repairs. Last October I adopted a fully grown female map turtle from a friend who was trying to get out of tank keeping and moved it into my pond which reignited my interest getting my pond on track to reaching its potential as an ideal habitat for her. In the last several weeks I replaced my my burned up in pond pump that ran my waterfall and spitter with a new larger one and last Friday I did a full drain on the pond so that I could remove all the remaining vegetative material from the bottom with nets and a shop vac. From previous experience with aquaria I saved as much water from the upper strata of the pond in a drum and a kiddie pool to retain beneficial bacteria along with hold my Nymphaea lilies, map turtle and goldfish while I cleaned the pond using tips I learned from lurking on this forum. My current bioload is approximately 15+/- assorted common and comet goldfish around 4” or less in length and the map turtle. I’d eventually like to select towards only comets in time or possibly shifting over to mostly some native fish from my region that can easily overwinter here such as sailfin mollies and one of the smaller sunfish species such as dollar or red-spotted sunfish. If I stick to goldfish what would be an ideal number of comets in a 600ish gallon pond with a focus on their ability to approach max size? I’m not well versed in goldfish husbandry, all my aquarium fish keeping experience was with assorted tropicals, south/central American cichlids and native fresh, brackish and saltwater species.
I’m currently looking at either buying a 70gal stock tank or building something myself from 2x12” boards and a pond liner for something more custom to the dimensions behind my waterfall. I had found the Nelson’s Nursery website and their bog filter instructions years ago when helping a college friend construct a backyard pond for keeping native species he was catching during electro fishing trips. We had planted the bog with Typha latifolia we had pulled from our area and were both blown away with the clarity of the water in the main pond for the bioload he was running and I knew if I ever had a pond of my own it was getting a bog filter. The space I have to work with behind the waterfall for the bog is 5.5’x2’, I was planning to use Nelson’s suggested 12” for my gravel bed depth unless their could be some benefit to going a little deeper with it? I also went with Nelson’s suggestion of a 2” diameter pvc for the manifold and used a chop saw to cut slits 1/3 down every inch for approximately 4’ of the length and was planning to use the single manifold being that I’ll be at or under 2’ in width.
Here’s a few recent pictures of it before and after the draining/cleaning.
I’m currently looking at either buying a 70gal stock tank or building something myself from 2x12” boards and a pond liner for something more custom to the dimensions behind my waterfall. I had found the Nelson’s Nursery website and their bog filter instructions years ago when helping a college friend construct a backyard pond for keeping native species he was catching during electro fishing trips. We had planted the bog with Typha latifolia we had pulled from our area and were both blown away with the clarity of the water in the main pond for the bioload he was running and I knew if I ever had a pond of my own it was getting a bog filter. The space I have to work with behind the waterfall for the bog is 5.5’x2’, I was planning to use Nelson’s suggested 12” for my gravel bed depth unless their could be some benefit to going a little deeper with it? I also went with Nelson’s suggestion of a 2” diameter pvc for the manifold and used a chop saw to cut slits 1/3 down every inch for approximately 4’ of the length and was planning to use the single manifold being that I’ll be at or under 2’ in width.
Here’s a few recent pictures of it before and after the draining/cleaning.
Like maybe hostas, carnivorous plants, etc.
