Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Temp reading on a non-aerated SMB/YP pond

Like QA stated regarding dark water. It will definitely get a lot warmer near the surface and closer to the shoreline, but it will also insulate that heat from deeper water by absorbing the UV Ray's before they can penetrate deeper.

This change in temp is where your thermocline will begin to develop. That cooler area, as long as it has sufficient DO, and remains cool enough for SMB/YP is where your fish will want to be, and even DO becomes secondary to temperature (just read that in my latest issue of Pond Boss Magazine), as long as there is enough DO in that warmer water for them to access then return to the temps they want to be in. You should have enough DO shallow if 1) You have enough vegetation/plankton to create it during the day, and 2) you get enough wind action to keep it stirred up on the surface. Herein lies the problem. As temps continue to rise, that area of cooler water continues to get smaller and eventually warms to a point that it doesnt hold as much DO, and night time resperation converts oxygen into carbon dioxide and could create an early morning deficiency in oxygen if your biomass is large enough to use it all up before the DO cycle restarts the next morning.

Depending on the size and depth of your pond, you may be fine to go without some form of circulation to create more DO, but you may want to research some kind of aeration. But then there's another balancing act....not over circulating the pond so that you make it all too warm.

I'm not sure about YP, but I think SMB thrive in waters in the mid 70s.