How Deep can a Deep Bog be Deep.

[TimL94]

Yes I did that deliberately.

So I have a hole approx. 1 meter wide, 2 meter long and 1 meter deep.

I've seen you guys making some awesome bogs and wasn't sure what to do with this hole and thought... maybe a bog? but perhaps it is a tad too deep for a bog and the bottom portion will just sit stagnant and plants won't benefit as roots wont go deep enough. Thoughts?

I imagine the ratio is more about girth rather than depth.

 

[Mmathis]

I don’t think there is a “too deep,” but too deep is probably better than not deep enough. @addy1 has a very deep one. Hers does great! Mine was only 12” deep, and it could have been a little deeper.

 

[combatwombat]

Seems to be 3 philosophies on this:

1. No more than 12".
2. At least 3 feet. More if you can, and use graduated rock sizes as you build up.
3. Doesn't really matter. Make it how you want. Better to have any bog than no bog at all.

At this point, I think I've read just about every thought piece and discussion on the internet on the topic as I plan out my own, and I'm falling into philosophy #3. Bear in mind, everything I know is "book learning." I haven't actually built one yet.

I would say, though, if you go more than about 18", I'd probably build it with a backflush design because if it ever clogs, it'll be a heck of a lot of rock to get through to fix your distribution piping.

 

[Jhn]

Agree with Mmathis, can’t go to deep really. Mine is 3-4’ deep in spots, but the bottom 16-18” are aqua block, the top 18-24” is river cobble and 3/4” pea gravel. @GBBUDD has a very deep bog think it is like 6’ or so, using the aqua blocks, centipede/snorkel method.

If you are going deep more than 3’, I would do the water matrix blocks, centipede and snorkel method. This gives you access to the bottom of the bog through the snorkel to clean out any silty build up. While both methods (pea gravel/slotted pipe, or snorkel/centipede), for me the didn’t mind the extra cost to give me easy access to the bottom of the bog.

Other option is fill the hole back in a little bit to get to 18”-24” deep then do the pea gravel/slotted pipe.

 

[brokensword]

Mine is in the 3' depth range; I put a layer of larger stone, 4-6" around and over my pipes, then a layer of 2" cobble, then 12" of pea stone. It's surface area that is important, if it comes to that, as hopefully you aim for 30% of your pond surface area, for the bog area.

 

[Lisak1]

4 feet deep here - Aquablox, centipede and snorkel and graduated size rocks. Works great!

 

[GBBUDD]

yes my bogbis a minimum of 6 feet 7 on one end where I used 24 inch double walled plastic culvert pipe. I cut slots at what would be 10 and 2 o'clock and pumped in the end where the 2 inch feed pipe is aimed at the wall where it enters the culvert this way any debris is pushed out of the end of the pipe and the water flow is lessened and only slow displacement is pushed only by slow displacement in the large culvert. So the heavy sedimrnt is allowed to fall out of the water column but stays in the pipe because the pipe is solid fro 2 o'clock to 10. It then goes through 4 to 6 inch rock to where it is leveled off to a layer of aqua blocks where again sediment is allowed to sit without flow. Then as it is displaced it travels up through 2 inch rock about 4 inches and then a foot of 3/4 and mixed 3/8 " river rock where the plant roots absorb the phosphates nitrates and any other remains elements. Now the other thing I have adopted is in sewer systems that have heavy loads they are now pumping air into the system n s this promotes bacteria to THRIVE all this dead space allows for bacteria to grow on the rocks. Well with the snorkel with a air bladder pumping air in the pipe gives the bacteria all the o2 it could ever need tge result is crystal clear water. Now some of my videos look a little Markey but thats general due to spawning or myself working on the pond. I can't say enough in the indorcement of bogs

 

[poconojoe]

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? Whoops, sorry, couldn't help that!

Back to our regularly scheduled program...

As others have stated, there are different ways to do it and different opinions. The thing is...most every way works. I don't think anyone here has had any problems. Some have built deep instead of wide since their space was limited.

There are some articles on the web that are adamant about the depth. They say 12" and that's it and no deviations. There are even articles that state bogs don't work, that it will just be a big collection of stinky muck.
Well, many here have built much deeper and some bogs are over 10 years old with no problems with muck.

Mine is 14 feet x 5 feet x 12 inches deep. The gravel covers two 2" PVC manifolds with slits cut every 1-1/2". It works fantastic. Crystal clear water. It's amazing.
You can build the centipede/snorkel type which allows you to drop a pump down there and suck up any build-up. It's up to you.

Don't be worried about the water reaching the roots of the plants. The water has to rise up and spill into the pond, so basically your bog will be filled with water.

 

[Mmathis]

@poconojoe The only folks who claim that bogs don’t work (stinky muck) are the DKP folks, LOL! (IMHO, that is)

 

[Lisak1]

Don't be worried about the water reaching the roots of the plants. The water has to rise up and spill into the pond, so basically your bog will be filled with water.

Good catch - I meant to add that. The bog will fill with water no matter how deep it is.

And a deeper bog can allow for settling - the sediment in the water will, in theory, settle out and drift to the bottom of the bog. I say "in theory" because the water needs to move slowly through the bog for that to happen. I think mine barrels through way too fast - the water in the bottom of my snorkel is always crystal clear. I'm going to check it again in a few weeks here and see - haven't done that in a few years.

 

[TimL94]

What I was thinking of doing was that skimmer bog combination, so lose some height of the hole by having the pond water overflow into the bog and pump the water back up into the pond from the furthest point in the bog to the opposite side of the pond.

 

[Mmathis]

What I was thinking of doing was that skimmer bog combination, so lose some height of the hole by having the pond water overflow into the bog and pump the water back up into the pond from the furthest point in the bog to the opposite side of the pond.

I’m confused. What do you mean by the “skimmer bog combination?” Curious, do you understand how a bog works?

 

[TimL94]

I am so happy I finally found the video I was looking for, ohhh my gosh.

Ok so what I was thinking was combining the "reservoir" in this video with a bog, so I have the depth to hold the water for the water in motion, but I would extend the hole out horizontally a couple feet to provide surface area for plants. Maybe I should draw a picture haha.

Please excuse my Artistic talents, would this not work as a bog?

 

[Mmathis]

Normally, where you have the “pump” and the “outlet,” well those 2 are just the opposite! The pump takes the water from the pond and pushes it up through the bog — I don’t understand... Is the area you have labeled as “deep area,” is that connected to the bog, does it have gravel, or is it open water? And is the “deep area” at the same level, below, or above the levels of the bog and pond?

The idea of having the intake (the pump) and the outflow (the bog) at opposite ends of the pond is sound, but I’m confused.

 

[TimL94]

Haha, ok, ok, bare with me

So "Bog Area" = for example 1 Foot deep area filled with gravel and drainage pipes, top of gravel would be mainly above water level. I would put plants in here.

Deep area = So that area is where the deep hole is, this area would be a part of the Bog area (one pond liner, no divider), just be a lot deeper, also be filled with gravel but would gradually slope to having gravel below water level in an area for different plants, and include a large barrel with holes in that would house the pump ("reservoir" in the video).

Waters Journey:
So pump gets turned on, water in the "reservoir" gets pumped into the pond, pond starts to overflow into the bog, water gets Aerated as it falls into the bog and takes all the debris from service of pond into the bog ("Skimmer").

The pond water with all its nutrients now flows through the gravel / plant roots. and eventually makes it's way into the deep area and into the reservoir to get pumped around again.

No? anyone? just me? o.o *