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New to the pond world, but one thing I've picked up already is that I need aeration.

I've designed (on paper) a bottom aeration system, but I'm having difficulty figuring out if I can get away with an energy efficient diaphragm pump. Something that's relatively quiet and low on power consumption.

Here's what I think I've figured out:

Estimating on the high side I think I've got about 90,000 gallons.

If I can get 2CFMs at the diffusers, the pond will turnover about every 5 hours. I can run overnight for 10hrs.

If I put one diffuser in the deepest part ~7', and another at ~ 4', I'll need 5.5 psi.

The PSI is what's tripping me up. With my small pond, even the HiBlow 80 pumps much more than enough CFM, but not even the HiBlow 120 operates with enough PSI. Can this be right?

The below setup is what I plan to use, assuming I can find the right pump. Below that is a terrible google maps image of my pond with my scribbles all over it. Below that is an actual photo of the pond.

I'll take any advice the smart people of Pond Boss would like to give.







Thanks! - Jerry

Last edited by The New Jerry; 10/21/19 06:43 PM. Reason: moved off photobucket

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I just had a thought.

The reason I think I need 5.5psi is that I'm combining the depth requirement for both runs. 3.5psi for the diffuser at 7ft and 2psi for the diffuser at 4ft.

Should I be adding these or am I only concerned about the maximum pressure requirement (3.5psi) ?


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Will garden hose sink or float?


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Originally Posted By: The New Jerry
Will garden hose sink or float?


Float if it is full of air.


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Originally Posted By: The New Jerry
I just had a thought.

The reason I think I need 5.5psi is that I'm combining the depth requirement for both runs. 3.5psi for the diffuser at 7ft and 2psi for the diffuser at 4ft.

Should I be adding these or am I only concerned about the maximum pressure requirement (3.5psi) ?



The compressor does not know what you have downstream. All it sees is the back pressure at its outlet. If your compressor can provide 5 cfm at 5 psig. The 5 psig is the total back pressure on the compressor from whatever you choose to put downstream and still provide 5 cfm. If you have 1 deep and 1 shallow diffuser, with the deepest diffuser requiring 5 psig, when you add the shallow diffuser you will have to sacrifice cfm to the deepest one to maintain no more than 5 psig total back pressure to still get 5 cfm.


...clear as mud!

Last edited by Bill D.; 10/20/19 09:27 PM.

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The HiBlow HP-120LL wants to operate at about 2.6 psi (17.7 kPa) and will put out 4.2 CFM (120 l/min). This is its best efficiency, but will run out away from these numbers (I'll get to that in a bit). At its rated load...you could run two diffusers that would receive about 2 CFM a piece...so long as the deepest one is at about 4 feet deep. 4 foot deep creates a 2 psi back pressure and your lines and plumbing will take up the remaining 0.6 psi...hitting very close to the 2.6 suggested back pressure of 2.6 psi.

IF you put a diffuser at 7 feet, it will create 3.5 psi back pressure (as you mentioned) and you can basically ignore any diffuser that is shallower. Add in a 1/2 (to 1) psi for lines and plumbing and you will be operating at about 4 psi. Go to the pump curve for the 120 and follow the 4 psi mark up to the green curve and then go to the right until you hit the CFM mark...it yields 3 CFM.



IF you have flow controls on each line, you can adjust the air to each and slpit the 3 CFM into 1.5 CFM each. IF you do not install flow control valves on each line, the shallower diffuser will get more of the air and the deeper diffuser will be weaker. The bigger the difference between their depths...the bigger the imbalance.

So, the HP-120LL will work and work well for your small application. It will actually work too well.

OK, now that I have reread your OP, if your pond is only 90,000 gallons...you don't need much of a system to turn it over in a short period. Let's start from scratch...

One Vertex diffuser will move 1150 GPM at 6 foot deep with 1 CFM of air flow (I'm using Vertex because I'm familiar with their lift rate chart)...



90,000 gal / 1150 GPM = 78 minutes

78 min / 60 (minutes/hour) = 1.3 hours

This one diffuser would turn you little BOW over pretty fast! So, you only need 1 CFM at a diffuser depth of 6 feet to turn th epond in a VERY QUICK 1.3 hours...The XP-80 would do this, but the air flow at 3-4 psi would be near 1.5 CFM. This is not a big deal, but it would bump up the water movement and reduce the turnover time even further.

