- Joined
- Jun 25, 2011
- Messages
- 44
- Reaction score
- 11
this ended up being really long...
i've been playing with this idea off and on for at least a year, but changing my filter and especially finding a deal on some bowls helped me finish working it out. i know compared to my pond it's too small. i originally built the pond not knowing anything about bogs. but shoot, it came out nice anyway, and it ought to help a little.
this was a first try at the idea
just some shelf pieces from a shower thing i welded to a pole and a piece of flat steel to mount under my little waterfall.
it didn't work at all. water just splashed from one level to the next uncontrolled so nothing could grow in it without being splashed constantly. still it let me see what needed to happen to make it work. so i kept an eye out for some large bowls (i now have a bunch of miss matched and odd bowls i need to get rid of) that were a decent size i could work with. i finally found a set of 4 stainless steel bowls for about $25 at a thrift store.
i made a metal holder for them out of 1" square tubing (with oil based paint slathered on it. i know it's still real likely to rust though). a bit of luck here was that the first bowl would have been level with the deck, but as chance would have it, i made a new skippy type filter first (i was using a little waterfall type thing that sat level with the deck originally). it just happened that i needed a new filter after having my others crack over that last really harsh winter, and i found the parts to make the filter before i came across the bowls. otherwise that first drop from the filter to the top bowl might have been as bad as the shower pieces before with the splashing.
to control the water from one bowl to the next, i used some 3" plastic floor drains. $2 a piece. (the pic didn't come out too clear)
i wanted drains big enough to keep the bowls from filling with water. i believe the frame would support it, but i didn't want it to work that way where they might overfill and splash down to the next level uncontrolled, or even into the pond without much going to the next bowl. they do pretty well at making the water drop directly into the center of the next bowl, so i can put plants around the outer edge and not have them constantly drenched. i finally got plants in all the bowls yesterday
it took a little experimenting because of the bowl overfilling i mentioned before. the first couple things i tried clogged the bowl either immediatly (some of those water bead things) or after a couple of hours (some scrubby pads that eventually softend and matted in the bottom of the bowl). i worked out two things. i went with lava rock (kinda light and and won't soften and mat on the bottom), and i found a collander/strainer that fit pretty well into each bowl (excet the bottom one. it has like a dip tray with holes drilled in it). the collander lets me pull everything out and make adjustments if things clog.
the plants are all things i read about here. i know the hosta will work 'cause i tried it last year in another spot. the annuals i just read about this year, but then read about more specific ones later, after i had gotten some. but the first bowl has been in about a week and everything seems to be thriving.
so there it is. i hope i didn't post too soon and come to find most of the plants die or my welding wasn't good enough and it falls off the deck and puts a hole in my liner or something. i also kinda wish the bowls were bigger, like if the third one down was the smallest and they got bigger from there, but who know what the bowls would have cost, and it could be for the best anyway weight-wise. so for now, i'm pretty happy with it.
i've been playing with this idea off and on for at least a year, but changing my filter and especially finding a deal on some bowls helped me finish working it out. i know compared to my pond it's too small. i originally built the pond not knowing anything about bogs. but shoot, it came out nice anyway, and it ought to help a little.
this was a first try at the idea
just some shelf pieces from a shower thing i welded to a pole and a piece of flat steel to mount under my little waterfall.
it didn't work at all. water just splashed from one level to the next uncontrolled so nothing could grow in it without being splashed constantly. still it let me see what needed to happen to make it work. so i kept an eye out for some large bowls (i now have a bunch of miss matched and odd bowls i need to get rid of) that were a decent size i could work with. i finally found a set of 4 stainless steel bowls for about $25 at a thrift store.
i made a metal holder for them out of 1" square tubing (with oil based paint slathered on it. i know it's still real likely to rust though). a bit of luck here was that the first bowl would have been level with the deck, but as chance would have it, i made a new skippy type filter first (i was using a little waterfall type thing that sat level with the deck originally). it just happened that i needed a new filter after having my others crack over that last really harsh winter, and i found the parts to make the filter before i came across the bowls. otherwise that first drop from the filter to the top bowl might have been as bad as the shower pieces before with the splashing.
to control the water from one bowl to the next, i used some 3" plastic floor drains. $2 a piece. (the pic didn't come out too clear)
i wanted drains big enough to keep the bowls from filling with water. i believe the frame would support it, but i didn't want it to work that way where they might overfill and splash down to the next level uncontrolled, or even into the pond without much going to the next bowl. they do pretty well at making the water drop directly into the center of the next bowl, so i can put plants around the outer edge and not have them constantly drenched. i finally got plants in all the bowls yesterday
it took a little experimenting because of the bowl overfilling i mentioned before. the first couple things i tried clogged the bowl either immediatly (some of those water bead things) or after a couple of hours (some scrubby pads that eventually softend and matted in the bottom of the bowl). i worked out two things. i went with lava rock (kinda light and and won't soften and mat on the bottom), and i found a collander/strainer that fit pretty well into each bowl (excet the bottom one. it has like a dip tray with holes drilled in it). the collander lets me pull everything out and make adjustments if things clog.
the plants are all things i read about here. i know the hosta will work 'cause i tried it last year in another spot. the annuals i just read about this year, but then read about more specific ones later, after i had gotten some. but the first bowl has been in about a week and everything seems to be thriving.
so there it is. i hope i didn't post too soon and come to find most of the plants die or my welding wasn't good enough and it falls off the deck and puts a hole in my liner or something. i also kinda wish the bowls were bigger, like if the third one down was the smallest and they got bigger from there, but who know what the bowls would have cost, and it could be for the best anyway weight-wise. so for now, i'm pretty happy with it.
