My pond photos

[fishin4cars]

Todd, if you notice how the water keeps rising as you add gravel, try forming a small stream in the gravel. Works rather well for me, I've had a little string algae at first but surprisingly it's very mangable. The stream helps lower the water level some so you can place some plants crowns above the water level. It really looks good, I like that color in the gravel. As for the extra gravel, you'll probably still use more. Once you decorate around the edges and hide the liner that pea gravel works really good in filling in the spots between the rocks. I was able to cover a good bit of liner along the edge and it made a nice place to plant some low lying plants along the edges. I haven't tried any yet but I want to try some Creeping Jenny along the edge and see how it does. I think I would like something that would grow both in and out of the bog to soften the rock edges some on my pond. Oh, and beware, if you thought Taro's grow fast in the stream, It grows faster in the bog!!!! lol But it is a great plant to start with as it takes hold pretty fast.

 

[j.w]

Neat tmann so your bog runs down your stream and then into the pond? Looks good and you never know when you might need to use some more gravel for something. Rocks are like gold to me.............I can never have enough!

 

[pondlover]

Looks great tmann.

 

[addy1]

Great job! The plants will grow great. Save the pea gravel, like fishin says it is great for hiding the edge. I could use more, just have not gotten around to getting any.

 

[taherrmann4]

When I installed the pipe in the bottom of my bog I cut the slits like addy suggested in her write up and cut them every 6" about 1/3 of the way through the pipe. Now I am wondering if I have enough of the slits or if I should have done more of them. My pipe is 7' long so I have about 14 of them. The reason I am thinking I could have done more is that when the pump is running and if I open up the clean out on the other end of the bog there is a lot of water that pours out and thus am I maximizing my flow through the slits?

The other thing i notice when I shut down my pump and then restart it bubbles come up through the gravel and to stop this I open up the clean out to clear the line of air, is this necessary or should I leave the air that gets trapped in the clean out?

 

[fishin4cars]

Sounds like you may have not cut enough slots. I couldn't go back and read while I was posting but what is the estimated flow rate your pumping through the bog? If your pumping in the area of 1500-2500 gph I would be somewhat concerned that you may not have enough slots cut. If your pumping more than that I would think you might get flow back through the valves. i didn't start seeing any returns until the pond had been running for about 6 weeks. Even now I can open both valves and only one will allow any water out, If I shut it then the other will start. Air will not hurt and may actually benifit the system as it will add some oxygen to the bacteria but more importantly will help loosen the gravel to loosen the muck as time gos by. You could clear it out if it bothers you but I doubt you will notice any problems if you just allow it to come up through the gravel.

 

[taherrmann4]

Will have to give it some thought if I feel like emptying all the gravel in the bog to cut more slits in it.

On another note: Does anyone grow calla lillies in their pond or bog? I picked up 3 for a $1 each and was thinking about putting them in the bog or pond.

 

[j.w]

If it works I want to try it also. Mine is not blooming in the soil and I've had it for several yrs so maybe in the pond it goes or a part of it anyways.

 

[addy1]

tmann, we have slots cut about every foot, 25 feet long, two pipes, running the length of the bog, joined by a T. Two inch. Further from the pump the slots are closer, closer to the pump the slots are further apart. I have air that pops up through the gravel when I clean the leaf baskets. If you are happy with the flow, I wouldn't pull the gravel to cut more slots. imho

Our pump, currently, is 4200 gph, the dragon pump I will install monday (hopefully) will have 6426 gph, low electricity use, it is one great pump. Will be interesting to see how the plumbing handles the extra flow. My pond is turned over just about once every two hours, the new pump will make it once ever 1.5 hours or so.

I don't like the way we plumbed it, so a good excuse to redo lol, pulling the pump further from the pond edge for ease of access to the pond edge.

 

[fishin4cars]

I was thinking the exact same thing, I wasn't pulling all that gravel to cut slots instead of the holes that I drilled. I did drill a small hole right at water level on the input side of the pipe to allow air to be sucked in if the pump shut off so that all the water wouldn't back syphon. Now I can tell by it when there is more back pressure forming and can flush the line. Seems to be a good indicator so far but that will tell in time I guess. On the Calla Lily, I would love to know as well. I have a white one I dug out of a ditch and it's planted in dirt. It's growing so well right now I hate to move again but that would be a nice bloomer for the bog if it would work. I'm trying a couple of canna's but they aren't looking to well. Oh and mickey mouse Taro don't like the bog very well either.

 

[taherrmann4]

I am thinking of building my dock on my pond. However I do not want to use pressure treated wood for the posts that will go into the water and rest on the bottom to support the dock so I have these old oak 6x6 beams that have been in my garage since I moved here 8 years ago. Was thinking of using these, they are rough on the outside and was concerned that the fish might scrape themselves on the wood and how well do you think they will hold up in the water? Was also thinking about getting some cedar but have not been able to find it.

thoughts?

 

[herzausstahl]

doesn't your lowes or home depot carry cedar? or at least they would be able to order it, i would think 4x4 should work. if anything i would create some kind of base for them to rest on and then figure out a way (bolts or something) to connect the dock to them with so that you can easily remove and replace them if they start to rot too fast on you. would work if you used the 6x6 oak beams you have. how tough would it be to sand them? or hand plane and then sand? just kicking around ideas for you, would be cool to see and think it would take awhile to rot out, but don't know for sure since I have never tried it, but I agree to not use treated because I have heard to not use them for garden vegetable beds since they will leach the chemicals into the soil so would most likely do the same to the pond. looking forward to seeing the build

 

[taherrmann4]

Here is the finished bog. I just have to paint the pipe and or hide it better with rocks but other than that it is done and now I am moving onto the next project, the dock...

Here are some pics of the bog.

You can see the new fall created by the flow from the bog.


This is looking at the bog from my path, you can see the wall I had to build from rock.


This is the pipe I need to paint or hide with more rock, can't really see it from the front, this is looking at it from the back.


These are the plants that a fellow ponder sent me and they are doing well. I also added some calla lillies, elephant ears, and sedum.

 

[addy1]

Looks wonderful, love your stream and water falls.

Get some of that spray paint for plastic, I sprayed my stream pond piping, don't even see it, it has been under water for a few months now, still sticking well. Used, brown and black to have a mottled look. The stuff out of the water I used a lighter brown and tan to blend it with the out of water rocks.

 

[j.w]

Looks real nice tmann. That bog is gonna look real nice when it fills in w/ all the plants. You've got a lot of nice rock there and pretty waterfall. You could make the pipe look like a piece of driftwood somehow. Maybe glue some bark and mossy,fungus stuff on it. Might be easier just to paint it tho. Wonder if some kind of vine would grow around it?