At this point, I would suggest using two (or even three) diffusers at a much shallower settings and the HiBlow 80. You do not need turnovers that fast, hence the more shallow settings. 2 or 3 diffusers spread out in the pond with shallow depths will yield very good surface conditioning and turn the pond over very well (maybe too much).

If your goal is to turnover the pond in a 10 hour period and do it on a tight budget...Bottom line is you only need one diffuser and a small pump (like the XP-40) to meet the minimum turnover requirements of your small pond. Unfortunately the lift rates that I am aware of do not go small enough for your pond to actually run any calculations.

90,000 gallons / 10 hours = 9000 gallons per hour

9000 gph / 60 (min/hr) = 150 gpm

That's all you have to move to achieve a full turnover in 10 hours. The vertex chart does not even go that low. So, you would have to experiment with the depths and/or the number of diffusers to get where YOU like it.

Too much turn over may cause turbidity issues, but moving the diffusers up in the water column can counteract this to a degree.

Let us know if my rambling makes some sense and we can regroup and explore your options further.




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Originally Posted By: Quarter Acre

...

At this point, I would suggest using two (or even three) diffusers at a much shallower settings and the HiBlow 80. You do not need turnovers that fast, hence the more shallow settings. 2 or 3 diffusers spread out in the pond with shallow depths will yield very good surface conditioning and turn the pond over very well (maybe too much).


90,000 gallons / 10 hours = 9000 gallons per hour

9000 gph / 60 (min/hr) = 150 gpm

...

Let us know if my rambling makes some sense and we can regroup and explore your options further.





This is great! Thank you so much for this. It's all the information that I've been trying to understand, easily explained, all in one place.

It's only ~$60 difference between the 40 & the 80. So it makes sense to me to go with the 80. I'm going to start with the two diffusers... and see how that goes.

If I understand everything, and I'm reading the below chart correctly, the 80 should push ~2CFM at 4'.

If my diffusers are as efficient as the XL1 (they wont be) then I gather they'll push 1400GPM total, since the 2CFM is divided between the two @ 700 each.

I'll estimate that I get maybe half that from my homemade diffusers. That should turnover my 90,000 gallons in just a little over two hours.

That sound right?

I just read another post where the gentleman put a diffuser in his 25yr pond, ran for six hours, and killed many of his fish.

Had I not read his post, this absolutely would have been me.

I'll start shallow, and short (time). and work up from there.

I need to start a thread where I just post pond updates.

Thanks again!

-Jerry



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Quote:

One Vertex diffuser will move 1150 GPM at 6 foot deep with 1 CFM of air flow ...


It's fascinating how 7.48 GPM of air can move 1150 GPM of water. This had me wondering how but the 1500 GPM isn't all that much power when the water moves slowly and equates to less than the horsepower of the compressor.

Amazing how much leverage their is between air volumes and water volumes. Had me wondering if someone might create a stream on fairly flat land by terminating the end of the BOW next to the start. Just need some way to connect them with a large duct and use diffusers to lift the water through the duct on one side.

Last edited by jpsdad; 10/22/19 01:53 AM.

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Originally Posted By: The New Jerry
...If I understand everything, and I'm reading the below chart correctly, the 80 should push ~2CFM at 4'.

If my diffusers are as efficient as the XL1 (they wont be) then I gather they'll push 1400GPM total, since the 2CFM is divided between the two @ 700 each.

I'll estimate that I get maybe half that from my homemade diffusers. That should turnover my 90,000 gallons in just a little over two hours.

That sound right?...


You have read the Hp-80 curve correctly...2 CFM at about 2.5 psi back pressure. That's 2 psi for your diffuser depth and 0.5 psi (conservative estimate assuming appropriate sized hose (3/8" or 1/2") for line and plumbing affects. The shorter your air lines the better with respect to reducing back pressure.

I doubt that any homemade diffuser that I could build with a drill and PVC pipe would come close to the Vertex specs, but that won't hinder your setup with respect to pond turnover because your pond is so small and your 80 pump will be over sized. I would say that your estimate of half of the Vertex efficiency is a good guess.

