Marsh & Bog

5/25/99

Question: HI

LIKE TO GET YOUR TAKE ON A IDEA I HAVE COME UP WITH ... HAVE A POND 3500gal, WATER FALL AND BI-FILTER

THINKING OF RUNNING SOME OF THE POND WATER UP TO A 55gal DRUM WITH THAT BLACK CONSTRUCTION (WITH HOLES) PIPE, THAT ARE HOOKED TO THE BOTTOM OF THE DRUM. THEN BY GRAVITY THE WATER WOULD RUN DOWN THE DRUM, OUT THE PIPE. THE PIPE WOULD BE COVERED WITH ROCK THEN SMALLER ROCK THEN PEA GRAVEL (THAT I CAN PLANT MARSH PLANTS ?)

THIS IS CONTAIN WITH A POND LINER SAY 8' X 10' AND WOULD BE SOME INCHES ABOVE THE MAIN POND, DRAINING SLOWLY BACK TO THE POND.

ALSO THINKING OF BOG AREA ON THE SIDE OF THIS, MARSH AREA ... (NOT CONNECTED TO MARSH OR POND) ... TO GET THE BEST OF ALL PLANT ENVIRONMENTS, AND GETTING SOME EXTRA FILTERING FOR THE KOI, AND GIVING THE PLANTS A BREAK FROM THE FISH.

QUESTION IS DO YOU THINK THE 8X10 AREA AS I EXPLAIN WOULD SUPPORT MARSH TYPE PLANTS AND WOULD THE GRAVEL BE FILTERING AND FEEDING THE PLANTS OR WOULD THE WATER JUST BE PASSING THROUGH ... AND THE BOG SECTION I FIGURE A 50/50 MIX EARTH AND PEAT AND KEEP MOIST WILL KEEP EM HAPPY ???

TKS

Answer: Jbrat, TKS

Pea gravel is hard to clean, heavy, doesn't offer much surface area, and I haven't found it that user friendly. It sounds to me like are going to build a large silt trap that wil be difficult to clean, and may cause water quality problems in years to come. I would look into the synthetic medias.

One mans opinion,

I hope that this was helpful,

Scott Bates

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