Hydroponic Bog Garden (Water Recycling)

This idea came from the work that we do with sewage. Our systems produce a clean water effluent that is clean enough to discharge to ditches ponds etc. we wanted to develop a tertiary treatment system that would allow us to re-use the water for irrigation purposes. Hence the idea formed to create a hydroponic bog garden.

It essentially uses the same techniques employed in aquaculture. Use bacteria that are attached to biomedia to clean the highly oxygenated water passing through the media. We use alfagrog media for this. It has a high surface area and good void capacity. The added bonus to this system is that by placing a gravel bed over the top of the media we have been able to produce an ideal environment for growing those difficult to propagate plants. The moisture loving ones that fail at the first sign of drought.

You can find out more about us and our other projects on our site: Biotank

Step 1 Dig a hole

The bog garden starts life as a square hole with a level base and square sides. The shape was determined by the sleepers that we are using around the outside in the finished bog garden.

Comments

[diy_bloke]

great, wish I had space for that. I was just wondering if there is enough circulation between the aerated open part and the gravel part of your bog

[ronmaggi]

Have you considered Mycofiltration to assist with the cleaning. www.fungiperfecti.com has all the tools to add it. Also there are fungi that work synergystically with your plants to make them grow better in a permaculture type way.

[bobsegravescollis]

Ron, Can you share with us some more information on the fungi you mentioned? Links to sources on the web, books, magazines, etc., any thing to get us pointed in the correct direction. I want to make our homestead as permaculture friendly as possible and using fungi is one thing I hadn't heard about before.

Regards,

bob

[mr fat]

Awesome set up! An inspiration

[mmcgartland]

i am a green experimenter -research and plan very carefully before u meet with the men and women who decide whether u may this. good luck any1

[fuzvulf]

 Pretty nice Instructable.  Using a flood and drain system it could be used with not so water loving plants if that were an interest.  Aquaponics has been making use of that technique for some time now.  It would be nice to see a little more detail but overall well done.  BTW 30 cm seems to be a good minimum for biological filter/ root growth area depth when using gravel of a larger diameter, although your surface area probably offsets the numbers some.

[hooloovoo33]

sounds kinda like a Biodigeseter/biogas system
http://www.appropedia.org/Home_biogas_system#Popular_Biogas_Systems]http://www.appropedia.org/Home_biogas_system#Popular_Biogas_Systems

Are there any byproducts other than cleaner water?

[Biotank]

Not at all... A Biodigester that produces Biogas is an anaerobic environment. Biogas is methane and this is only produced by anaerobic bacteria without oxygen being present. It is a more efficient digestion process than aerobic digestion but aerobic digestion is better for cleaning up the environment in that it produces water, the bacteria themselves generate new water, and carbon dioxide which is recycled back to the environment... This is a carbon neutral process before anyone starts jumping up and down about climate change and global warming.

[gordokury]

hahaha, love your sense of humor! and talking about climat change... your system is also producing a very dangerous product that is the maine component of acidic rain: the dihydrogen monoxide ;)

[Nyxius]

I heard athletes use it to increase their performance!  I also heard the you can died from an overdose! It's called hypotremonia.

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!

The chemical formula for Dihydrogen Monoxide, for those who don't get the joke, is: H2O

[mustangfunk]

So I can build this in place of my septic tanks drain field? How bad is the smell really? If your sold waste stays in the tank with the natural organisms that eat and decompose it. What kinda of fish and plant life could live in the pond?

[rmullins]

This system could potentially be used as a treatment for grey water at best. And while we have quite a bit of grey water waste, I can understand the usage of something like this. As with many 'green' projects, something of this size and scope, plus the materials would be seriously cost prohibitive. The liners alone would break the bank. It is unfortunate that most 'green' organizations are more 'capitalistic' than the evil empires they detest.

[Dude567]

 I'm sorry, but are you saying that this system could not be scaled down? I mean honestly, if the liner alone would break the bank then what about the millions of people throughout the world with ponds? He did say the liner is a standard pond liner. Not all pond owners are millionaires and they didn't break the bank to have a pond, which is what this system is, A POND.

[rmullins]

I have a pond, ponds are cheap, liners....not so much. 

[Biotank]

Sorry but no you can't put this in place of your drainfield... Please read the whole thing again. This is a tertiary treatment system for effluent from a "Packaged Treatment plant" that would normally discharge straight to a ditch or other watercourse. There is no smell from this system as the water is virtually pure!

