I know several of you aerate well water, and Cecil i am particularily intrested in your comments as you raise trout as i do. My well water is 54 degrees and i may as well aerate it as i add it in the pond to cool it in the summer. How do you do it without spending alot of money.

jdm

You really should aerate more than just dropping the water into your pond. I do two things: I allow my well water to go up a vertical 1 1/2 inch pvc pipe that is connected to the top of the well, then it goes over at a 90 degree bend, and another bend that points straight down into a packed column. At the top of the packed column is a perferated piece of plastic that is siliconed in at the edges that keeps the water from channeling off to the sides.

After that the water drops through a packed column by gravity into a tank and underground through 4 inch PVC to the pond. (Tank not neccessary) Since the pond is much lower on the property than the tank, I allow the water to go up another 90 degree angle straight up at the pond and this causes it to drop out of the top splashing it even further.

Most packed columns consist of a vertical PVC pipe that is packed with plastic media (I got mine from Keeton industries) that has a lot of surface area that breaks up the water allowing it to make contact with air. Not only does this add oxygen to the water, but it also blows off nitrogen gas and other harmful gases. I was using an 8 inch five foot piece of PVC for my packed column, but I have switched to 4 five gallon bucket that are connected in a series with a space in between each. As in the PVC pipe there is plastic screening in the bottom of each bucket to keep the media in. They actually hang from an "L" post like the ones you can get for mail boxes. This allededly allows more air exchange than a closed pipe according to an educator on the AquaNic site and I went this way to increase saturation from 80 percent to closer to 100 percent. However I haven't tested it yet with my oxygen meter as I need to change the memebrane on the meter.

You can get more elaborate by adding a squirrel cage blower to the bottom of the PVC pipe blowing air up, but for yours and my application and low flows I don't think that is neccessary. I don't know about you but I prefer not to add more overhead as in electricity unless I have to.

If you email me I can send you a diagram of what I am doing. You can make everything yourself. The major expense is the plastic media.

The following is a publication telling you all about packed columns, and although it is referring to use for catfish, the concept is the same.

http://srac.tamu.edu/191fs.pdf

Cecil- I sent u and e-mail.

Thanks-jd

Jd,

I got it and I will be drawing you a diagram, scanning it, and emailing it.

I've got a new problem in my trout pond this year. More and more chara and potomogeton pusillis growing in the pond some places all the way to the surface. I'm sure it's due to all the nutrients from the feed. I'm presently raking a lot out a little at a time.

I guess I will have to either drain the pond this winter or drop the water level a few feet and hope it freezes out the weeds at least around the perimeter of the pond a few feet deep. Herbicides are a no no as trout are really sensitive to them, and the subsequent dead plant material could cause oxygen problems. But I don't want to drain completely as I was going to get mostly brook trout this fall. Maybe if I get my butt in gear and make some more money I can dig another pond.

Cecil-even though Rodeo (roundup) is approved for fish inhabited waters i was told the same thing. Never, ever, use herbicides in a trout pond. Its tough enough to keep them alive without chemicals. Looking forward to your photo's as i'm sure it will help all here on the forum. Hope to pay you back some way for your efforts.

jd

JD.

I took pictures, but will have to wait until the computer technician gets back (my wife). She is conducting a foreign language workshop in Virginia and won't be back until next Saturday. I won't forget! BTW, how do you add pictures to this site?

Thanks Cecil, it's greatly appreciated. Have a question for you. I had a huge frog spawn and the little tadpoles are everywhere. Do you have any idea if trout will prey upon them. The fishing success has slowed tremendously since the spawn and i would assume this is part of it as they probbly have an easy meal at there request. What is your experience if any on this. Looking forward to the pictures and getting my system going.

JD

Cecil, if you want to add an image you have to subscribe to a hosting service of some kind and then put in the image link using the 'Image' instant UBB code that you see below the area you type replies in.

The tricky thing is finding a free hosting service that keeps the image available for more then a month at at time.

JD,

No sure about the fish eating the tadpoles. I to hatch quite a few in my warmwater pond and very few survive. I do know my bass will eat a toad if I throw it in.

I would assume they would be eaten but it is possible something about them is disagreeable. I say this because I know of a pond where I grew up as a kid that the bass didn't seem to bother the tadpoles.

Pottsy, thanks for the info. I will see what the wife says about that.