If you want to see some of the DIY pond filters I’ve built around my yard this is a good playlist to check out- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ8Cv9jCFTGTGzqhdCKcWvNxjOyXH6DTy
For helpful products and articles visit https://ozponds.com
Hey Kev, I'm following your advice building my own swimming pond, very similar to your dream pond.
So I ran across a video of a pond builder/maintainer online who seemed like he was trying to help people avoid some mistakes. He recommended strongly against rock/gravel in a pond, saying they collect dirt and silt over time, and will eventually make it difficult to maintain our clean out.
Any credibility to this? It seems counter to what you're describing here. He also mentions just the pain of having to address issues if you ever need to remove those rocks.
Last question — if dirt/silt does build up on the bottom, in gravel, or in between rocks and jets push that towards the intake bay, will those rocks in the bay or bog filter eventually get clogged with debris?
The big challenge for pond filter most people don't pay attention is how to get rid of the sludge and muck from the filter. Eventually, filter collects so much junk and slow down the water flow significantly which reduces oxygen. Ease of maintenance is the key part of the filter.
Thank you for your video. My dad built a beautiful very natural looking pond but I'm struggling to keep the water clear. He also put a small stream area in and once I built up the strength ( my dad unfortunately died ) to uncover the stream area I didn't really know what to do with this . Now I do it will make a great biological area . Many thanks.
Could I use sand filter in a greenhouse and grow cucumber in that? That could create a great garden and a swimming/fish pond
I read that for aquaponic the sand must be very coarse to drain quickly to allow oxygen to get to roots, is it possible to skip that if oxygenated water is constantly running through it?
I have a stream with assorted sized rocks. It's been keeping the pond clear, but I have lots of leaves and other sediment that I can't keep up with. The pond displayed in the video is beautiful. Great info. Thanks.
Hey Kev. I'm collecting rainwater in whiskey barrels and am looking for a way to constantly filter the water. The main purpose for this water is for use on the Garden when it's dry. Do you think a bog filter would work inside of the barrel?
My pond is fed by a small creek/spring, such that plenty of water is replaced during winter months. Only in the summer does the pond become more stagnant, and no longer overflow. So my question is, will this colony of bateria survive/adapt between periods of low nutrients (winter) and high nutrients (summer)?
My first pond was a sunken cattle mineral tub. That turned into three before the weekend was up! The frogs moved in with the goldfish and I was hooked. The next was a sunken satellite dish and it has a list of faults. A steady dog decided to swim in it and ripped my liner to shreds! Harmless water Snakes moved in under the lip of the dish. I had several turtles move in. One was a red ear slider. I added a water fall and bought a pump. And more fish and still kept the 3 frog ponds. Then when I moved a few years later I hand dug a big pond and added three koi. That pond want perfect but i enjoyed it. So did the family of coons that fished in it nightly. No longer have a pond, only cattle mineral tubs. But, I want another pond. Just don't know if I have the energy to do the digging.
I'm not as concerned about the clarity as I am hoping to achieve some sustainability. I know zooplankton eat the phytoplankton, fry eat the zooplankton, and the larger fish eat the fry. However, everything I see seems to suggest that phytoplankton die offs lead to hypoxia leads to fish death, so it seems impossible to balance safely without a ton of artificial oxygen injection, which kind of undermines the goal of the system self-sustaining. I may as well use a bog filter to avoid the phytoplankton and keep pellet feeding. Any suggestions? The bog filter is basically a bacteria refugium, so could I maybe figure out how to make a phytoplankton refugium to reduce the risk of hypoxia?
i hardly do anything to my pond anymore add water if it is dry and in spring put some sludge remover bacteria starter once pond warms up then plants start growing and algae dies off the plants use up all the fertilizer in water and grow huge. we have overflow Box with a net and pump to pump water to mountain where it goes through pads and lava rock in bag runs down bunch of waterfalls back to pond
Hi Oz Ponds! I built a bog filter in my goldfish pond in a 55-gallon food-grade plastic drum. The whole process was super simple, following your instructions, including the open overflow fitting just above the waterline, (as you explained, to prevent a back suction that would drain the barrel in case of a power outage). This has dramatically improved the clarity of the pond water. THANK YOU SO MUCH! However, within a month, I noticed the volume of water drilling out of that open connection increasing significantly, indicating to me that the large to small rocks were getting plugged up wit silt increasingly blocking the passive circulation through the rocks. I tried backwashing it out the bottom valve, (installed according to your plans with an elbow down from the drain valve. to about a 1/2" above the bottom surface of the barrel, but little silt had accumulated there; little came out with the water. A week later, I drained it again, this time going down the silt rocks from above (I KNOW< likely washing away much of the beneficial bacteria). Within a month, the open anti-siphon overflow began again to increase, like before, so I blocked the overflow, (cancelling the intended anti-siphon feature) forcing all the pumped volume of water to be forced through the layers of rocks, before draining back into my pond. Will this negate the beneficial effectiveness of the bacteria-coated stores? Is it normal for the anti-siphon to increasingly bypass circulation through the rock layers? Is my top layer of rocks too small, (I used two bags of approx. 3/8" decorative stones). Will the bog filter still work optimally if I force all the pumped water to circulate up through the rocks before draining back to my pond? I see many small holes across silt that covers the surface of the finest top layer of stones? I'd appreciate any thoughts.
