I found this forum while looking for info on aeration systems. I am a site work & underground utility contractor by trade so I have a lot of knowledge in actual pond construction but not very much in the way of properly maintaining a pond for fish & such.
A little info on my pond.... It is about an acre, maybe bigger, I need to measure it up. It is about 10 to 12 foot deep. The depth varies due to rainfall, as it is based on the water table here. It is several years old and started life a borrow site for fill material, but I have sloped & shaped it to be pleasing to the eye. It has a clay bottom that is soft & squishy to the feet, but not layered with silt or anything. There is no vegitation to speak of, other that grass on the edges. The water is fairly clean, although it is somewhat cloudy at times. I attribute that to rainfall we've been having every day though? When it doesn't rain constantly, the minerals in the clay make the water turn a beautiful blue-green. Here is a pic of my pond. Our MX track is in the background LOL Click on the pic to make it bigger..
There are no fish in the pond, never really been any. There are frogs and the occasional alligator. I have 15 domestic ducks & geese that call the pond home, so when an alligator comes to visit, I relocate him to another pond down the road.
I was looking into stocking the pond with some CC and BG, maybe even a few bass, but the water clarity and temp differences in top of water and the bottom make me believe I need some aeration before I put any fish in it. My goals for this pond are fairly simple- to have a nice looking pond that will support a moderate number of fish for my son and I to occasionally fish for & throw back, and maybe even pull a few for a fish fry now & then. I don't care about trophy largemouth or any of that, I live in FL within 50 miles of dozens of bass hotspots if I want to chase bass (I don't- we fish offshore LOL).
My pond is a few hundred feet from any electricity, so I had originally looked at a windmill system, however after seeing the prices of those systems and their obvious drawbacks, I started to look for something better. I looked at some solar systems, but again, I want more control over my aeration than that. So I have now decided that I will run electricity to the pond to run an electric system. This is where some of the questions come in... First, there are SO many systems and choices. It is literally overwhelming. As a contractor (and a cheapskate LOL) I have the "DIY" syndrome, however I can see this seems to be discouraged when mentioned on here. In all honesty I can see where it could be cheaper to just buy an aeration system intended for that purpose, rather than piece-mealing something together.
What is a decent, affordale system for a pond my size? I was thinking two diffusers would suit my needs? I was looking at some systems online and on ebay and they are just all over the place on features, prices, etc
Any info, thoughts, guidance would be appreciated.
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