Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? No idea what I'm doing

Hi Pond Boss Forum!

I'm hoping I can get some input on what to do with my pond. I bought a house about a year and a half ago and it came with a .3 ac pond that was first dug about 25 years ago. It is fed mostly from surface water and there is an overflow pipe on one end that feeds a much larger pond on my neighbor's property. There is pretty major stream that forms when we get a heavy rain.

Here's the overall shape:



The stream feeding it last year during a good rain:



Some other pictures:




There seems to be a pretty good fish population of bluegill and bass. I only found 1 or 2 fish dead after this past winter (very cold in NorthEast Ohio).

We have a small waterfall that I have hooked up and that provides a very small amount of surface aeration but some nice background noise.

I'm looking to turn this pond into a usable recreational area. My neighbor's have said that years ago their kids used to swim in my pond. I'd be happy just floating on some rafts around the dock (which is in bad shape currently)...but my major concerns now are water stagnation and muck. When it's dry and hot, it seems like there's no movement in the water and the algae starts taking over. When there's a good rain, a lot of it will wash away.

Wading through the pond, there seems to be an awful lot of muck everywhere (1-2ft). I'm optimistic that it's mostly organic matter and not just dirt being washed in because when I've tried manually removing some, it's got quite an odor.

I'm told that the pond was dug to ~12 feet in the very middle. It's currently about 5ft off the end of the dock. I'm hoping to get out on a kayak to take some depth readings soon to get a better feel for what I'm up against.

I'm trying to figure out if aeration is what I need. Because my fish population seems to be thriving, I don't know that I really have a problem there.

In terms of investment, I'm not looking for anything huge right now. I was quoted a small fortune to dredge and that was not appealing to me so I started looking into other options. I have electricity right at the water's edge for the waterfall pump currently so hopefully that simplifies things.

What other information do I need to figure out if aeration is right for me?

Thanks,
Eric

Eric welcome to the PBF!!!

Aeration is always right for anyone who has a pond. I can't think of a time where I heard someone say oh don't put a air system in your pond it's not good for it...

Some Pros of a air systen in your pond.

1. More D.O. in your pond for those fish. I you have a good population in there you will need it. As those fish thrive and grow without air they will run out of it!

2. A good air system will reduce your muck to some extent each year. Combine that with the right bateria product and you could gain up to 3 to 4 inches a year in your pond. It's not a quick fix just remember that.

4. Running air is just good for your pond. It will help everything in it thrive and keep the water nice and mixed up for you with plenty of D.O for all your fish.

5. That small of a pond you wouldn't need a very big system to get your started.

Good Luck and it looks nice by the way!

RC

Thanks RC!

I was actually looking at your posts earlier about using an EcoPlus 7 to get started. If I were to go that route, what would be best bet be for placement/number of heads? Because the pond isn't particularly deep, I keep thinking that I'd need a whole bunch of small diffusers rather than a multi-headed big one...but as the title suggests, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Eric - your pond is too big and deep for effective use of the Eco7Plus commercial pump. For your application look for a rotary vane or rocking piston (wobble r) compressor (1/4-1/3hp). If the pond was mine I would install two diffusers one in the deep end and one in towards the narrow end in about 8-9ft depth. The diffuser in the wider deep end could be a double head diffuser providing the compressor has 3cfm of air flow.

The water inflow and flushing is helping to keep the pond be in fairly good condition. If you did not have the flushing the algae and weeds would overcome the pond.

Bill did you read his post right? Or did I miss something? He said his pond was .3 acres? That's not that big.... either way though if I were doing it all over again Eric I would do as Bill says and get the 1/4 horse to 1/3 HP pump. If you do a little research you can find rebuilt ones for not to bad a price. Or I am sure one of these fine folks here on the site can help you out! Bill knows GAST pumps like the back of his hand I am sure he can hook you up.

I now have a 1/3 HP GAST 0523 and it pumps baby!! And as your pond starts to lose that muck each year your going to need something that will work good at 10 to 12 feet sooner or later and the 1/4 or 1/3 Gast would do it no problem.

Just as a reference and I know this can be different, but I run my GAST 10 hours a night and it costs me about 11 bucks a month. Just so you know it wont break the bank to run it.

RC

Thanks Bill.

Do you have any particular recommendations on compressors? Can a single 1/4 - 1/3 hp compressor handle 2 diffusers?

Just some googling shows that these typically retail in the $500-$700 range new and considerably less rebuilt. Are there particular retailers to look for or avoid?

I understand that the flushing is key here. We actually had a french drain put in behind the house last year to keep the water moving.

Eric - do you read Pond Boss Private Messages?.

Bill - I just figured out how to do so. PM away!

There are various ways to aerate a smaller pond such as yours.

I've read (maybe here?) that something as simple as dragging a brick around the floor of the pond can help with muck. Does that small amount of agitation actually get any biological processes going?

Also, are dyes counterproductive towards muck removal? I would think that sunlight would help speed up the process but, again, I have no idea what I'm doing.

Thanks!

Disturbing the sediment infuses oxygenated water into the disturbed sediment layer thus increasing the rate or speed of decomposition of the sedimented or mucky layer. My basic rule is the more often the sediments are disturbed the better the decay will be; all within reason.

Bottom aeration results in producing oxygenated water on top of the sediments in the deep zone. Bacterial decay is much faster in the presence of oxygen (aerobic) compared to decay in no oxygen (anaerobic). Aeration puts oxygenated water on top of the sediments but not into or below the sediment surface thus disturbing the sediments with some sort of tool such as a brick on a rope or a better method would be regular mixing with some sort of rake or drag implement has benefits for improving organic decay of the sediment layer.

Pond/lake dyes probably have little impact on decay unless it would be that the dyes cause the water to be cooler and bacteria perform slower in cooler conditions. Bottom aeration can place warmer surface water at the bottom of a pond and speed decay.

Eric I do this 2 ways. When trolling around my pond in certain areas I will drag the end of a regular size garden rake tied to a rope. Or as you say you could use a small brick or 2 also.

I also try my best to put my chest waiters on and walk out as far as I can and zig zag up and down the shore line. Doing this helps stir things up just as if you were swimming in the pond. All this helps the process.

RC

I gave this a shot tonight by tying a rope to a cinder block, throwing it off the dock, then walking up and down the shore a bit. I was in shock over how many bubbles were coming up and continued even after I left an area.

I'm still trying to figure out my aeration setup but am hoping to make a move very soon. In the meantime, this is seeming like a good way to keep things moving forward.