Question about how many gallons of water this system can move? I have read how important it is to cycle your pond at least once a day. I am not sure if my current system is achieving this goal.

We have a 2.5 acre pond in Central Iowa. The maximum depth is 12 feet and I would guess the overall average depth at 9 feet. When we purchased the land last fall, the pond already had windmill aeration with 1 Double Disc Diffuser. I am unsure of the brand or system output. After reading about the importance of aeration, I purchased a Solar Aeration System this spring to have in addition to the windmill. We purchased a Solar 5 AerMaster Direct Drive Aeration System, since we have no power onsite. The system has two Direct Drive Solar Compressors rated at a combined 5.6 CFM. It also has 4 Low PSI Optimal Double Air Disc Diffusers.

Can anyone give me an estimate on how many gallons of water my solar unit would cycle at 5.6 CFM? Two of the diffusers are placed at 12 feet and the other 2 are at 10 feet. I am not looking for anything exact, just wondering if I am even close to cycling my pond given perfectly sunny conditions.

Thank you in advance for the assistance!

David,
The real answer is "it depends." The type of diffuser and the depth govern the air lifting ability of the air. So if you have really small bubbles in a great pattern, like what vertex diffusers offer, you can move a lot of water. Vertex has a chart to show you how many gallons their diffusers move depending on depth. Also there is a range of output that works best. Too little air and you get no appreciable movement, too much air, and the bubble size degrades. So like most things, getting to the Goldilocks zone is very important.

With all that said, there is a simple way to check to see if you are mixing your water without knowing anything but the temperature. If the water temps are not nearly the same from top to bottom, you are not mixing your water completely. If the temps are nearly the same it is possible, but not assured, that you are mixing your water.

If you know the diffuser pattern and the manufacture lists the lifting rates at a given CFM and depth, you should be able to easily have your answer.

So for the WAG,

I would use 23 acre feet
the two diffusers at 12 feet
the four diffusers at 10 feet
and the windmill

With all that said, You are cycling you pond in.....

Somewhere between 12 and 19 hours of run time at rated output.

Your milage may very...

The real question is where did you buy your system and what did they say about its capability when you bought it? Did they size it for your pond? What were the advertised lifting rates? If you really want to know you should talk to the company that sold you the system.

Thank you Brian! I spoke with the seller and it sounds like I am turning my water every 10 to 11 hours. This is for the solar only, so any output from the windmill cuts that number.

I appreciate your assistance! I now realize additional research is required when it comes to pond management. I think my excitement over pond ownership got the best of me.

My experience is for a completely mixed pond the bottom temperature and top temperature should be within 3F. Less than 3F more toward 0F difference means more complete mixing and greater than 3F means less complete mixing per day.