What's going on with my bog?

[JenH]

Ok, so I've been out of town since last Sunday. Not sure what is going on with the pond. Water is clear, and no algae in the main pond, but my bog and waterfall is completely covered in algae. Hubby mentioned while I was gone that the bog was leaking under the rocks over the liner at the top of the bog, so he added some dirt and raised it up a little while I was gone. Ok. So today I go out there to start pulling out all that dang algae and I noticed that the water level in the bog is significantly higher then usual. The water level is usually below the surface of the gravel, with the exception of behind where the water spills out through the waterfall. There the water has usually been about 1" above the gravel level. Now the water level in the entire bog is about 2" above the gravel. What in the world is going on here? How can the water level go up when it is set up to spillout through the falls? My falls seem to have the same amount of waterflow as usual. I just don't understand how that's possible and therefore how to fix it. I'm thinking this unusually high water level is why the water was leaking out around the parameter as well and that my hubby should not have messed with anything, especially since he tends to just screw with things as opposed to finding actual solutions (You should have seen him install our kitchen faucet) Anyway, here is a pic of what it looks like now. I should have probably taken one before I pulled out the algae in case that is having some effect on things. But basically the string algae was covering all of the gravel floating on the surface of the water and was also flowing completely over the waterfall.

Also was wondering if I spray peroxide on the algae on the falls can I also spray it in the bog as well to kill off what is there, or will that harm the plants growing in the bog??

 

[j.w]

Could the gravel/liner have settled down lower in the bog making it look like the water is higher? Or is the line of water higher and shows on the sides of the liner?

 

[JenH]

Hmmm, I'm not sure what you mean. The liner contains the gravel, and I am not sure how the liner could sink at all.. Our clay soil is like concrete from no rain, and the bog was built above ground level. So basically the bottom of the bog isn't going to change/settle at all. If the sides where we built up the bog were settling (which was what my hubby assumed, then I would have thought that the larger rocks surrounding the bog on top of the liner would also settle lower. If that were the case then wouldn't I get the appearance that my gravel level is raising also. As it was the gravel stopped a little bit below the large rocks so that it didn't push the water out of the top (kinda like how a glass of water will eventually spill over if you keep adding ice cubes) I don't know what the deal is but if you look at the picture you can tell how the water is a bit above the gravel around the whole bog and before the water was only above the gravel where the corkscrew plant is on the right of the picture........

 

[JenH]

I'm beginning to wonder if the algae on the waterfall was creating some sort of a dam effect on my waterfall effectively causing the water level to rise higher before it was abe to spill out above the algae. Is that a possibility? Is that the only possibility?

 

[j.w]

I really haven't a clue, just guessing, grasping at straws. Something is making the water higher or at least looking like it is higher. Hard to know when one is not actually there to peek around and check. So do you think for sure that the liner could not have sunk at all? When you said your hubby said it was leaking under the rocks and over the liner, could the water have gone under the liner anywhere and made it smooshy so that the clay soil would sink some? I just don't know, sorry. Maybe someone else will pop in and have something more to suggest.

 

[brokensword]

Jen;

I think you've got the culprit as it matches the situation I had the other day. I was filling up the pond at about 4" per day, thinking 'it's been hot and I know the falls/splashing is losing water for me, but FOUR inches? Wondered if I had a leak, so I turned off the falls and waited a day; same result, which told me the falls wasn't the major problem. I have a bog which feeds a small river and that feeds the main pond. Each has it's own liner, with overlap and I built up the 'spillway' for each with an underlayment of brick. I think the water was being slowed at the river-to-pond level (just like you) and that made the river hold more water than usual. Since I have overlapping liners, I think the river was backflushing and finding the seam, thereby causing a slow leak. Since I cleared away the algae off the river-pond junction and pulled some plants too, not to mention taking out some rocks that also caused a potential blockage, it seems I've solved the problem. So perhaps your junction is also causing a backup of the bog water, making it rise in your bog.


