Muske;3984530; said:
Believe it or not, there have been less to no real issues with leaks or anything like that. Which is surprising given all the different levels. We either got lucky or planned it out well, probably some combination of both.
I'm expecting water quality to improve with the bog. I don't really know how much room there is for improvement though, we've been able to strike a pretty good balance. The water is normally crystal clear. I'm not sure what we're doing right, but the water clarity has easily been the biggest bragging point of the pond for years. Hopefully this only helps that effort.
The bigger fish-load is in the top section (the one with the house, not the new addition part.) By the end of the summer it'll probably be closer to even, but most likely still end up having more at the higher section. Plus the turtles are up there and although there are only 5-7 of them, they seem to produce as much waste as 20-30 fish.
I'm not really sure as to the mechanics of the bog. I have to do more research on the subject. I plan on pulling water from the bottom section with the pump that currently feeds the UV and the green tetra filter, and having the release of that filter dump into the bog.
I currently have a sand filter that is meant for pools (it's in one of the pictures above). We run that for like 2 hours a day and it is probably the biggest cause of our water clarity. The thing is rated for like 25,000 gallons and the pond now is only 3,000ish. It will be about 5,000 after the addition. Still peanuts compared to what that filter can clean.
The garbage can that is in front of the filter in the picture is a little recovery tank that we rigged up. When we backwash the sand filter it goes into the garbage can. The can has a pvc pipe running out of the bottom of it back into the pond. Before the water can enter that pipe it is forced to drain through filter pads. The pipe is about 10" high in the can, so as the water slowly gets through the filter pad into the pipe, the majority of the waste ends up on the bottom of the can which has a hole with a pipe in the bottom that runs out into the yard. I may not be doing a great job describing it, hopefully you guys get the idea. But it turned out to be a great way to clean the filter with the flip of a switch rather than scrubbing pads all day. I plan on extending the bottom drain pipe into the garden this year, so the already efficient system will have turned from wasting very little water, to wasting none. As well as acting as a great fertilizer.
As far as plants for the bog go, umbrella plants were definitely on the list. I'll have to look into the other plants you mentioned. Although bees are something I'd like to avoid if I could.
