Water Lilies in a portion of my bog filter?

[ScottM]

I am in the process of building/planning my new Koi pond which will be around 6000 gallons--there will be no plants in this area. I am going to have a large bog filter that will contain plants, and I would like to have an area for water lilies. I do not want lilies in the main pond, but thought that if I dedicate a portion of the bog to lilies, I could partition off the gravel and have a 12" deep section of water only for the lilies. Has anyone done this sort of thing?

 

[AlyssaFish]

I am in the process of building/planning my new Koi pond which will be around 6000 gallons--there will be no plants in this area. I am going to have a large bog filter that will contain plants, and I would like to have an area for water lilies. I do not want lilies in the main pond, but thought that if I dedicate a portion of the bog to lilies, I could partition off the gravel and have a 12" deep section of water only for the lilies. Has anyone done this sort of thing?

I believe I've seen pictures of this being done, and can't think of any reason why a bog can't have a lily. I have a portion of my bog dedicated to submerged plants I do not want my fish to disturb, including some water heart which has looks a lot like a lily (pad-like leaves that float on the surface, connected by long stems to roots in the pond bottom).

There are a few things to consider:

• 12" is not very deep for a lily. According to my local pond store, this means the lily's pads and leaves will never really get as large and impressive as they can become, but this isn't harmful for the plant.
• The open water will be a haven for mosquito larvae, especially if you don't have any fish to eat them. You could try keeping minnows or mosquito fish in the bog if there's enough room. They'll eat the mosquito larvae and help with algae, but shouldn't be able to do much damage to a lily.
• You'll be sacrificing part of the filtration potential of your bog to make space for the lilies. This, of course, doesn't matter if you have enough filtration anyway.
• Your fish and pond will not benefit from the shade created by lily pads. Oh well. You could always find another way to provide them with shade if needed.

 

[ScottM]

Thanks Alyssa. I think that the depth should be ok for small or dwarf lilies. The bog area, especially with no gravel will have water movement, so I don't anticipate a mosquito problem, but as you said, there are alternatives if needed. And the bog I have planned will be 50% of the surface area of the pond, so sacrificing filtration is also a non-issue. Same with shade--I will address that in other ways. I want a Koi only pond without having to deal with the fish trashing plants and the mess that it brings with it--I want my pond to be as close to maintenance free as possible

 

[addy1]

Give it a try, might just do great, if not put other plants there.

 

[ScottM]

Give it a try, might just do great, if not put other plants there.

That's what I am thinking

 

[IPA]

Would it be practical to cascade the bog into a lily pond into the koi pond? The lily pond section would be a good place to separate out fry or let the frogs and toads go crazy. Otherwise, where the part of the bog where the lilies will be might benefit it the manifold had reduced slits or no slots. The water will flow where the is least resistance so it’s possible the the water will tend to flow where there is very little gravel more than where you’d want it to flow in the bog.

 

[Jhn]

I did something similar but going the other way partitioning off small areas of the bog to make the gravel higher for hostas, some aggressive irises I wanted to contain. What I did was use large rocks and dead logs as a way to create higher areas where the gravel is maybe 6-10” higher than the water level. My lower area the gravel is pretty much at water level or slightly above. Here are some pics of it right after it was built.



Depending on your bog design as IPA mentioned if you are using slotted pvc under the gravel I would make the lower area for the lilies towards the end of the pipe manifold, so the area of least resistance ( less gravel)is where there will be less water pressure. If you are doing aqua blocks, centipede and snorkel under the gravel then it will probably be fine as well if you put the lilies area furthest away from where the water enters.

 

[poconojoe]

I say go for it. I think your idea is unique, inspirational and quite doable. As you stated, the bog will be plenty large enough for filtration and the water movement would not allow mosquito larvae to survive. Just make sure the open water area is large enough for the lillies to spread out.
Post up some pictures when you get going on it. This will be very interesting and helpful. It will add to the great ideas this forum brings to many.