Pond Boss
Posted By: Pondcajun New Member - 07/01/19 02:44 PM
My name is Mel Duplantis and I live in South Louisiana. A good friend of mine recently acquired about 36 acres of property that has a 2 acre pond on it. The pond has been established for about 10 years it is well stocked with largemouth bass and hybrid bluegills and it is very healthy looking. The pond has 2 Kasco aeration fountains and a max depth of 15’ on one end. I have been asked to manage the pond. She wants the pond to maintain the beauty of the pond and have a place for her grandchildren to fish. The pond is fed by rain with no runoff entering it but she does have a water well next to it. To date the well has not been used to add water to the pond. We are in early summer and the water level is down about a foot. I have never managed a pond before and need all the help I can get.
How can I tell if the well water is safe for the pond? There is no pump on the well so it would be a slow addition of water using just natural output.
Do I need to run the aeration fountains 24/7? The pond is out in the open and gets lots of wind across the surface. I was told one of the fountain pumps is 220v and costs about $200 a month when run 24/7. I have not verified this yet. Would like to minimize the cost but don’t want to harm the fish. I look forward to any replies and guidance.
Thanks for any help.
Posted By: Quarter Acre Re: New Member - 07/01/19 03:02 PM
Welcome to PB, you have come to the right place!

I don't have decorative fountains in my pond, but it would seem that fountains do not add a lot of aeration when compared to the bottom diffuser type of aeration. I suspect that you can run the decorative fountains as little as you like so long as the suction is not coming from the bottom of the pond (which would be rare). That could be a whole different animal.

Someone with fountain experience should be along soon to more confidently advise, I'm sure.

Congrats on the cool opportunity!
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: New Member - 07/01/19 07:47 PM
Fountains are primarily for aesthetics by visual and sound affects. Fountains actually aerate the water better than bottom aeration because the fountain mixes essentially the same water over and over thus adding 'good' amounts of dissolved oxygen(DO) to the water in the vicinity of the fountain. Fountains are especially good during periods of severe DO loss - conditions prone to summer fish kill - high plankton bloom with green water, several days warm cloudy weather, thick layer of anoxic water zone in a deep pond, large plant or plankton die off.

Bottom aeration does not produce lots of dissolved oxygen into the water from the rising bubbles. However the bottom aeration does move lots of water from the bottom to the top so the water can be degassed and reoxygenated at the surface by various methods. Bottom aeration VERY cheaply moves high volumes of usually poor quality water from the bottom to the surface where the water quality usually improves. Fountains mix primarily only the water as deep as the intake draw tube. Lower depth water is cooler and more dense & heavy thus it resists being lifted or drawn upward. Below this intake depth little mechanical mixing occurs except for wind wave action. Measure the temperature profile every one foot below a fountain to verify the mixing depth for each situation.

Slowly adding even low oxygen well water into a 2 acre pond should not cause fish problems. Note - the cold more dense - heavy well water is likely to sink toward the depths that could already be oxygen poor. A way to test the 'fish health' of well water is fill a 5-10 gallon container with well water let it adjust to ambient temperature and add one or two small pond fish. Observe after 24hrs.
Posted By: Quarter Acre Re: New Member - 07/01/19 08:02 PM
Thanks for the clarification Bill!

I suppose I was trying to convey that fountains do not oxygenate the entire water column if the pump intake is close to the surface, where the bottom diffusers have a better chance.

A pond that has DO throughout the water column, due to aeration, will have a larger carrying capacity and may have a fish population to match. If the bottom diffuser's run time was reduced, it could have a large impact on the health of the fish.

Is it safe to say that shutting fountains down (given that the intakes are shallow) would have much less impact, possibly no impact?
Posted By: Bill Cody Re: New Member - 07/02/19 02:13 AM
"Is it safe to say that shutting fountains down (given that the intakes are shallow) would have much less impact, possibly no impact?"
Less impact based on water clarity and amount of eutrophication (nutrient load accumulation). As conditions for low DO increase it becomes much more important to run the fountain.
Posted By: Mike Whatley Re: New Member - 07/02/19 09:35 AM
Interesting Bill!! If a fountain were designed so the pump were suspended, say 6' deep, under the nozzle, is it also safe to say that a pond may be oxygenated to a depth of about 7', leaving the most extreme depths to stratify?
Posted By: Dave Davidson1 Re: New Member - 07/02/19 11:11 AM
Are you sure all of the bg’s are hybrid? Those guys don’t spawn enough to feed bass.
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