Pond Boss
If I were to cut a plastic 55gal drum in half weight it for neutral bouyancy and install my aerator head inside it laying on bottom of drum would that stop churning of sediment from floor of pond?
I assume you also intend to drill holes in the half barrel to allow water to fill and drain from the containment? If you dont drill holes, pulling the diffuser for maintenance and cleaning would be quite a chore once you got it to the surface.

I imagine such a setup would reduce the amount of sediment being disturbed.

What kind of visibility do you have now? A certain amount of disturbance is needed to create enough turbidity to reduce sunlight penetration and help keep deep water cooler (unless you're running 24/7). It's also been stated that disturbing the bottom helps to expedite the reduction of muck.

It's been my experience that my turbidity clears up after a week or so from starting my bottom aeration.
I would have to say the barrel cut in half with the diffuser laid inside it will not help with your problem of churning up the bottom. I had that problem for a couple of years, it went on everyday that kicking up the ponds bottom and I herd Bob Lusk say, it's not good to kick up the solids with your diffusers. I tried using cinder blocks and other things to set the diffusers on. But For me, a comparison was when I tried one of those baby plastic swimming pools. You know the type, made out of some stiff plastic and about 4' across and 10"or so deep, and sold at Walmart. I set my diffusers in those and it still stirred up the bottom sediments and would cloudy up the water for some 10 to 15' circle around the diffuser bubbles at the surface. I tried several things to stop it from happening and nothing seemed to help until I got the diffusers off the ponds bottom. I wound up building some tables out of rot iron rods I purchased at home depot, built the tables 21" high and just large enough to be stable and wide enough to set my Kasco diffuser on top of it. I no longer have that circle of sediment stirred up.
Hey Tracy, thanks for correcting my thinking. I have my diffuser elevated 22" on top of milk crates and I still kick up sediments when the system has been down a while. Thankfully, it clears up after a few days.
Haha Mike, no problem. Happy to help but remember it was Bob Lusk I herd tell it was not good to kick up all that sediment from the diffusers. That info did not come from me lol
Yes you guys are right I could not pull up drum like a bucket from a well but I could weight it down to prevent floating up. Install a rod or rope with a float to guide aerator up/down for maintenance. I do not currently have a system in pond but in the process of making on. I was looking for a way to prevent venturi effect sucking muck from around aerator head. After thing it through I think I would just be delaying the problem as muck would eventually settle in bottom of barrel just as on the pond floor. Thanks back to the drawing board.
I have yet to hear, or figure out for that matter, how to prevent at least a little sediment from being disturbed. At least on initial startup. Elevating the diffuser is the best way to reduce it, but that even stirs things up some.
I installed my system last year with the diffusers about 2' off the bottom and have added 18" to that height (3 weeks ago). I still have a muddy looking pond, but I am not convinced, yet, that it is from aeration. I no longer get light plumes of muddy water when the air is turned on, since adding the extra height...my pond just looks muddy all the time. My diffusers are built like this...



I have added an 18" nipple to the above and mounted the diffuser to that.

If I can convince myself that my system is causing the muddy water I am thinking about adding a flat base to it, maybe 3 or 4 foot square piece of corrugated plastic. I really hope that I don't have to try that as it would be hard to handle that big of a contraption when pulling them up for cleaning and inspection.
Noel like you stands, simple and to the point, by messaging with you I know you have Vertex 9" Single Air Diffusers from Hoosier Pond Pros. Did you just buy the cheapest head and screw them to these pictured stands? Also did you use any kind of check valve to prevent water coming back in lines when pump is off? I am thinking of putting all three heads on one stand so as not to have to set up a valved manifold. It is so hot here in Missouri, as you know, that if I weren't afraid of a big fish pulling me down I would jump in my pond! LOL
I bought these...

https://shop.hoosierpondpros.com/Vertex-9-Single-Air-Diffuser-VertexDiff9.htm

They have 3/4” Male NPT threads on the bottom. So, yes, they just screw into the threaded coupling you see in my photo.

I did not add a check valve. They may already have one built in.

I can not say how a three diffuser set up would work. It would certainly be easier and cheaper to put together, but you would have less versatility as you could only put it in one spot. I like to have mine in three different areas for no other reason than aesthetics.

One advantage to having multiple lines going into the pond is if you want to run one of the diffusers during the winter time in a shallow area. This is not too important in our milder winters as it is up north.

If you have fish big enough to pull you under...we need to do some fishing!
QA, sounds to me that you have solved one problem since you no longer see light plumes of muddy water. My Kasco diffusers are about 12" tall so by me setting them on a 21"table stand it puts me in or around the same height off bottom that you describe. I no longer get those lightly colored muddy plumes. I sent a water sample to Bill Cody where he analyzed my water. I would suggest you ask him for some help in analyzing yours. Any information he offers will help you to determine what might be going on with your ponds water.
Thanks Tracy, I did not know that Bill was taking on samples. I'm not sure that I am ready for "knowing what's up" as that often comes with a decision involving money and sweat. lol. I'll reach out to him in the near future.

According to popular pondboss opinions and such, the height of my diffusers off the bottom should be plenty and that leaves me to start considering consistent brown algae blooms, tannins, and suspended clays (and the possibilities that I am unaware of).
I hope I did not talk out of turn by suggesting Bill C would look at the sample but you might send him a PM and see if he has the time to look.
Having the same problem with my clay pond, so I set my diffuser at the end of a 10 foot rope with a weight to hold it in place to the bottom and a float to keep it right at 10 feet, so far it seems to help. The weight is light enough to hold in place but also to lift when need to do maintenance.
Funky your head is at 10feet in a pond that is how deep? What depth was it at before you put it at the 10ft depth? Do you change the depth of aerator summer and winter?
My pond at that point is 15 feet deep, I shut that head off in winter and put one in near my deck at about 3 feet to keep the ice away
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