IF you were to achieve 1400 GPM from your total set up...you would divide 90,000 gallons of pond water by 1400 GPM which yields 64 minutes. That's just over an hour. That seems like a very fast turn over and I would be concerned with muddying up the pond which, in your older pond, means potentially stirring up the toxic muck. This is just a concern as I have little experience with aeration startup on small older ponds. My pond is 500,000 gallons and was completely renovated before aeration went in. You may find that the 80 is too much pump for your liking and, in that case, you would have to put a valve in to dump some of the excess air out to the atmosphere or get a smaller pump. To be honest, your fountain may be doing a pretty goo job already...if it has a deeper intake. Do you know the GPM for the fountain pump?

If I were you, I would take a very conservative approach to starting up your system. Put the diffusers in shallow and away from the bank, maybe 18" below the surface in at least 4' of water (5, 6, 7' would be better). This will reduce the water movement (GPM) which, in turn, keeps the water velocity down which, in turn, reduces the lifting of silt off the bottom. As you can see from the Vertex chart...the water movement reduces at a greater rate the closer the diffuser gets to the surface. So, we don't know what 18" depths will do for you, but better safe than sorry. You can always move them deeper once you understand the effects.

To understand the effects...Watch during start-up for the water getting muddy and smell for sewer stink. After a significant run time has been achieved, you can measure the water temps from the deepest part of the pond and one foot increments and understand if the water is getting fully turned over. The water temps will all be very close to each other (probably within a degree or two) if full turnovers are taking place. Other parameters will also be consistent, like PH, DO, TDS, etc. Make sure you take these temps prior to the system going on line so that you know where it all began.

Start developing your start up plan and share with the forums. Those with similar conditions to yours will be able to critique it better than I.


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Originally Posted By: jpsdad
Quote:

One Vertex diffuser will move 1150 GPM at 6 foot deep with 1 CFM of air flow ...


It's fascinating how 7.48 GPM of air can move 1150 GPM of water. This had me wondering how but the 1500 GPM isn't all that much power when the water moves slowly and equates to less than the horsepower of the compressor.

Amazing how much leverage their is between air volumes and water volumes. Had me wondering if someone might create a stream on fairly flat land by terminating the end of the BOW next to the start. Just need some way to connect them with a large duct and use diffusers to lift the water through the duct on one side.


Under gravel aquarium filters use this method to move water from underneath the gravel up to the surface. If you have ever seen an aquarium where the water level had gotten low, the bubbler tubes in the back can push water up and inch or two above the water surface and it spills back in to the tank.

Your concept of the circular stream would work if there was a pit at the end of the stream that was deep enough to allow the bubbler tube to build up enough water velocity to carry the water up past the surface to the beginning of the stream. I suspect, however, that is it more efficient and/or practical to use a centrifugal pump for this purpose as the flows desired for an aesthetically pleasing stream would demand a pretty good size pit, large bubbler tube/s, and the air pump to drive it. But it could be done.


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Originally Posted By: Quarter Acre
... your fountain may be doing a pretty goo job already...if it has a deeper intake. Do you know the GPM for the fountain pump?


2300GPH, intake is right below the surface.

The fish seem to like it. It's been running 24/7 for a month which is longer than some of the Amazon reviews would lead you to believe.

I'll keep the fountain running during the non-winter months, until it dies. I'm going to slowly but surely use aeration begin to condition the water closer to the bottom.


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Parts are starting to come in! laugh



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Started the build today and got quite a bit done.

I made two diffusers each from 4' of 1/2 polyethylene tubing. It's stiff and doesn't like to bend too sharply without crimping. I used a heat-gun to work it into a smaller diameter, 15". In the pictures you'll see a small section that got a bit hotter than the rest eek . It's fine, just an ugly spot.














I had planned on heating a sewing needle with a blow-torch so that it would easily puncture the tubing. I found that wasn't necessary.













In fact, I was able to speed this up by placing the needle in a vice.










I put three "rows" of holes in each tube.











Here's the diffuser in my shop sink. One photo at the surface, and then another at the bottom of the sink. I've got nothing to compare this too, but it seems like it should work confused .

In the shop I'm pumping through 100' of tubing and reading 1.5 PSI of back pressure. I'm shocked by how quiet it is. I new it wasn't going to be loud, but would have never guessed it would be this quiet.


The 5 PSI relief valve pops at just over 4 PSI. That's actually perfect for this pump.












Next I moved onto the platforms for the diffusers. For this I'm using 1.5" sched 40 PVC with some furniture connectors I found online. I'm filling the bottom with concrete and press fitting the rest. It currently sits about 1 foot from the bottom and but the vertical lengths can be replaced to adjust height.

