Important Tip for DIY Bog Builders

[scumfrog_millionaire]

For those of you building a bog - do not forget vertical clear-out pipes!!! Especially if your pond gets a lot of debris / leaves from nearby trees. Bog pipes can clog over time and you'll want a way to flush them.

 

[poconojoe]

I agree as far as my situation, but there are others here that have the stacks and seem to not need them.
I definitely use them, especially in the Spring when the beneficial bacteria and plants haven't matured yet. During the Summer, I do it maybe once every 2 months.

I would install them anyway, even if you don't feel the need. It's easier to do while constructing the bog than to do it later.

I will add this for easier flushing:
If I were to do it over, I would pipe the stacks to somewhere out and away from the bog with a valve for easy opening.
Right now my stacks just stick up slightly over the gravel with a screw cap. I have to unscrew the cap and stick a hose into the pipe to shoot the dirty water out of the bog.

 

[scumfrog_millionaire]

I don't have to do it much in the summer months, just Fall / Spring. I just unscrew the caps and the pump shoots the debris into the bog. If I wanted to remove the debris entirely, iId stick a hose over the top of the pvc and route it out into my yard somewhere. I will post a video the next time I do it to show all the muck and crap that gets stuck in the bog pipes.

 

[combatwombat]

I would install them anyway, even if you don't feel the need. It's easier to do while constructing the bog than to do it later.

And cheap. And easy. Like me!

Right now my stacks just stick up slightly over the gravel with a screw cap. I have to unscrew the cap and stick a hose into the pipe to shoot the dirty water out of the bog.

This probably wouldn't be hard to do now if you wanted to. Since you have a m/f adapter to cap the lines, you could attach from there and run new pipe wherever you want.

 

[poconojoe]

And cheap. And easy. Like me!


This probably wouldn't be hard to do now if you wanted to. Since you have a m/f adapter to cap the lines, you could attach from there and run new pipe wherever you want.

True.
I could probably connect both of them to a wye so I'll only need to run one pipe to the garden.
I'll need to figure out how to route it up over the bog wall so it's concealed with rocks.
It shouldn't be too difficult.

Now I have a little project!

 

[Lisak1]

It's a step I wouldn't skip, even though we have yet to use ours. You really don't know until you're running your bog for a while and you sure don't want to regret leaving it out later.

 

[mrsclem]

Just redid a 150 gallon stock tank bog. I put a clean out pipe on it. My big bog has 2 pipes. I open them up a couple times a year, very little debris.

 

[poconojoe]

Whenever I flush it, black water shoots out for a few seconds.

 

[GBBUDD]

i dug up my matrix bog and found next to nothing to even remotely be worried about

 

[addy1]

No clean out pipes in my bog, it is large, I do draw water from mid pond depth. 11 years running without issues.

 

[rott]

For those of you building a bog - do not forget vertical clear-out pipes!!! Especially if your pond gets a lot of debris / leaves from nearby trees. Bog pipes can clog over time and you'll want a way to flush them.

hi I was hoping you could answer a couple questions?

Did all your plants die in the bog do to winter? and did you have any other problems with the bog or the piping?

Dale

 

[poconojoe]

hi I was hoping you could answer a couple questions?

Did all your plants die in the bog do to winter? and did you have any other problems with the bog or the piping?

Dale

In the Fall, I completely pull out (including roots) any plants that are not winter hardy and cut down the summer growth of plants that are winter hardy.

If you decide to shut down the bog for winter, it is most important that the bog remains full of water. Do not let it drain down or siphon back to the pond. If the bog is void of water the winter hardy plants will dry up and die.

I leave my bog running all year. I'm in northeastern Pennsylvania, zone 6b and we have pretty harsh winters.

 

[rott]

thanks for the reply.. Do you leave the whole pond running or just the bog. I am in Toledo Ohio

 

[poconojoe]

thanks for the reply.. Do you leave the whole pond running or just the bog. I am in Toledo Ohio

The whole pond runs constantly.
I was a little afraid to leave the bog running for the first winter. I thought the return water would flow over the ice and escape the pond. But that didn't happen. The return water kept an opening in the ice.
Being paranoid, I positioned my deicer near there, just in case.

I raise my two air stones up closer to the surface. The bubbles will keep an opening in the ice for most of the winter, but during real cold spells that will freeze too. That's why I also keep a deicer in there for the winter.

It's important to have an opening in the ice for gas exchange.

I have strings tied to the air stones to keep them up for the winter or I sit them on a shelf. You don't want the cold air pumped down to the bottom where the fish are hibernating.

Oh, my pump is the submersible type and is positioned at the opposite end of the pond from the bog.
I keep the pump suspended off the bottom with a thin rope. This way the pump won't send any debris to the bog that may collect down there and the rope helps when I need to pull the pump for maintenance.

Hope this helps.

 

[don hollowell]

i have a 6500 gallon pond with a bog thats 4'x10' x 3 ft deep.,filled with peagravel. i have 3 2 " PVC LINEs that stub up and has a screw out clean out on all 3 of them.i leave mine running all year.i open the screw in caps and let it run for a few minutes every spring...i have had no problems ,,so far.i have 30 fnatail koi in there along with 8 catfish. to help keep it clean,,,so far so good,,,,