Holy cattails batman, decided I better clean out the bog yesterday before winter gets here. I finally lost my temper and broughtt the ol honda civic around back for some added muscle.lol I know water hyacinths are supposed to be good, but they don't seem to like my pond. My upper bog is about 20% of the main pond, I'd like to eliminate my external filter altogether next season. what works well and is less invasive than these pains???
BTW this pic is a small portion of what came out of there yesterday.

Pickeral weed? Chara.

So I understand you correctly, you're looking for plants to use in your man made bog to filter water being pumped out of the main pond?

Kreg,

Just wondering, what will your plants filter out? Are you trying to reduce fish waste and/or fertility in a very small or over populated pond?

Thanks for the input...2cmom I'll google pickeral weed. I probably should have mentioned the upper pond is maybe a little deep to be calling a bog ,I dunno, it's prox 30"-36" deep. Cjbs yes the water recirculates between the 2 ponds. I'll stick up a pic. Bobad I have a fairly small fish load and a fairly big pond. I just like clear water(clear as possible) I want the blue 55 gal external filter gone next year. I was always under the impression having an upper pond 20-25% the size of the main, stocked with the right plants would act as a natural filter/fish wasted remover, ect. The pic is before I ripped em out, all that's left is a small batch of varigated cattails and a small batch of dwarf cattails.

Edit: I just checked out the pickeral weed, and I like it, I need something that will grow like crazy, just not require a car or truck to thin out. I also should have mentioned I live in slc Utah, winters are pretty good(bad) here. Not sure if the pickeral weed is an option for me????

Pickerel weed can handle harsh winters. Other options include arrow arrum, sweet flag and several native irises. I am not sure how effective this set up will be at filtering the water naturally. Certainly an interesting experiment though...

Thanks for the plant info. The old timer that got me into ponds was big into the natural bog dealio. I've read it in a book or 2 also so I figured there might be something to it. If nothing else it helps aerate the pond. Filter might be the wrong word to use but you have to admit...those cattails had to eat something. Fwiw I have no soil, just a membrane lined pond. Maybe 20 koi and a few small catfish. all the koi under 2' long. Again thanks for the info, if any one thinks of more good candidates let me know.

Have you looked into those floating islands? They sound really cool.

Can any of the above mentioned plants be put in a pond without any substrate???? Since I pulled the cattails out my water clarity went to crap....

Kreg:
Water clarity is what we are going for where I live, six man made lakes for swimming, sailing, paddleboats, floating, no motors.
When I was at the conference I saw a great presentation on hybrid water lilies by Bill Cody, one of the moderators. I have one going in front of my house, and they don't go crazy like the white water lilies. Pickerel weed survives here in Michigan, I like how it attracts dragonflies.
Bill Cody told me of a plant called Dwarf Sagittaria, not native to this area, but he has luck with it in Ohio, so I want to find it next year. He said the roots shoot oxygen into the water. He also promoted Spiral Corkscrew Eelgrass (Water Celery).
I have a cool looking plant growing at the water's edge that is not supposed to be hardy here, but it is. It is some type of water hybiscus (sp?) It is on a thick hard stalk about 4 ft. tall, and the leaves look like pot with a red hue, and it has beautiful large red flowers that last about a day each. I was happy it came back. I also have Zebra Rush growing out there, cool looking plant, and Sweet Flag. I am in southeast Mich.
Have you checked into the floating wetlands? They sound cool.

Cool, thanks for the info, I'm going to make a trip to a local pond plant retailer this weekend and wanted to try several things to see what I may have luck with. Just my luck I called him yesterday, and told him I wanted some rapid growing plants to take the place of my cattails. He told me to bring the cattails in and we could trade. LOL that would have been a handy bit of information to have, BEFORE I threw them all away.... Btw I'm not having much luck locating the floating island dealio you've mentioned.

You need to search on the internet, like floating wetlands, floating islands, I can't remember, but they are out there. Since you have no substrate they would float in the water and the roots grow down into the water and you can have beautiful plants taking up nutrients.

I found it, Floatingislandsinternational.com

Hey those are cool. I wonder what the grass looking stuff is they show growing in some of those. Doesn't look like I'm making it to the plant store today...they close at 1:00. Last night was my 25 year high school reunion, I may have had 1 to many adult beverages.lol

I think you can grow whatever you want in those structures. I went to the 10 year reunion, wouldn't go to another.

Are you saying those aren't necessarily "pond plants"? Or I guess I should say aquatic plants?

I don't know enough about them, I considered them for our lake a while back, may look into them again. I think they would be aquatic plants, they would have to be plants whose roots like to always be wet.