The plan is to tie the buoy line to the concrete filled bottom square and run the line through holes drilled in the top square. This way I shouldn't lose any pieces if they separate when pulling to the surface.

I had forgotten what a pain it is to drill through pvc.

I'll take some photos once the concrete sets and I finish assembly.














I started to build the pump-house. I ran out of cedar boards so this is where I left the project today. The walls will get finished and a roof will go on to keep everything nice and dry. Maybe tomorrow? We'll see. I plan on using a wifi connected switch. That will get mounted in here.
With with wifi switch I can easily schedule aeration. I can also kill my fish from anywhere in the world grin








Let me know what you think, or if I'm doing anything that will obviously cause me trouble in the end.

Thanks!

-Jerry


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Looks like you've done some good work! One thought...If I understand correctly, your system back pressure alone is 1.5 psig and the relief pops at 4 psig. With those numbers you will not be able to place a diffuser in 7ft of water. 1.5 + 3.5 (7ft) = 5. Your relief pops at 4 so the deepest you can go is about 5 feet. Anything you can do to reduce the back pressure? The 100ft of 1/2 inch line is almost no back pressure. I suspect the majority of that 1.5 is coming from the diffusers. Maybe lots more holes in your diffusers?

……..Just a thought

Last edited by Bill D.; 10/26/19 07:10 PM. Reason: clarification

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Originally Posted By: Bill D.
Looks like you've done some good work! One thought...Your back pressure is 1.5 and the relief pops at 4. With those numbers you will not be able to place a diffuser in 7ft of water. 1.5 + 3.5 (7ft) = 5. Your relief pops at 4 so the deepest you can go is about 5 feet. Anything you can do to reduce the back pressure? The 100ft of 1/2 inch line is almost no back pressure. I suspect the majority of that 1.5 is coming from the diffusers. Maybe lots more holes in your diffusers?

……..Just a thought


You're right. I thought about this too. On the other hand I tested it using twice the length of tubing. I'll see what it does in the pond, and then I might add another row of needle holes if I need to. ... Or maybe I'll just do that first, it couldn't hurt.


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A few comments. Good start and here are some ideas for those reading this and thinking of building a similar system.
1. An adjustable pressure relief valve would be more helpful. I have those for 1 -30 psi 3/8" threaded.
2. Diffusers. A better tubing would have been the vinyl tubing 1/2" ID. Your methods makes an actual roundish hole due to the hard tubing and IMO makes too big of bubbles. Punching the vinyl tubing or a garden hose results in more of a tiny slit shape. Slit shapes produce finer/smaller bubbles thus allowing more bubbles to be produced per cfm of air. Rule for homemade diffuser. The smaller the bubble the more water you moved per cfm. Slits are actually better than holes because slits tend to produce a smaller bubble and you can have more of them compared to a larger hole. The needle could make a slit in soft tubing if the needle was ground into a flat blade. A small finishing nail with the end flattened and ground to sharp edges makes a good slit. I used this as a "needle" when we made coiled tubing diffusers. Put the "needle" in a heavy duty sewing machine and punched a few rows the vinyl tubing of required lengths usu 10 to 20ft for the coils. The benefit to your method is the larger holes will not clog as quickly as slits but significantly fewer bubbles are produced thus moving less water per hr of operation.

3. I would have placed the tubing in a coiled pattern similar to a burner on an electric stove. This would produce a 10" to 15" dia circle that was completely filled with bubbles - rim to center similar to that of a disk membrane diffuser. Small punched holes would allow longer tubing to disperse the bubbles filling the complete circle with rising bubbles. Your current design produces bubbles only on the rim that tends to not move as much water due to the central area not filled with bubbles. Best circular diffusers completely fill the circle with bubbles.

4. IMO you should have low psi backflow opening check valve on the diffuser. All good diffusers have check valves either built in or added ons. Vertex membrane diffusers have a special air distribution valve and it causes a small psi back pressure. I prefer ck.valves without springs thus minimal back pressure at the pump.

