PoconoJoe's bog build

[poconojoe]

As requested, I'm going to try chronicling my add-on bog.
I'll do it in a few or more posts, I think.
It was added to my 10 year old pond April 2020.

Mine is the simple basic type with PVC distribution pipes covered with 12" of river stone. I believe the recipe calls for 3/8" pea gravel, but all I could get at the time was river stone. (Covid).

My bog is about 14 feet by 5 feet.
My pond holds about 1800 gallons.

Over the years I tried various homemade and store bought filters.
My fish keep multiplying, so I know I'm way overstocked.
I have goldfish, shubunkin and koi. My pond is actually too small for koi, but I, as many others, didn't know any better at the time.
Because of the high fish load, the water had turned solid green pea soup. I had lots of plants, but there was just too much of those nasty excess nutrients in the water which caused the algae bloom.

It is said that if you have fish, the bog's surface area should be at least 30% of the pond's surface area.

Water gets pumped from my submersible pump on the other end of the pond. I keep the pump suspended off the bottom with a string so it doesn't suck up any heavy debris that may collect down there. My pump is a Tetra 3600 gph with an inch and a half (1-1/2) output. If I ever have to replace it, I think I would get one with a slightly higher gph. Maybe 4,000 gph.

I have an inch and a half schedule 40 black flexible pvc from the pump to the bog laying across the bottom of the pond. You can hardly see it. I did thus because I didn't want any plumbing outside the pond or bog. I had a bad experience once with a loose hose clamp!

The flex PVC goes over the bog wall and gets covered with rocks. Only about 6" can be seen where it exits the pond water. Again, it's black, so not too noticeable.

On the bog side, I switch over to standard ridgid PVC. I couple the flex PVC to the ridgid PVC with a Fernco rubber coupling for easy disconnect, if need be. A PVC union would have been a better choice, but the Fernco has been just fine.

Then I go to a 2" PVC wye. I use a 1-1/2" to 2" pvc bushing to step up to 2". I figured a little larger pipe would be better.
Off of the wye are the two legs of the 2" distribution pipes.
I used those wide sweep elbows for less restriction, but I think the pump has so much power it probably wouldn't have mattered.

I cut slits in the 2" pvc distribution pipes 1/3 down through the pipes and spaced them 1-1/2" apart. I used a sawzall, but now I think it would be better to use something with a thicker blade like a circular saw or cut-off wheel.
I faced the slits up when I installed them. Some people like to face them down.
My two distribution pipes are 10 feet long. The ends 90 straight up and stop a little above the river stone. Each one has a screw cap on them. My earlier post explains how joining the two clean-out stacks with a valve on each would have been better.

I used an HDRPE liner. My pond has 45 mil EPDM.
The HDRPE seems very strong, but it's also stiff. You just need to fold it like gift wrapping. They say with HDRPE, depending on your soil, you can do without an underlayment. I didn't use anything. We have a lot of rocks but I was careful.

There used to be a waterfall where the bog is now. I had liner under that old waterfall, so I had plenty of liner for the bog liner to overlap.

I made the wall between the pond and bog two layers high out of cobble stones I had laying around. I used soil as mortar for a better fit. In the center I left out some blocks for the return waterfall.

I layed large stones in a half circle creating the outer bog wall. I just kept fitting and stacking stones. I made the wall extra high just in case there was expansion or to prevent plants from wicking water out of the system.

I draped the old waterfall liner over the wall toward the bog.
Then layed the liner in the bog, over the wall and into the pond, overlapping the old waterfall liner.

The distribution pipes lay right on the liner. Some people lay scraps of liner under the pipes for extra cushion.

I used 3 cubic yards of river stone to get it to 12" deep.
I had to move it from my pickup in the driveway with a wheel barrow. I rinsed each wheel barrow full with the garden hose. There was a lot of soil in the mix.

All the exposed liner got covered with rocks.

I turned it on and within a week the water was clear! And I hadn't even added the plants yet.

I probably forgot something, if I did, I'll add it on.
Any questions, just ask.

Pictures to follow...

[poconojoe]

I'm still having issues with posting a picture.
They are too large.
I never have problems in other forums, they seem to adjust the size automatically.

The one in my last post worked fine because I emailed it to myself! The email resized it.
I'm doing this on my android phone.
I tried on my Mac by dragging and dropping, but no good.

How do I EASILY attach photos? Specifically resize them?

[poconojoe]

The waterfall was dismantled and replaced with a smaller version to serve as the return bog water.

Waterfall before the bog:

20130721_171003.jpg (30.62 KiB) Viewed 633 times

In this picture I have dismantled the waterfall (on the left) and flipped the existing pond liner that was under the waterfall over the new wall between the pond and bog.
I also started laying out the curved bog retaining wall (on the right).

[poconojoe]

In this photo I started digging the bog.
Notice where the waterfall used to be. I'm left with a row of large rocks sitting on a shelf at the water's edge. It was a good base to build the wall upon.

[poconojoe]

[poconojoe]

I built the base of the wall between the pond and bog out of cobble stones.
Notice that little wooden house. My aerator is in there to protect it from the weather.

[poconojoe]

Layed in the HDRPE liner and started laying out the manifold distribution pipes.

[poconojoe]

Started dumping in the river stone.
I couldn't get the recommended 3/8" pea gravel due to Covid, so I had to use river stone.

As I previously stated, I cut slits in the distribution pipes 1/3 through the PVC spaced 1-1/2" apart. I faced the slits up. Some members prefer the slits down.

[poconojoe]

I finished with the river stone and added a few plants.
Look how green the water was. And that was with running two pressure filters and a UV light. Those filters were just not up to the task due to the fact that I have way too many fish pooping in the water.
After starting up the bog, I sold my pressure filters/UV light. I no longer needed them.

Notice the Fernco rubber coupling between the black schedule 40 flex PVC and standard ridgid PVC. I plan to change out the Fernco with a PVC union. I think that would be a better choice. I wanted a way for easy disconnect and the Fernco or union provided that.
I increased the size from 1-1/2" to 2" figuring the 2" would have a bit more room for water flow.

[poconojoe]

The water is so green you can hardly see any fish.
That Marsh Marigold is beautiful. I added a piece of it to the bog and it's ginormous! It has also seeded itself in other parts of the bog and pond.

[poconojoe]

The top picture shows the new bog spillway where the waterfall used to be. I started building up the wall with rocks to cover the liner.

Second picture is the bog at that stage.

[poconojoe]

I added Parrot's Feather to the spillway. I planted it directly in the bog, no pot and rinsed as much soil off of the roots as possible.