As most of you know i am only 14 so i can't afford an aerator. here in somerset county we're going through a little bit of a drought and my spring is down to 3.5 gallons a minute it also looks like this next storm is going to miss us. please help the fish seem to be lethargic and i'm not sure if i should take some out or if so how many? btw i have been trying to circulate the pond using a 5 gallon bucket it seemed to help but it's definitely not a permanent fix.

small pond - I respect everything your doing and wish more of our youth would follow your example. I can't help you with your fish right now (not qualified to answer your question) but I have a few things that I might be able to do for you to prevent it from happening in the future.

How many gallons or cubic feet is your pond? Do you get sun light down to the pond? If so, how many hours a day?

I forgot to mention that i have not fed the fish in the past two days because of the drought. How long can i go with out feeding?

My pond is 18,000 gallons when full but it is currently about 4 inches low so it should be about 15,000 gallons. the pond is completely in the shade so it gets very minimal sun light.

Ok, with no light my solar stuff won't work for you. Hopefully someone will aeration experience will chime in here shortly to get you thru your DO sag

Do you have access to a small boat motor to splash the water?

A trash pump?

Will a garden hose reach it?

Time to get creative with muscle-powered aeration-options.

Wish I could send you my Kasco but I may need it myself in one if my fingerling ponds as temps climb.

You may get some T- storms soon. Hang in there.

Do you have power to your pond?

If he could get a 12volt battery and a trolling motor going in that pond turn it on high and let it circulate the water for a few hours that would help in that small of a pond!

RC

I currently do not have any power at the pond. but we do have a lot of extention cords that I have been able to get down there before.

How does the spring water enter the pond, from above or is it ground water?

It might sound crazy, but how about a weedwacker set up in a rigid manner to splash water for short periods of time?

Well you have to be careful going to far with extension cords that could be a saftey issue! They will get very hot on you if your going to far and could end up melting together depending on what your doing with them.

RC

SMPD, If you decide to use electric maybe your Dad can make you an extension cord out of romex cable. We have done that several times. I know your Dad will hook it with a GFI outlet. A lot of people use a bush hog on a tractor to aerate their ponds in a pinch. Maybe you can get your neighbor to use his. If not, maybe you can rig up your riding lawn mower to work the water. You have come to far to let this set you back!! Good luck.

If you do have a riding mower (with battery) you can make a very simple adapter for a car cigarette lighter and run a small compressor made for vehicles to pump air into the pond...if your pond is small enough you could get air in that way...or perhaps an air bubble...

Ghosttown, has the right idea. You can buy the air compressor at Wally World for about 20 bucks. You can use the donorcycle and not use much gas to keep your battery charged. That might work great. Take care.

the spring water comes out of the ground a few feet above the pond.

Thanks for all of the ideas guys.:) My dad was an electrician all of his live and told me that it would work fine and not get hot turns out he's right the pump has been running for two hours so far and the cable isn't even warm.

Smallpond-- what pump are you using?


Ken--- Donorcycle?

Small pond if that's the case, I was thinking waterfall. Plywood and plastic sheeting may be all it takes to add a more permanent source of O2 to the pond. 2' of fall may be enough.

I'm using a well-bilt submersible rated for 21 gallons a minute.

FirelsHot is spot on, using the spring's water to add O2 into the pond while providing it with a source of water. If the spring has sufficient amount of water flowing that is. If it's less than 3 gallons a minute, there will not be enough O2 to saturate the impact area. Scattering the water using reserve chevrons to cover wider surface of the waterb to scatter the impact areas will hopefully do the trick, but it needs to be 3gal/min or greater.

I believe small pond has created a "splash effect" that he showed a pic of in a early post. Perhaps he can improve on it?


EDIT:

Here you go, at the bottom of the thread is an attachment to one of his photos of aeration.
http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=25259&Number=321291#Post321291

That's almost it. Now, he could perhaps stick a ceramic birdbath on top of the bricks and have the pipe fill directly into the birdbath. Then he would have the elevation needed and the breakup of the water column for increased O2. Just throwing ideas out there.

If small pond can build a pond with a wheel barrel, I bet he'll figure this out. He's far more motivated than I was at his age, and I think we all want his fish to make it.

Fish, I had the pleasure of spending the day in a fine medical facility where they were talking about another organ donor. He had been riding his motorcycle(donorcycle) in the last few days. It may not have been his fault but he is still gone. AL, you are right,this is a minor setback for SMPD. He will whip this problem pronto.

Small pond,I know you are trying to get through for the time being,but how about making a mill style wheel of sorts powered by your spring?Basically use the gravity feed to power something and help agitate the water.

Holy molly! That spring water is more than sufficient to create a gravity based churner, wind mill style, or paddle style. If you create a board, and inverted chevron to scatter the water in different areas and zone, you'll introduce plenty of O2 as well.

I agree with the many options on that.... Maybe T your PVC and drill multiple holes in the T'd pipe to drop water along more surface area.. Might have to cap the ends of the T and drill holes in the caps also for pressure/spray effect...