my question exactly. A bog or veggie garden. Haven't seen a lot of detail design on this issue so I will follow this thread with great interest.

Welcome to our forum. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. I've spent hours reading and looking up info and have learned so much. I'm surprised you haven't had any responses to your question. Everyone is usually eager to help and so very knowledgeable altho there isn't much activity on the bog forum compared to the pond forum where I spend most of my time. The bog forum seems 2B more for carnivorous plants. Have you posted your question to the pond forum?? I hope so b/c you would be much more likely to get an answer there.

We bought a pond kit at Sam's in June and have been having great fun with it all summer! It is about 125 gal with a watercourse. Is this something like what you have??

My plans for next year are for a bog filter like what I read about in 2003-2004 Annual Koi World Magazine. Supposedly, bog filters mimic nature by taking polluted water and purifying it. I would be glad to copy the article and send it to you. It explains why it works so well to keep your pond water clean.

Basic Bog Filter construction --
1. BF surface area should be about 10% the surface area of the pond; up to 20% if you have lots of fish.
2. BF should be 12 inches deep. Article explains why it shouldn't be deeper.
3. Water should enter from under the gravel.
4. Water flows thru the gravel and overflows back into the main pond.
5. Plant plants directly into the gravel and include the entire undisturbed rootball which will contain some soil.
6. Fill BF with pea gravel, some larger rock and a couple specimen size rock.

According to this article, BF usually don't experience algae bloom.

I probably better send you the article unless you want to find the magazine. Either photo copies or as an attachment. The offer goes to you too Vundril. Best Wishes, Barbara.

Here is a link that might be useful: WebShots Community Photo Link for WhtRos2

OK, this is where I am (and will be until spring). I have the pond put in and a liner at the top. I am having a terrible time trying to figure out how to get the water from the top to the bottom because I would like a curtain waterfall. I have a retaining wall between the two, so it drops off. But I just can't figure out how to do it. DUH!!! Any help there? You have atleast 5 months to think about it. Thanks for any help. Oh Barbara, I can't remeber if I posted in the pond forum or not....again DUH!! Short memory like Dory in Finding Nemo but not quite so severe.LOL!!

OK...ready to start on this project again. I have decided (i think) to put small pond on top with waterfall into bigger pond on bottom with bog areas on sides of bigger pond. Still banging my head of the rocks (I am using for the pond) trying to figure out how to do all this...LOL!

Wild rice...should I just throw it in the bog part or do something with it first? Hardy? And I don't mean in soup...hee hee.

Gee...I am getting a headache (probably from that rock). Well, help me with any input if you have any.

One more thing. I want a sheet? waterfall. Any sugeestions on how to accomplish this over the retaining wall between ponds. Thanks!

Heartwoman,

A local water garden nursery has a bog filter on their ponds. Here are their instructions for constructing a bog filter for your pond and they work great. We are currently building a pond with a waterfall & stream and we are definitely including a bog filter. I understand you want to include your bog filter at the top of your waterfall but we are putting ours to the side of the pond. The water will be pumped from the end opposite of the waterfall. At the waterfall, it will be split with part going to the waterfall and part going to the bog filter. Hope this helps, Joan (these instructions came from Nelson's website)

