My pond is not dug yet but will be 2 acres for lmb. approx. 12 ft deep at the max. My question is do all ponds my size need to have commercial aeration? Should I be installing a system in the bottom before the pond even fills? Thanks. Maybe I am supposed to just use the "wait and see" approach.

There's really no "set in stone" answer.

All ponds get muck in the bottom of them. Anything organic that falls into the pond, from dust to tree branches ends up on the bottom. Bacteria break down the organic matter. Aerobic bacteria break down the organics much faster than anaerobic bacteria.

Usually in the summer, water that's deeper than 8'-9' has little O2 (in your typical nutrient rich BOW).

Look into carrying capacity for ponds. Ponds with no supplemental feeding going on and no aeration can't support the pounds of fish that an aerated pond with a supplemental feeding program can. It all depends on how hard you will be pushing the pond.

Lets say you decide not to aerate.

Think of the water in your pond as a savings account. It's 12' deep. Say the average depth is 6'. Now along comes a hot dry year. Your pond looses 6' of water. That's the same as loosing over 1/2 of your money in your savings account.

All the fish that you have now have to live in 1/2 the space. Depending on how much of that carrying capacity you were utilizing, you might now be over the carrying capacity for the water that is left. So, you might be faced with a decision that has to be made quickly. Get some surface agitators to get some O2 into the water quickly, or remove a bunch of fish before Mother Nature does it for you.

Typically carrying capacity doesn't come into play if the pond is young and you don't have a lot of fish in there. The older the pond is, the more organics that are in the pond, the more fish are in the pond, the more critical aeration is. If you want to slow down the eutrophication process of your pond as much as possible, start aerating from day 1.

I look at a properly designed aeration system as an insurance policy. You might not need it for a long, long time, but when you do, you're glad to have it.

Thanks esshup, That was a very clear answer for me. That will give me some time to get some electricity down to the pond. I guess it is not that big a deal to install after the lake fills right?

Aeration as mentioned keeps oxygenated water on the bottom providing it is sized properly for pond size, shape, and depth. Bottom aeration slows the aging process of the pond assuming all things or influences are equal in a non-aerated and aerated pond. The aerated pond will stay overall "better" water quality wise than the non-aerated pond. A 2 acre pond will often require 3 to 5 bottom diffusers depending on pond shape & depth. Generally only water bottom areas deeper than 5-6ft need to be aerated. The shallower areas (<6ft) will usually be mixed pretty thoroughly by the wind assuming the pond surface is windswept. Deeper ponds in TX (8-12ft) are generally a good idea if drought periods occur in your area.

Not a big deal to install after the pond is full if you have a boat with a motor. Might be a wee bit difficult to swim it out there!!

Although I have done it in one pond. (swim the diffuser out)

I used a upside down 5 gallon bucket and only had to swim out about 70' from shore. It was a real PITA pulling the bottomline tubing out that far, even tho the diffuser was floating with the 5 gal bucket. That 70' felt like a quarter mile!!

Hey Esshup I bet it did. That line gets heavy!! Falme I used a 12 foot flat bottom boat and a trolling motor to set mine. When you go to set it you want to remember 2 things.


1. You want to keep your fuser up off the bottom somewhat say at least 4 to 6 inches. If you read up on that you can find several ways to do that.

2. (I made this mistake) Make sure you somehow tie a small float with a rope to your air station so if you have to pull it up to do maintanence on it all you have to do is pull the float and rope up. I had a heck of a time getting mine off the bottom the first time I had to bring it up.....

RC

RC, just last week I put in a system where some of the runs to the diffusers were 700' long..... No way would an electric motor have enough oomph to pull that!!

Oh yeah I suppose your right if your going that far! That hose is toooooo heavy! I only had to go a 100 feet. I bet I could have gone 200 feet but not much past that good point Esshup!


RC

Figure 1/2 pound per linear foot for the .58" I.D. stuff. We strung out 2,600 feet of it last week in one pond.