Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Solar Aeration Installed!

As some of you may remember, I purchased a Keeton Industries solar aeration system for my small pond. It sat in my garage for a few months before installing this spring.

Well, the last connection has been made and it's bubbling away. It's a fantastic sight to see my expense and patience paying off.

After dropping the diffuser to the bottom, I waited a couple minutes and swam out to the point where the bubbles reached the surface. I was amazed to feel the difference in water temperature. The water that was being pushed up was remarkabley cooler than the surrounding surface water. The mucky odor was present also. The coloration of the water seemed darker as well. I suppose that's due to the muck being pushed to the top.

The system itself is very quiet. It was also fairly easy to install. The timer is set to start at 6:20am and turn off at 10:30pm. This is a starting point and may be adjusted in the future.

I'm very excited about having the system up and running now. Just thought I'd share the news with some of you who were interested in the solar aeration system.

Hi Jimmy, sounds great. Someone is going to ask this, so I might as well be the one. How much did it cost? Also, how large is your pond.
Randy

Hi Jimmy, sounds great. Someone is going to ask this, so I might as well be the one. How much did it cost? Also, how large is your pond.
Randy

Randy,

The system cost around $4,000. This definitely is not at the low end of aerations systems. However, when you factor in the expense of running electricity hundreds of yards to a remote pond and the monthly electrical bill you'll incur, it's logical in the long run.

Pond size is in my signature below.

JW,

A couple of curiousity questions:

1) why not have the prime operating hours at night? What is the limit on the systems' capacity for night time operation?
2) was the 18 hour cycle time recommended as a start up time or did you gradually work up to that cycle time?

I'm very interested in your results as also facing a decision in the future regarding remote aeration of ponds. Thanks for posting any info.

Howdy, neighbor!

We're north of you in Ivanhoe and have been putting in ponds for the past 16 months since moving here. We're on FM 273 just before you get to the saw mill on the south edge of Ivanhoe. You can see the house and this pond on the East side of the road ...


The Labs prefer these ...




e-mail me at swfsinc@aol.com

Meadowlark,

I'm not sure how long the energy from the solar panel is stored. I set the system to run a little before sunrise and a little after sunset. I figured this wouldn't put to much strain on the battery. The company says that in a perfect situation it would get 20 hours of operation in a day. My pond is surrounded by trees, so I'm not getting sun on the panel every possible hour.That's why I cut it back from the 20 hours.

I don't have any bluegill or bass in the pond yet, so I wasn't worried about starting the system up gradually.

Cappy,

Glad to know there's another Fannin County Pond Boss out there. My property is located in Ravenna.

I looked at a property in Ivanhoe, but it wasn't nearly as pretty as yours. Ponds looks great! Good job!