The Bog Garden as a Filter
Make the bog garden functional as well as aesthetic! By following the directions below you can create a bog garden that also acts as filter; henceforth referred to as the "Bog Gravel Filter". This style filter bog garden is really a variation of the traditional "in pond" bog but forces water through a perforated PVC pipe buried in the bog by a submersible pump located in the pond portion of the water garden.
Follow the usual directions for building a liner pond. To provide for the bog gravel filter, just excavate this area to a depth of 12". Before laying in the rubber liner build a retaining wall to separate the 12" deep bog gravel filter from the deeper pond. This wall should be 1-2" below the pond surface. BE SURE TO ALLOW for enough liner to go over this wall.
Put a submersible pump in the pond opposite the bog garden and run pipe to the far end of the bog. Select a pump which will turn over the volume of the pond every 2 hours.
The outlet of the pump determines the size PVC you will use, i.e. a pump with 1 1/2" outlet would use 1 1/2" pipe. Create a manifold to distribute the water evenly throughout the bog gravel.
Drill the PVC pipe with 1/4" holes spaced approximately 3" apart and cap the ends. Your line of holes should point toward the bottom of the pond at a 45( angle. Gravel bogs that are 2-3 feet in width can be fed by a single course of pipe. Wider areas require additional lines spaced 2-3 apart. Lay the PVC pipe matrix on top of the liner then add the gravel to the bog gravel filter area. This layout is similar to setting up a septic system.
Lay decorative rocks or stones across the retaining wall but do not mortar in the joints.
Follow the directions for planting the bog above.
Turn on the Pump. Water filters through the bog, between the joints of the stonework on the retaining wall and back into the pond. You'll be amazed at how quickly the water clears and how lush the plants will grow!
NOTE: An existing pond can be retrofitted with a bog garden by building a gravel bog garden nearby. The water can be circulated between the two gardens via pipework or a waterfall.
The Border Bog Gravel Filter
This is another variation of an "in pond" bog and is the most natural looking bog garden of all.
Dig the pond, with a shelf 12" deep all around it's perimeter. This shelf can be as wide or narrow as desired. Vary the width of the shelf around the pond for a natural look.
Lay liner into the pond excavation.
At the edge of the shelf place tall rocks, if necessary these can be mortared into place. This creates a trench or planting pockets between the edge of the pond and the edge of the shelf bordered by the wall of the pond on one side and the rock wall on the other.
Run your drilled pipework through the "trench" and attach to pump inside the pond.
Follow directions for planting bog plants in gravel Steps 5-8 of the Gravel Bog Garden.
In conclusion
Bog Gardens and Bog Gravel Filters are both environmentally responsible forms of gardening. By setting up a Bog Garden you can create a lush garden yet use little water. And the Bog Gravel Filter works with Nature, you are in effect setting up an artificial swamp or marsh. Like swamps and marshes, the Gravel Bog Filter serves as a massive biological and phyto filter. Nitrifying bacteria thrive in the gravel bed reducing the organic wastes, while the plants effectively absorb the nitrates and other nutrients before they can be utilized by algae. You can jump start the bacterial activity by inoculating the gravel with any of a number of good bacterial starter products on the market. Maintenance is typically restricted to a little light pruning during the growing season and a thinning out of the plants each spring. This allows for plenty of room for the plants to grow and continue absorbing the free nutrients in the pond.

Some Bog Plant Selections:

Bog Plants Arrowhead
Assorted Taros
Bog Lily
Cannas
Chinese Water Chestnut
Creeping Jenny
Dwarf Horsetail
Dwarf Papyrus
Dwarf Variegated Sweetflag Giant Melon Sword
Japanese Iris
Lizard's Tail
Lousiana Iris
Pickerel Rush
Red Stemmed Sagittaria
Ribbon Grass
Ruby Creeper
Ruby Eye Arrowhead Sensitive Plant
Siberian Iris
Spider Lily
Spike Rush
Star Grass
Thalia
Variegated Spider Lily
White Bull Rush
Zebra Rush

Plants that are invasive in the Bog (Think Twice Before Planting)
Horsetail
Aquatic Mint
Chameleon Plant
Parrot's Feather
Red Stemmed Thalia
Cattails
Umbrella Palm
Yellow Iris

Other Plants (experiment!) Bishops Weed
Crocasmia
Hostas
Astilbes
Fox Glove
False Sunflower
Primulas
Ligularia The rocket
Leopard Plant (Ligularia) Day Lilies
Helleborus
Meadow Rues
Hibiscus moscheutos
Hibiscus coccineus
Bergenia
False Dragonhead or Obedient Plant
Liatris
Polygonums Forget me nots
Calla Lily
Violas
Trilliums
Goats Beard
Joe Pye Weed
Butterfly Ginger
Society Garlic
Ground Orchidis (Bletilla)

Suggested reading:
Gardening with Water by James van Sweden
Pond and Water Gardens by Bill Heritage
The Water Garden a Practical Guide to Planning and Planting by Peter Robinson
Waterside Planting by Philip Swindells
The Stream Garden by Archie Skinner & David Arscott

I am planning a gravel bog, too. I lifted this from Anita's instructions in your post:

"The outlet of the pump determines the size PVC you will use, i.e. a pump with 1 1/2" outlet would use 1 1/2" pipe. Create a manifold to distribute the water evenly throughout the bog gravel."

Does she mean that you should make a "grid" of pipe, or just several outlets along the length of the pipe, as wide as the bog? I guess I shouldn't worry, because mine will only be about 3x5, but I still wanted to know. I had a bog that I just winged, a long time ago, but about the time it got going, good, we figured out the pond had a leak, and at the same time, had to face facts it was too small for the fish we had. I had pipe with holes drilled in it, but it didn't wet the whole gravel bed well enough.
DH has an irrational fear of snakes and insisted that a bog would attract them, so bought a canister filter for the new, bigger pond.
He is over that myth now, and I am considering how to build this one wetter than the last. I am considering how to do the pipe better. I am considering using tees every 14-16" to dump more water into the gravel. If it causes the gravel to really flood, I'd like to set the pond/bog edge to back it up and force the water to flow over some bigger rocks at a nice "waterfall" rate. I have more questions and ideas, but watch for a fresh thread.