Thank you for this channel. You are the best pond resource on the Internet. I put all of your advice on filters and plumbing to put in a bog filter next to my little pond and for the first time in years I have now figured it out. Water is crystal clear, easy to maintain, and the fish are happy and healthy. Thanks again.
Oh Kev. I’ll be haunting your website for a bit! I decided to use kiddie pools for my container garden this year. Had one pool just waiting for plants when we got a week of rain. I had no idea frogs could move so fast! So I’ve been doing water changes and stuff. Now I’ve bought a liner and underlayment! Which means some digging. This will be a frog pond. Ok, newts are welcome too. I’m going to figure out the bog filter. My questions are: how do you buy pond plants without getting baby fish? And how can I keep the leeches under control? I was overwhelmed by a frog pond that turned into a much bigger sarassa comet pond. They are some breeding fishes! When I couldn’t keep up with them anymore I had 105 comets. I’d had them for 16 years and hated giving them up! But I think if I’m extra careful not to get aquatic plants from people with fish? Maybe? Help? 🫶🏼😎🫶🏼
41 Comments
Thank you 👍
Hey Kev,
I'm following your advice building my own swimming pond, very similar to your dream pond.
So I ran across a video of a pond builder/maintainer online who seemed like he was trying to help people avoid some mistakes. He recommended strongly against rock/gravel in a pond, saying they collect dirt and silt over time, and will eventually make it difficult to maintain our clean out.
If you're interested, here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8017VUWkQck
Any credibility to this? It seems counter to what you're describing here. He also mentions just the pain of having to address issues if you ever need to remove those rocks.
Last question — if dirt/silt does build up on the bottom, in gravel, or in between rocks and jets push that towards the intake bay, will those rocks in the bay or bog filter eventually get clogged with debris?
The big challenge for pond filter most people don't pay attention is how to get rid of the sludge and muck from the filter. Eventually, filter collects so much junk and slow down the water flow significantly which reduces oxygen. Ease of maintenance is the key part of the filter.
Thank you for your video. My dad built a beautiful very natural looking pond but I'm struggling to keep the water clear. He also put a small stream area in and once I built up the strength ( my dad unfortunately died ) to uncover the stream area I didn't really know what to do with this . Now I do it will make a great biological area . Many thanks.
Could I use sand filter in a greenhouse and grow cucumber in that?
That could create a great garden and a swimming/fish pond
I read that for aquaponic the sand must be very coarse to drain quickly to allow oxygen to get to roots, is it possible to skip that if oxygenated water is constantly running through it?
So cool!
I have a stream with assorted sized rocks. It's been keeping the pond clear, but I have lots of leaves and other sediment that I can't keep up with. The pond displayed in the video is beautiful. Great info. Thanks.
something people never talk about in these videos is where they are getting all the plants for their ponds
Thank you so much. This is so helpful.
Hey Kev. I'm collecting rainwater in whiskey barrels and am looking for a way to constantly filter the water. The main purpose for this water is for use on the Garden when it's dry. Do you think a bog filter would work inside of the barrel?
My pond is fed by a small creek/spring, such that plenty of water is replaced during winter months. Only in the summer does the pond become more stagnant, and no longer overflow. So my question is, will this colony of bateria survive/adapt between periods of low nutrients (winter) and high nutrients (summer)?
Any issues for ponds that are exposed to freezing temps overnight? Other than water freezing, does it kill the good bacteria?
My first pond was a sunken cattle mineral tub. That turned into three before the weekend was up! The frogs moved in with the goldfish and I was hooked. The next was a sunken satellite dish and it has a list of faults. A steady dog decided to swim in it and ripped my liner to shreds! Harmless water Snakes moved in under the lip of the dish. I had several turtles move in. One was a red ear slider. I added a water fall and bought a pump. And more fish and still kept the 3 frog ponds. Then when I moved a few years later I hand dug a big pond and added three koi. That pond want perfect but i enjoyed it. So did the family of coons that fished in it nightly. No longer have a pond, only cattle mineral tubs. But, I want another pond. Just don't know if I have the energy to do the digging.
How big of a pond is too big for a Bog filter?
