Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions small compressor experimenting

I got my diffuser installed and the line in the pond but not a pump so I dug out a 12 vdc pump that I think came from a portable tire pump, It has been running for about 4 days 12 hours a day on 2 deep cycle batteries in parallel the pump is a diaphram type, I have no idea what the cfm or the psi is but it does a good job with the water boil but I have no idea if it is a good or bad flow since I have never seen one first hand, It makes about a 10' diameter circle in my pond through the WM and DW. I will know here sortly my pump is suppose to be here this week so I will have a idea about what this one is doing. I ordered that $40 gast pump from C&H to give it a try. I charge them at night and run them during the day.

trialsguy-

The only way to know if you are receiving "good or bad" flow is to know several factors.

1.CFM the compressor generates at the depth of your diffuser.

2. The depth of the diffuser.

3. The type of diffuser and the cfm required to operate.

4. The total volume of your pond.

Knowing these few facts will help in making sure the system you designed is the proper size. The suggested circulation rate a.k.a. turnover rate of the entire volume is 0.75 times per day. There are factors where upping that rate would be required, (livestock next to the pond, leaking septic tanks, heavy fertilization as found on golf courses), but the 0.75 times per day takes care of the oxygen demand in most homeowner ponds.

If the system is undersized, you may not be happy with the results. You will be circulating enough water to re-suspend phosphates into the water column but not satisfying the oxygen demand. This typically happens at a turnover rate of 0.45 times per day or less.

As for charging the batteries, that needs to be done during the day and not at night. The night and early morning is when the oxygen levels are the lowest.

I'm sure you will see the difference in the boil size once you receive your rotary vane compressor.

Thanks Cary for the info, this is a trial run waiting for the full time compressor to show up. My pond is about 1/4-3/8 acre 12 foot at the max I guess average is 4' I have the 9" membrane diffuser from Aquaticeco installed at 12' with 100'of 1/2 black poly. My compressor is the Gast from C&H sales 1cfm not sure of the psi though.
I am not too concerned with the trial run of the 12vdc pump because there aren't any fish in it.. And Boy does it stink when it is running, I didnt think that it was too bad until I was actually down wind from it...

I calculate that to be just over 407 million gallons of water. With one of our diffusers at the 12' of depth, the turnover rate would be 11.76 times per day. Even if the Aquatic Eco diffuser is half, you are still exceeding the 0.75 times per day I wrote about above.

With the hydrogen sulfide odors, it just shows that the "book can not be judged by the cover". Obviously you had a nutrient sink down there.

Cary's quote:I calculate that to be just over 407 million gallons of water.

I believe Cary means 407 thousand gallons in a 15,000 sq. ft. pond. Otherwise, great info.

Burger...you're correct. My glasses broke today and I am kind of blurry until I get home to my back up pair.

once the pump arrives and installed should I run it 24/7 for awhile to help with the muck on the bottom. Then once I figure what to do or can afford to try and clear up the WM and DW go ahead and leave it running then throttle it back once it is ready to support fish, IS there a thing of too much aeration? Thanks Bob

Trailsguy, let us know how that little 1/10 hp gast pump works out. From averaging what others say, the GAST 1532 may work well in a 12' 1/3 acre pond. C & H states it uses a mere 0.55 amp electricity. One GAST table claims 1.2 cfm around 12'. I don't mean to pretend to know much, I don't, but hope to learn more about the economy of this miny rotary vane compressor. :rolleyes:

I sure will keep you in touch! I will beable to check amp draw static and underload if only the little bugger will show up. It is suppose to be here tomorrow, I haven't built a housing yet, kinda waiting to see it and get a look at the layout to see what I need to put up. the 9 inch membrane does put out a nice boil in my pond, I wish I would have checked it in a clear bucket just to get a look at it but oh well. I think I will try to get some pictures of my little pond.

Trials,

How long each day has the DC pump been operating?

The reason I ask is when you install a system for the first time in a pond or if one has been off for the winter, it is recomended to go through a start up period. This allows for the hydrogen sulfide and other harmful gases to release from the pond slowly with out introducting the entire volume of "bad gases" to the area where the fish are.

The recomended start up is 15 min the first day, then 30 min the next, 1 hour the next, 2 hours and so forth until you are able to operate the system for 6 hours continuous. After that, we recomend 24 hours per day here at ATI but others have been able to run theirs for night time only.

That decision is based on knowing what the oxygen content of your pond is.

I am running it about 6 hrs aday(1 battery charge worth} But I am not concerned about fish because there are none in the pond.

Then, go ahead and run the system 24hrs/day once you receive your rotary vane compressor, at least for the remaining summer months.

Thank you for the info, I have so many question and so I read on! I feel that my questions may be ridicules at times and I am sorry for that

Trialsguy, when you get your compressor it comes with a separate start capacitor. There should be blue and brown wires that connect to the cap. doesn't matter which, and a pair of black wires that the AC connects to. Meadowlark said his came without any wiring info.

Thank you! I had read earlier in one of the other post in regards to this, and have my pig tail ready to go. I am trying to decide if I want to build a bird house looking shelter for the pump or put it in a small metal cabinet. Leaning more towards a bird house looking box to try and blend a little bit with the timber and surrounding area. I make it big enough to run a small control center for maybe a couble different options say a bug wacker or a low voltage lighting system for a future dock?