I just built a new 2 acre pond in Feb and just recently finished stocking it. It is spring fed and only took 3 weeks to completely fill. The deepest point is about 16-18 feet deep. After it filled, a pond owner friend of mine gave me a cover to place over my spill pipe that was designed to ride a few feet above the top of the PVC and keep trash from going in my pipe. He also said that it would allow for aeriation by sucking up the deeper water toward the top. Now he says that his research shows that we need to be using a cover that extends much farther down the spill pipe to aeriate even more because he has had some summertime kill due to lack of O2. The present cover only extends down the PVC about 4 feet. Do I need a cover that extends further down? If so, how far down and whats the best and least expensive material to use for this endeaver? I have priced the 20 feet sections of black corrigated culvert plastic pipes and they are pretty pricey. My present cover is constructed with 2 pieces of corrugated sheet metal wired together with stainless wire formed into a 5 feet tube. Any suggestions?

They can get quite pricey, but I encourgae a "deep water release" whenevr I can. Did you try Pond Dam Piping? You are not aerating, rather you are pulling dead, low Dissolved Oxygen water from closer to the bottom of the pond. This allows you to keep the nutreint rich, higher dissolved oxygen layer that is on the top. This is a huge benefit if fertilizing.