I am just beginning the journey to creating a pond and feel overwhelmed, yet excited.
The wife and I have dug a huge rectangular hole in our backyard, so there is no turning back. The pond will be 16 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 3 feet deep. Since we live in Arizona I worry about the algae buildup in the summer, so I have decided to create a bog filter above the pond and have it then waterfall into the lower pond. My hope is that this will give us the best chance at clear water.
I need help with engineering the bog filter. I have decided to make it 8.5 feet long, 4 feet wide and about 1.5 feet deep. The water will be pumped in through the bottom and pushed up through the gravel and plant roots before flowing out and cascading back into the pond.
I estimate I will need a pump rated at 4000 GPH to recirculate the pond water once every hour. However, I am unclear about how effective this will be at pushing the water at the optimum rate through the bog. I understand that the water should percolate up through the gravel at a slow enough speed to allow the roots of the plants to do their job. Ideally, this should take about 5-10 minutes.
My question is this:
How can I control the flow rate such that it goes fast enough to recirculate the pond water once every hour, yet not so fast that the bog doesn't have a chance to clean the water?
The wife and I have dug a huge rectangular hole in our backyard, so there is no turning back. The pond will be 16 feet long, 11 feet wide, and 3 feet deep. Since we live in Arizona I worry about the algae buildup in the summer, so I have decided to create a bog filter above the pond and have it then waterfall into the lower pond. My hope is that this will give us the best chance at clear water.
I need help with engineering the bog filter. I have decided to make it 8.5 feet long, 4 feet wide and about 1.5 feet deep. The water will be pumped in through the bottom and pushed up through the gravel and plant roots before flowing out and cascading back into the pond.
I estimate I will need a pump rated at 4000 GPH to recirculate the pond water once every hour. However, I am unclear about how effective this will be at pushing the water at the optimum rate through the bog. I understand that the water should percolate up through the gravel at a slow enough speed to allow the roots of the plants to do their job. Ideally, this should take about 5-10 minutes.
My question is this:
How can I control the flow rate such that it goes fast enough to recirculate the pond water once every hour, yet not so fast that the bog doesn't have a chance to clean the water?