Hello soo I just built my pond it’s 3000 gallons and just filled it had water hauled in what should I do to the water before adding fish
Just put in some zebra muscles, and your water will be crystal clear!
Very very helpfull video. THANK YOU!!!
SFQ time… Can a pond have too much filtration?
How long does a Bog filter last before you need to clean it out and rebuild
1:02 well no shit 3:16
Wow. Thank you.
Is there any food for koi and goldfish thats almost free or i can harvest myself
you missed about green water which also easy to be solved
Awesome stuff, thank you for sharing!
So helpful thank you! New sub from Adelaide 👋🏻
Exactly what I was looking for, and very clear. Thanks so much.
Excellent 👍 thank you 😁 from Art by Gonzo 💫
Also look into bakki showers. They produce different bacteria than a bog filter.
I'm not as concerned about the clarity as I am hoping to achieve some sustainability. I know zooplankton eat the phytoplankton, fry eat the zooplankton, and the larger fish eat the fry. However, everything I see seems to suggest that phytoplankton die offs lead to hypoxia leads to fish death, so it seems impossible to balance safely without a ton of artificial oxygen injection, which kind of undermines the goal of the system self-sustaining. I may as well use a bog filter to avoid the phytoplankton and keep pellet feeding. Any suggestions? The bog filter is basically a bacteria refugium, so could I maybe figure out how to make a phytoplankton refugium to reduce the risk of hypoxia?
I would love to hear ideas about if something like this is possible for a large (5 acre) pond.
I plant grape tree in the .iddle of it, it takes all the water, and new water comes from the rain 😉
i hardly do anything to my pond anymore add water if it is dry and in spring put some sludge remover bacteria starter once pond warms up then plants start growing and algae dies off the plants use up all the fertilizer in water and grow huge. we have overflow Box with a net and pump to pump water to mountain where it goes through pads and lava rock in bag runs down bunch of waterfalls back to pond
What does ongoing maintenance on a bog filter look like to remove the excess fish & organic waste?
Hi Oz Ponds! I built a bog filter in my goldfish pond in a 55-gallon food-grade plastic drum. The whole process was super simple, following your instructions, including the open overflow fitting just above the waterline, (as you explained, to prevent a back suction that would drain the barrel in case of a power outage). This has dramatically improved the clarity of the pond water. THANK YOU SO MUCH! However, within a month, I noticed the volume of water drilling out of that open connection increasing significantly, indicating to me that the large to small rocks were getting plugged up wit silt increasingly blocking the passive circulation through the rocks. I tried backwashing it out the bottom valve, (installed according to your plans with an elbow down from the drain valve. to about a 1/2" above the bottom surface of the barrel, but little silt had accumulated there; little came out with the water. A week later, I drained it again, this time going down the silt rocks from above (I KNOW< likely washing away much of the beneficial bacteria). Within a month, the open anti-siphon overflow began again to increase, like before, so I blocked the overflow, (cancelling the intended anti-siphon feature) forcing all the pumped volume of water to be forced through the layers of rocks, before draining back into my pond. Will this negate the beneficial effectiveness of the bacteria-coated stores? Is it normal for the anti-siphon to increasingly bypass circulation through the rock layers? Is my top layer of rocks too small, (I used two bags of approx. 3/8" decorative stones). Will the bog filter still work optimally if I force all the pumped water to circulate up through the rocks before draining back to my pond? I see many small holes across silt that covers the surface of the finest top layer of stones? I'd appreciate any thoughts.
Thank you for this channel. You are the best pond resource on the Internet. I put all of your advice on filters and plumbing to put in a bog filter next to my little pond and for the first time in years I have now figured it out. Water is crystal clear, easy to maintain, and the fish are happy and healthy. Thanks again.
New sub!
Oh Kev. I’ll be haunting your website for a bit! I decided to use kiddie pools for my container garden this year. Had one pool just waiting for plants when we got a week of rain. I had no idea frogs could move so fast! So I’ve been doing water changes and stuff. Now I’ve bought a liner and underlayment! Which means some digging. This will be a frog pond. Ok, newts are welcome too. I’m going to figure out the bog filter. My questions are: how do you buy pond plants without getting baby fish? And how can I keep the leeches under control? I was overwhelmed by a frog pond that turned into a much bigger sarassa comet pond. They are some breeding fishes! When I couldn’t keep up with them anymore I had 105 comets. I’d had them for 16 years and hated giving them up! But I think if I’m extra careful not to get aquatic plants from people with fish? Maybe? Help? 🫶🏼😎🫶🏼
Pure gold!
Amazing! Thank you for sharing this video. Greetings from Madang, Papua New Guinea!
So it's bac filter, nothing new at all like the title and vid try na say, wasted my time
New sub❤️