With your current system, when you shut off the pump,,, everything under water fills with water. Then when the pump restarts it has to push all the water out of the airlines before it can produce bubbles. This is very hard on and over works the compressor thus shortening its life span. You can determine when the water is out of the airline by watching the pressure gauge. At pump start up with water in airline, gauge will go to full psi and psi relief works until bubbles are released and then psi will drop back to operating psi. Note bubbles rise at about 1 ft/sec. Thus at 10 ft deep bubbles are seen at the surface abt 10 sec after they are produced. If you try to run this aerator in winter and stop the compressor or ANY reason (electric outage, etc), the water filled airline at the surface will form an ice plug as thick as the ice.
5. You can check if you have enough holes in your diffuser to release all the air that the pump produces. If you are not releasing all the air the pump produces,, it will result in added unnecessary back pressure on the pump. Checking if diffuser releases all the air - Hook up, with a only short hose from pump to one diffuser with an air gauge in-between. In your case, use a very short hose from one valve to diffuser. Turn off all valves except one with diffuser attached. Turn on the pump if you don't have enough holes psi back pressure will show on the gauge. When diffuser is getting rid of all the air psi will be 0. Keep adding holes until gauge reads 0, thus releasing all the air. Note - very small and too tight of holes on diffuser, even when you have enough holes, will cause some back pressure on the pump.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 10/27/19 04:36 PM.

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Originally Posted By: Bill Cody
A few comments. Good start and here are some ideas for those reading this and thinking of building a similar system.


Me, while reading this post: "Oooooooooooh" grin

Awesome suggestions. Thank you!


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I decided to order some vinyl tubing and check valves. They came in, but I haven't gotten to them yet. I think I'm caught up on how I'm going to use my existing PVC frame with the vinyl coils... I'll think of something.

In the meantime, I did finish the pump house. It will most likely become a spider house in the spring, but I chose not to think about that.








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Nice looking pump house! Don't forget you will need good ventilation. Compressors generate heat.


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I agree with BillD you should have some good ventilation or an internal fan when pump is running. It looks like the eves are open near the roofline. If you had some screened vents as intake ventilation in the floor the warmed air would rise and exit the eves. Set shelter up off the ground so cooler air can enter the shelter and hot air exit roofline.


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Well done! One of the best DIY setups I've seen here on the forum. smile I assume you have good ventilation. Only possible improvement I see.... I would have gone with the black cable ties. The diffusers are going to be in relatively shallow water and might be exposed to the sun's UV light. The white ties are not UV resistant; the black are.

Last edited by Bill D.; 11/12/19 08:14 PM. Reason: Typo

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Originally Posted By: Bill D.
Well done! One of the best DIY setups I've seen here on the forum. smile


Thank you for all of your help and suggestions!

Originally Posted By: Bill D.
I assume you have good ventilation.


I meant to address this earlier. As someone else mentioned, the eaves are open and there is quite a bit of air flow through them. I'll just need to keep an eye on it so it doesn't get clogged up with nests/spider webs/weeds

Originally Posted By: Bill D.
The white ties are not UV resistant; the black are.


I did not know that. Something else to keep an eye on.

I had it running for about an hour today, which is longer than I initially intended. Both diffusers are at about 4' and I saw virtually no turbidity. I also never noticed any smell. I'm not sure what to make of that because I know there's a ton of muck down there. It was cold and rainy today but I don't think that should matter. I wonder if running the fountain all summer helped reduce the amount of gasses at the bottom.


The pump house is just far enough away that it's out of range of my smarthub. I ordered another z-wave repeater and should have it all automated soon.


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Good setup. Notice how good your bubble pattern is and very similar to a membrane disk diffuser. Pull up your diffusers each year to make sure they are clean and not clogged. I see you have a low pressure gauge at the compressor note the new operating psi. Higher operating PSI indicates clogging of diffuser pores. On your diffusers,,, my preference is to have the check valve and airline connection at same level as coiled tubing not below it. You can change that if desired next year when you pull - check the diffusers.

You did not notice any bad odors caused by diffusers because you pond is now naturally mixing because of naturally cold water top to bottom - prior natural destratification.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 11/13/19 07:35 PM.

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2024 North Texas Optimal BG food Group Buy
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Newly Uploaded Images
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
Eagles Over The Pond Yesterday
by Tbar, December 10
Deer at Theo's 2023
Deer at Theo's 2023
by Theo Gallus, November 13
Minnow identification
Minnow identification
by Mike Troyer, October 6
Sharing the Food
Sharing the Food
by FishinRod, September 9
Nice BGxRES
Nice BGxRES
by Theo Gallus, July 28
Snake Identification
Snake Identification
by Rangersedge, July 12

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