Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Newer .25 Acre Pond - Algae and other issues

Love my pond, but I'm a newbie....Recently purchased a home that came with a .25 acre pond that is fairly shallow. Peanut shaped about 8 ft in the deepest section. It is only 2 years old and this spring the algae is really bad. No fish plans but would like it to look nice and the kids use it for a little swimming. Last summer it dried up to 1/3 it's original size by the end of August. So far this spring I put in a product call Pond-Aid by DW Davies. It looks like it's working but I don't think it's going to cure my algae problem. I don't want to spend a lot of money, but was thinking about running some power about 10 feet from the pond and plugging in a floating fountain/aerator or setting up a simple waterfall for some water movement.

My questions:

1) Since I have a tight budget this year, would you recommend a fountain or waterfall or something else? Will this help enough with the algae?

2) What can I do about the water evaperation? Got some advice about a sand point...

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.

To be honest with you I've used both fountain and aerator and would go with the areator over the fountain anyday.I still use my fountain on weekends or if were hanging out in the yard for looks . The cheapest way I would recomend you to go is check out ebay and look under compressors. I 've got a 1/3 hp gast compressor off there for $90.00. Go through paypal to make any $ transitions. I used waterline 1/2 '' for my airline and weighted it down with cinder blocks and used a soakerhose placed in a weighted down 5 gallon bucket for a diffuser.Total cost was less than $200.00. Run 24-7 and your pond will clear up and look much better. Good luck .

I'm not so sure that an aerator will solve your algae problems. Although overall a bottom aerator has proven to more helpful in reducing filamentous algae (FA) than a fountain. I have never heard from a pondowner that found that a fountain aerator helped very much long term (2-3yrs) to reduce algae. See this thread:
http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=14;t=000324.
This person has two bottom aerators (1 windmill, & 1 1/3hp compressor) with a total of 3 diffusers and he still has FA problems. If a pond has dissolved nutrients in the water column, it has never been proven with published reasearch that an aerator can remove the dissolved nutrients that are feeding the algae. I have seen lots of FA in ponds with all sorts of aerators.

The dissolved nutrients that I am primarily referring to typically enter a pond from runoff from the watershed. A bottom aerator can in many cases help suppress SOME nutrient release from the recycling from the deep bottom anoxic (oxygen deficient) sediments. Bottom line if there is a choice between a fountain and bottom aerator; choose bottom aerator. The success of the aerator at reducing the FA is dependent on the source of the nutrients that are feeding the algae.

Good post Bill. When sizing an aeration system, the goal is to satisfy the Biochemical Oxygen Demand. Without knowing what that may be in most cases, we as aeration professionals have to unfortunately make some assumptions wrt this.

Making these assumptions we use a sizing guidelines of 0.75 time to 1.3 to some companies are at 2 times per day of circulating the entire volume of the pond. This amount of turnover will ensure the BOD is met and the assymilation capacity of the lake is increased thereby allowing the pond to better assymilate the nutrients washing in. (I'm sure my spelling is wrong, I wish spell checker was one of the tools on this forum).

The biggest thing for you Darrin is to make sure you know what the circulation rate of what ever diffuser you choose is and that it has been tested. If a system is undersized you will create more potential for algae production by releasing the phosphates and nitrates from the bottom sediments without satisfying the BOD.

Kristoffer, your design must be circulating near those rates and you are satisfying the BOD. You are one of the homeowners who did it right the first time.

I would though recommend using Black Poly Pipe (Irrigation pipe) if you want to save money on not using self-weighted tubing. Over time the waterhose will deterorate and it may be a mess for you to replace. If poly pipe is used, a common three hole brick secured with 14" wire ties every 5 feet will secure it to the pond bottom.

Good luck and I'm sure if you have any futher questions Darrin we should be able to help you. With a little help from aeration and nutrient reduction, Mother Nature will allow you to do the things you would rather do like spend time with your kids swimming in your pond without looking like a sea monster as you rise from the depths with algae hanging off you.

Happy ponding.

I just saw the request to be able to do something about evaporation.... I'm waiting with baited breath for this one!

ok ok you could choke you pond out with lilies , but to what avail?

Darrin, I had/have the same problems.. lots of FA which of course I'm causing (pushing carrying capacity & feeding), so I've been trying to find solutions to it. Put a Vertex aerator in my .15-.2 acre pond, and it does 'help' a little. Mostly just keeps everything moving around so it doesn't go crazy in certain areas - clearly my pond is 'cleanest' where ever the aerator clearly moves water. In addition, having tons of algae without an aerator is risky.. that's lots of plant life that can die off and really hurt your water and fish. You should have one..

You also asked what else you could do. Barely does work - and it's not hard to do in small ponds. Last year I used it and it really slowed the growth down. Don't make my mistake of taking time off with it. Last year I used pellets, they worked, then I got confident and lazy. In the last few months it popped up again. I just started treating it again and the new growth has slowed. So my advice, put in barley and leave it in. I've ordered the extract (works great, expensive and must be put in often), and the bales - the bales have only been in a month but I'm hopeful. I'm not going to take them out this time.

I order from Linda at http://www.stillpondfarm.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=4

Good luck.

Oh yeah, evaporation.. I'm in Phoenix and lose an inch a day in the summer, if you figure that one out please let me know!