[kelana]

very good project. thx

[armindilo]

Wow! This is cool! I like the fact that it uses a 'waste' to make a 'product', more or less. It sort of reminds me of the ZERI Montfort Boys School project.

And the instructable is very well done!

[NickGriffin]

Thanks much for mentioning the Zeri project, and making it a link! I read the entire project site-it is great stuff, and recommend reading it to others as well! Thanks again!

[dandyliondancer]

yeah, very cool. the ZERI project you mention is essentially a demonstration of permaculture methods - gets my blood pumping... if anyone still doesn't understand where the water is coming from, read this article from wikipedia, especially about primary and secondary treatment. essentially you are starting with water that is high in nitrogen and phosphorous and possibly contains some toxic metals. the water is then used to grow plants (ornatmental i would think - there might be problems with the metals in the water for growing edible crops) which take up the nitrogen and phosphorous, so the water is cleaner when it exits the system. this is essentially a hydroponics setup, except that the main cost, which is fertilizer, is eliminated because it is already present in the water. also similar to aquaponics, except the wastes come from humans, not fish. would be interested to hear what kind of crops you are growing in your experiment. keep up the good work...

[dandyliondancer]

the wiki link didnt make it into my post. here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewage_treatment

[SinAmos]

So, wait, all I need is a kitchen fork, a piece of gum, and some rubber bands, and I can make this? I'm confused. What is this again? Jk - Awesome stuff.

[stvenkman]

Please elaborate on the type of cushion used during this step.

[Grey_Wolfe]

In high school we used sand because it had zero impact. Not sure what he's using.

[Derin]

Bold link test

[laresekae]

hi there... this is similar to the municipal setup here in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio (you know, the Cuyahoga, the river that burned?) anyway, it's much better now :), and our local sewage plant is just upriver from a natural wetland by the river (they actually own(ed?) the land, i believe)... also apparently the only place that blue herons nest... i don't know what % of the post-treatment effluent goes thru the wetland first - as opposed to going straight into the river - (after all, there's a lot!) but it's looking pretty good! plenty of wildlife... so great idea! and points for using a natural filter to remove anything that might not be tested for! we don't know everything yet, after all! (and never will!)

[thermoelectric]

kool Have u ever accidently fallen into it?

[Putzer]

Do you get alot of mosquitos?

[whiteoakart]

that's beautiful! This seems more like a marginal wetland environment than a bog. Could you make this into a "real" bog? Bogs are low nitrogen, anaerobic environment which are home to specialized plants like carnivorous flytraps and pitcher plants, as well as some orchids.

[Biotank]

You are absolutely correct but you have missed the play on words... In the UK one sits on a bog to do number 2's!!! No idea where it came from but back in the mists of time it appeared in the English language. A bog lives in a Karssy... Thats an Indian word!

[whiteoakart]

Ahhh, I see. We don't have that saying here (US). Too bad, it's a good one. I always appreciate a good pun.

[chucker]

ok maybe i am not really sure on how this thing works then

define sewage water?

is it like a drain field for a septic tank?
or is it the water you get from the drain field?

thats whats confusing me_,

[chucker]

I would suggest that if you are going to build this you should check with the DEQ first to see if you can do it
they are kinda picky about things like this
( open pits with waste water in them, above ground,)
( as i found out₎

other wise you will have one hefty fine_{, and or jail time}

and be prepared for your neighbors complaining about the smell

[Biotank]

The whole point of this is that we are purifying the water from a sewage treatment system that has been designed to discharge to a ditch / pond / river in the first place... The "Bog Garden" removes even more pollutants to enable the water to be safely re-used for irrigation. With an Ultra Violet sterilization unit and suitable filters the water could be used for drinking. The next generation of treatment systems that we have: The BioKube System. treats the water to a similar level to the Bog Garden and can be directly used for irrigation. See www.biokube.co.uk for more information. The Bog Garden idea was really an experiment, an R&D version, to see if it could really be done. It would be a great addition to a Koi Carp pond where filtration and clean water is of the utmost importance. Getting the Oxygen levels up for Koi Carp is vital. Enjoy it. It was fun, which is what all this sort of experimentation is about.

[crypticgeek]

It's not waste water, it's "clean water effluent" from their waste water treatment process. It's not drinking quality water, but it is clean. This a tertiary treatment (ie: the third treatment) of the water.

[dchall8]

I'm missing something. Do you dump raw sewage into this thing? It is an interesting idea.

[Chevan]

In Step 14 there's a link to purity tests done on the water. It's basically pure water going into the bog garden.