setting up bog filters on new build small pond, new pea gravel for bog very dusty/dirty/silty

[Criscar]

So, I know the job of the bog filter is to act as both mechanical and biological filtration, but I wasn't sure about starting with pea gravel that is quite dirty to begin with and plants that aren't large enough to be doing much filtration yet since they are brand new. The moment water touches the gravel huge plumes of silt are coming off of it. Should I just ignore this, should I try to clean it more (rinsing it off doesn't seem to help all that much), or would it be helpful to run a mechanical filter on the pond bottom for the first week or two just to help clean this up? Were this my aquarium I'd just be stuffing my filter pump with cotton batting to remove it from the water column, but not sure that the aquarist's instinct is the right one here seeing as how there's gonna be plenty of gunk in the cycle in the future. Plumbing is set up at this point and water is in the main watergarden pond (300 gal above ground) but haven't turned the pump on yet.

 

[Criscar]

after posting this I found mention in this thread about sand that several people have had issues with silt from their pea gravel and that they didn't do anything about it and it settled out within several days to a couple weeks. I ended up just tossing some batting into a filter that I happened to have just to flush it out quicker, since I'm running such a small system.

Use of sand

Just dug out a pond and put building sand under the liner and on top of the liner at the deepest poiny. Of course as I filled it with rainwater it all turned orange! How long before the sand settles? It maybe I have made a mistake and it will remain orange!!

www.gardenpondforum.com

 

[frogbath]

Yea I had a lot of dirty pea gravel, it worked itself out fine and my water is crystal clear now. I didn't wash it at all as it wasn't practical. I did the batting but eventually gave up on that too. Took about 5 days to settle.

 

[poconojoe]

I tried to rinse each wheel barrow full and still got the cloudy water you describe. It was clear the next day.
I used 3 cubic yards of gravel.
My water went from thick pea soup green to crystal clear in a little less than a week. And the plants were not even in the bog yet.

Mine is slightly over 30%. It has been great. I can see all my fish, even the tiniest fry. I saw fish I didn't even know I had. I discovered a potted plant that had fell in sitting on the bottom too!

 

[brokensword]

after posting this I found mention in this thread about sand that several people have had issues with silt from their pea gravel and that they didn't do anything about it and it settled out within several days to a couple weeks. I ended up just tossing some batting into a filter that I happened to have just to flush it out quicker, since I'm running such a small system.

Use of sand

Just dug out a pond and put building sand under the liner and on top of the liner at the deepest poiny. Of course as I filled it with rainwater it all turned orange! How long before the sand settles? It maybe I have made a mistake and it will remain orange!!

www.gardenpondforum.com

I too spent time trying to clean my pea gravel for bog v1 via wheel barrow and a hose. Probably spent 6 hours doing a yard and a half and regretted every minute of it. My hands were trashed after all the sifting in water for that long. The expanded bog v2? I didn't even blink--just wheelbarrowed it and dumped it straight in. At that time, fine silt was the least of my worries. We all have our war stories with pea gravel, it seems...

 

[poconojoe]

I too spent time trying to clean my pea gravel for bog v1 via wheel barrow and a hose. Probably spent 6 hours doing a yard and a half and regretted every minute of it. My hands were trashed after all the sifting in water for that long. The expanded bog v2? I didn't even blink--just wheelbarrowed it and dumped it straight in. At that time, fine silt was the least of my worries. We all have our war stories with pea gravel, it seems...

Yep, that stuff is full of dirt and it's heavy too!
I had to opt not filling the wheel barrow all the way because it was hard to handle when maneuvering.
I had to watch the weight in the bed of my truck too. (6'-6" bed) It can fit 2 cubic yards flush to the top of the rails, but I could only haul one yard at a time due to the weight.

 

[jmajid]

So where does the excess silt go if you dont filter it out with batting or other mechanical filter?

 

[frogbath]

Settles on the bottom of the pond or becomes re trapped in the bog's gravel

 

[addy1]

We didn't wash ours, tooooo much 38000 lbs of it. Water has been crystal clear ever since I turned the bog on.

 

[brokensword]

We didn't wash ours, tooooo much 38000 lbs of it. Water has been crystal clear ever since I turned the bog on.

I bet the supply yard guy was smilin' when he took that order, huh? Were there $$ signs in his eyes???

 

[addy1]

It was one huge truck load, I have the dollar figures some where.

 

[GBBUDD]

So where does the excess silt go if you dont filter it out with batting or other mechanical filter?

EVERY MILK AND CRANNY AS THEY SAY .

 

[poconojoe]

AS THEY SAY .

Hey GB,
Who exactly are "they" anyway?
I use that term all the time and I'm starting to wonder if "they" are members of some secret society.

 

[GBBUDD]

I DON'T KNOW but they are failing. Look at all this woke ,cancel culture amount other bs today the silent majority better wake up and wake up fast.