How do I add a bog to my current pond?

[blessedfamily]

I am trying to think of how to add a bog to my current pond. The area that I am thininking is to the RIGHT of my skimmer box in picture. Hubby said it would be neat to have a lower area there when we built the pond but it isn't all that pretty and the fish can go in and I do not want them getting eaten by critters so I was thinking why not add a bog. How would I go about doing that? What would I need? Liner? A second pump? It is just starting to warm up here so the fish have been out the last 2 days and I have pond fever so please help. Thanks in advance. Amber

 

[blessedfamily]

I was thinking I could just use my current pump that is housed in the skimmer box as it is 3000GPH and my pond is only 1000 gallons. Addy1 where are you I need your help he he.

 

[DrCase]

You can put a tee and a valve in your skimmer or by your filter to direct a litte water to your bog

 

[blessedfamily]

My brain is trying to figure it all out Do I need to raise that area? I am proabably making this too hard but oh well.

 

[koiguy1969]

heres a couple thoughts i had on bogs... for a bog, yes, you'll need some liner you can 'pump feed' or 'pump draw' the water thru your bog. pump feed is a pump in the pond pushing water into the bog wether it be your current pump or an addon. this way could be slightly raised and be like a stream & watefall back into pond...this way you dont have to worry about seaming liners together. this way can also be fed by your falls or filter...... or you can seam the liners together as in a stream, and the water would be drawn into the bog from there. a pump would 'pull' the water thru the bog from the other end and feed your falls filter or back into the pond.... .. drawing the water thru your skimmer would at least send cleaner water to the bog. just a couple thoughts

 

[Waterbug]

Yes, the top of the bog would be slightly higher than the top of the pond. Liner is easiest imo. Overlap bog liner into the pond. You have to be a little careful about the overlap, it's actually simpler than most people make it. You want a gap between the 2 liners. Unless of course the 2 liners are properly seamed, but no reason to go to that trouble.

I like pea gravel to fill bogs. Easiest thing I've found to shovel.

Send pump's output to the bog and you'd done. You can make it more complex if you like, but that's the basics.

 

[addy1]

Bog sounds great! make the edge higher than the pond and waterfall back in. If you do the under the gravel piping like mine, just t off your pump and send the water into the bog piping. All my pond water goes through my bog piping, waterfalls back into the pond.

I do love my bog, all the plants are grwoing great in this hot weather we are having! The only algae I have seen is some hair algae on the bog gravel.

 

[Sunshine]

I made my bog out of my old preform pond. Addy helped me with it and I love it !!! I was looking at it yesterday and the plants are starting to come up.

 

[addy1]

I made my bog out of my old preform pond. Addy helped me with it and I love it !!! I was looking at it yesterday and the plants are starting to come up.

Neat to hear sunshine! My bog plants are starting to grow great. 25 degrees above normal here, summer might be miserable.

 

[blessedfamily]

Thanks everyone, I am going to attempt to do this after I show hubby this so maybe I can better understand what we are doing He will probably say oh yeah I knew that lol..Thanks so much,will post pics soon.

 

[fishin4cars]

Amber, Bogs don't have to be complex, use your imagination. Your pumping water from the pond through plants back to the pond. It does not have to be higher than your pond, It could be the bottom of a circuit. Example: Instead of a skimmer if your primary pond went down to a bog then pumped back up it could still work. Most people think bogs as a gravel plant filter. BUT there are other ways to get similar effects. Such as a old bath tub that is filled with floating plants and slow water circulation from the pond to the tub then overflowing into the pond. Another is a pond built slightly above the exsisting pond, water being pumped down through a pipe, back up through gravel through the plant roots and back to the pond. But yet another example is a series of pools filled with plants in a stream. This too can be very effective. I've even seen skippy filter with plants in the top such as water lettuce and hyacinths that would in effect do they same thing. so the ideas are really only limited by your own imagination. I will say this, I think you'll enjoy the challenge and the rewards are usually well worth the effort.

 

[blessedfamily]

Larkin thanks for the many different ideas.. I am going to go stare at it tomorrow and see what I wanna do. I was thinking another waterfall/bog? So I guess make it higher than pond,put gravel/pipe in and ta da? Oh and of course extra liner he he

 

[addy1]

My stream has a bunch of small ponds in it, each of those small ponds is full of plants, like fishin says another type of plant/bog type filter. They work great in helping your pond stay clean. I don't run it 24/7 but on a timer, thinking of adding a few small fish to each pond to help keep down the mosquitoes, but running the stream daily helps a lot and so do the dragon flies, they love mosquitoes.

 

[humbirdlover]

Hi Blessedfamily, did you get your bog built? Is there a thread or pics? I'm getting ideas on building a small one in the Spring .