I am building one that is like this...hopefully it works. I plan on having a waterfall(cascading) that runs into a shallow pond that then waterfalls (cutain type) into a bottom pond that has small (ea being about 2X2) bogs on each side of bottom pond. Most of the water will go into pond but a trickle will go into bogs. The bogs will overflow into the bottom pond. I hope this works out. I also am going to have a slow moving spitter on ea. side of the bog. I hope to take some pics of where I am now and after. My hubby says that if I keep this thinking process up, our whole yard with end up being waterfalls, ponds and bogs. LOL! Stuck inside today because of rain though...darn it! (Gives my sunburn time to recover!)

My bog filter is about 3x8 filled with about a ton of pea gravel and keeps my pond's water quality excellant. I use two Tetra cannisters and a Tetra 36watt UV to polish the water(it stays very clear also). I made a manifold out of pvc and layed it in the bottom of the bog before filling with gravel. The bog overflows into the pond by way of a pebble "beach".

Thanks everyone....i am almost to the bog part now. I gotta muster up the bravery to do it. Can i use the moss like I have seen in other forums? Or is gravel the best since it will overflow back into my pond? This is all hard decisions to make! Thanks again!

Dana

Pea gravel ya just cant go wrong.

DO NOT USE SOIL in your bog filter.

It will make your pond's water dirty. For one of our ponds that is 40" x 7' we use a clay pot that is 24 inches wide and deep and it is filled with pea gravel.

Cut a hole in the bottom of the pot that is large enough to fit your bulkhead fitting into it.

The hole that is at the bottom has the 1" bulkhead fitting, which a 1" PVC coupling threads onto the bulkhead fitting. From there we used 1" PVC pipe to a T-connector. From the T-connector more 1" PVC pipe that are capped at the ends. The pipe that makes the T extends almost to the width of the pot and has 1/8" holes drilled in them pointing towards the bottom of the pot. Drilling the holes so that they point downwards ensures that the water when pumped through fill the pot evenly and at a constant rate so biological filtration can happen.

One note, the Bulkhead connection at the bottom of the pot requires you to use something to elevate the pot off the bottom of the pond. We used cinder blocks. Use extra scraps of liner under the cinder blocks so they wont scratch up the pond's liner.

Our large pond (22'x14' 4600 gal)has a bog filter going all the way around the pond like a border. I have 2" PVC pipe painted black with Marine grade paint, which have slits cut in the pipe every 1/4" or so that roughly are cut 1/3 way through the pipe. I have three of these that come into a 45 degree 4-way connector. This is at the deep end of the pond. We laid the intake pipe across the bottom of the pond and up the far side of the pond and into a 1/6HP out of water pump. This way you get cross pond filtration without effecting pump head. From the pump we went back into the bog border. We made a T connection at the shallow end of the pond's bog border and connected the pipe to follow the bog's shape (pond ended up shaped like a semi-squashed peanut). Once again the PVC in the bog was drilled so that the holes point towards the furthest point away from the pond to make sure the water pumping through it flows evenly. One note here. Make sure that your bog plumbing is absolutely level all the way around the pond and that the rock border is also as level all the way around as you can get it. (Refer to Nelson's bog filter instructions)

The Border Bog Gravel Filter
This is another variation of an "in pond" bog and is the most natural looking bog garden of all.
Dig the pond, with a shelf 12" deep all around it's perimeter. This shelf can be as wide or narrow as desired. Vary the width of the shelf around the pond for a natural look.
Lay liner into the pond excavation.
At the edge of the shelf place tall rocks, if necessary these can be mortared into place. This creates a trench or planting pockets between the edge of the pond and the edge of the shelf bordered by the wall of the pond on one side and the rock wall on the other.
Run your drilled pipework through the "trench" and attach to pump inside the pond.
Follow directions for planting bog plants in gravel Steps 5-8 of the Gravel Bog Garden.

I used their method exactly except for the placement of the pump.

When you are using a bog filter you want to make sure that you cycle the entire volume at a minimum once every two hours.

Really no peat in a bog filter? I've seen too many suggestions. I thot peat and soil over gravel with return back to pond.

Newbie,
thanks for the informative posts.

Well in the top part I have some gravel and some lava rock with plants in it. It doesn't stay filled with water constantly but does stay wet in the gravel. It is about a 2 or so foot circle.I have water iris, papyrus, watecress, lizards tail and canna up in it (thanks for the trades ;o) ) It then runs down a gravel and rock stream (about 15 feet) into a small pond. That ponds filter runs continuously. It over flows (curtain type) into my bottom pond when I run the bottom filter. It pumps the water to the top part. I run it a few hours every coupla days. It (so far) has kept it clear and clean. I have water lilies and dwarf bamboo in the bottom. In the middle I have dwarf horsetail, water celery, sweet flag and water hyacinths(again thanks for the trades ;o) ). Goldfish in the bottom with the lilies. Am I doing any no-nos? Or if its not broke...don't fix it?

Thanks everybody for you help! Dana