Michael

 

[addy1]

Jen, we went from nice pleasant temps to 100, anywhere there where no plants in my bog algae began to grow, water, sun, warm = algae, I don't have many plantless areas. (the pond still algae free) My water fall rock, 2.5 feet wide and very flat, gets covered with some sort of algae, every now and then I go out and rub the algae off the water fall rock. If I don't do this the water level in the bog begins to rise. The algae causes a minor back up. My bog / pond wall is lower than the back and side walls of the bog. So if my water rises too much the water flows over the wall between the bog and pond. Sort of a safety net. Now I am not going to say that was planned that way, it just happened that way, lol, but it is working.

 

[taherrmann4]

Jen yes the algae can create a damning effect, but it would have to be some serious algae to raise it that much. The only way that I can possibly see the water level in your bog rising is if the outflow is somehow restricted from what it was ie: cutting the outflow from 12" wide to 6" wide could have this effect.

 

[Waterbug]

This would also be a sign of the gravel being clogged, not really from the algae, but just a build up of trapped muck. It's a chicken and the egg thing. The water was below the gravel so no algae, right? The water can't get thru the gravel so it starts going over the gravel. Now algae can grow. So I don't see how the algae would have caused the high water as it needed the high water to grow.

You can kill the algae...then what? Dead algae no day at the beach either. Easier to remove when still alive imo.

 

[pondkid23]

Don't spray the algae it will kill the bacteria !that helps your bog plants & breaks down the the ammonia try adding floating plants they absorb the same nutrients that string algae and floating algae uses/eats also try barley.

 

[addy1]

wb I think, if I recall right, her water comes from below the gravel. It pushes up through the gravel, then flows into the pond. If it was plumbed to flow over the top of the gravel and started getting deeper over the gravel than yep, gravel clogged.

 

[Waterbug]

Google "channeling".

 

[Mucky_Waters]

Ok I Googled "channeling", here's what I came up with in wiki.

science

• Channelling (physics), the process that constrains the path of a charged particle in a crystalline solid.
• metabolite or substrate channeling in biochemistry and cell physiology.

law

• Channeling (insurance, legal), a term used to indicate a contractual or legal redirection of responsibilities from an organization to another.

spiritism

• Channeling (as a medium), a term used in reference to the esoteric process of receiving messages or inspiration from extra-dimensional beings or spirits, whereby one is a medium or channel for such an entity.

automotive

• Chopping and channeling, one method of lowering an automobile's body.

Problem is none of them talk about bogs with much detail???

 

[JenH]

Well, I moved a couple plants around in the bog, cleared out the algae and sprayed the waterfall (sut the waterfall with peroxide) I really do think it was all the algae creating a dam effect. Right before my flat waterfall rock at the top of my falls I have some larger river rock #2 I think, I put it there between the falls and the gravel to help keep the gravel from washing over the falls. The string algae was attached to all of those larger rocks and flower over the falls. I'm talking strings as long as my arm, which seemed to be slowly moving the larger rocks closer and closer. So I spread them all back out again and pulled the big algae. I moved some plants just to see if their roots had something to do with how the water was flowing. I'm not sure they did though. It really was A LOT of algae.

Yes Addy, my water comes from underneath the gravel just like yours, seems to me if my gravel were clogged then my water level would potentially drop and slow down over my falls. Also, when you say that you don't have many plantless areas do you litterally mean that all yur plants have begun growing into each other? Would you mind taking a somewhat closeup pic so I could have a visual of your mature bog?

Overall water level still seems a little higher then originally but there was a big improvement and the gravel around the edges is back to being above water. I do kind of wonder if the growing plants have something to do with it too. Since they have all grown so much I wonder if they are chaneling the water differently making it seem deeper in the places where there aren't plants yet.

 

[Waterbug]

To get you started...
Pressure Drop for Flow Through Packed Beds
Water Treatment & Purification Chemicals
Pond Ammonia Levels and Cycling
Let me try hard to debunk this myth of Pond Filter size
Health Gravel Bottom Ponds
Within each doc search for "chann". Hopefully these will provide enough info to do further research if needed.