Greetings, I am new to the forum and have really been enjoying the education! When my wife and I retired six years ago, we moved to a little property with a small pond. It's about 60' across with gently sloped banks covered with native plants, and about 5' deep in the middle. We don't have fish, but we enjoy all the wildlife that comes and goes from it, and our dogs like wading around in it too. It's unlined and fed by groundwater, though we top it off by maybe a foot, two or three times in the summer.

We don't keep leaves and such out of it as we should, and we've got a good deal of string algae. I've decided to get off my duff, give it a good raking, and add an aerator. I see Vertex aerators are well thought of on the forum, but it looks like they don't manufacture anything for so small a pond. I've also looked online at Airpro aerators and the Kasco "Bantam" series.

Does anyone have product recommendations for a small aeration system? The pond is about 100' behind our house, and there's already electrical in place, though nothing's hooked up to it.

Many thanks!

There are a few companies that can help you out with pumps and diffusers. Being your pond is relatively shallow, you can also piece something together. My pond is deeper than yours but surface area is about the same (60×60 roughly). I purchased my system as a kit and it does a really good job. I wont say the companies name because they dont advertise on the site, but if you want their contact info just shoot me a PM.

I use small septic tank aerators in my solar setups and they have been running for years. They will work in shallow ponds such as yours. You already have the power there you just need a aerator, some weighted air line, and an air stone or some type of defuser. Have fun with it!

Many thanks, Mike! I will send you a PM just as soon as I figure out how to do that. I've got a chores list ten miles long, so I think I'll splurge a bit more than I usually do on this project, and get something ready to go.

Paul

Thanks, Woodster ... as I am new to all this, I did run across a website about how to use a septic tank aerator ... good to have hands on confirmation from you that it works!

Paul

Even though you don't have fish, DO will improve your water quality and wildlife viewing. Adding bait fish, like fathead minnows, will add a whole new dimension of wildlife to your pond while minimizing mosquitoes. Chances are, one of those little floating solar fountains or pumps might provide sufficient DO for bait fish and not impact your electric bill.

From some folks that advertise on the PondBoss site..

http://www.fishpondaerator.com/smllpnddesc.html

Many thanks to you all for the helpful replies ... this forum is a great resource. I am inclined to choose an aerator that is oversized to the pond, unless you tell me I'm crazy to do so. I don't normally splurge on things, but I don't mind spending a bit extra on this to be sure the aerator is adequate to the job. Thanks again!

The only concern that I am aware of when using an oversized aeration system is that you may turn the pond water over too much/too fast and cause the water to get/stay muddier than you would like. With that said...a system that is too large can have some of its air released prior to getting into the pond. This dumping of air reduces the bubbles in the pond, reducing the turnover rate, reducing water velocities... which, in the end reduces the amount of sediments that get kicked up into the water column. You will be wasting some energy pumping air "into the air", but you will have a way to govern the end effects in the pond.

My opinion would be to look at piecing the system together with a smaller pump as its base rather than spending the money for a small kit that handles a 1.5 acre pond. OR, look into a decorative fountain. A modest size fountain will do a small pond justice when it comes to aeration.

That's an excellent point, Noel, and one I hadn't considered. Sincere thanks for your thoughts on the topic.

Thanks again to all who responded, I certainly appreciate it. Just following up here for the moment to say I ended up purchasing an EasyPro LA2 Stratus KLC setup. I'll post again when it's up and running, just in case another newbie like me wanders onto the forum someday with the same question as mine.

A whooole lotta folks on this forum sure do know ponds backwards and forwards, and I enjoy reading various posts even if they're not particularly relevant to my tiny patch of water. It seems everyone has one thing in common: it's a heckuva lotta fun to have a pond!

For my wife and I, the sound of the tree frogs is worth the price of admission, and no end of neighbors comment they're grateful for that too! Plus the dragonflies, bats, songbirds, mallards, herons ... kinda sorta makes you glad to be upright and vertical rather than, well, the other.