Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Benefit of aeration

Have a 3/4 acre to 1 acre pond..currently am draining it..interested in setting up aeration when I begin refilling it next year...Pond is approx. 12 feet deep in middle..have a fish feeder and fed fairly heavy this past year..hybrid cats went from 4-6 inches in March to 2 1/2 lbs in Oct...stock bg, fh, golden shiners and bass in Aug..would restock with 500bg, 50cats ,1000 golden shiners, and 100 lmb...and feed out fairly heavy...twice a day all they can eat in 20 minutes...water color went from green to fairly
dark green...no fish kill...do I need aeration with those numbers of fish and feeding fairly heavey?? would I benefit at all from establishing aeration before filling pond..I have power at the pier so I could hook in easily..worried about fish kills with the heavy feeding...and what systems would you recommend?
I have seen several advertised...thanks...

Hello Jeff,

Are you draining the pond completely? If so, typically you should not have a problem with high oxygen demand from decompositon on the bottom of the pond.

In your case, depending on the protein amount of the feed, the BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) can be a factor when added to the algae bloom you experienced.

This summer we had a pay-fish carp pond that where we supported up to 7,000 lbs/ acre of carp with only 2-AirPod diffusers.

Most of the systems advertised here and in Pond Boss have the ability to be installed even after the pond is full. If you decide to install a system, I would recommend having it running full time prior to introduction of fish just to ensure all Hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide is removed.

As for size system, that will depend on shape of the pond and you already gave the depth. Asking any of us suppliers, we can aid in sizing and quote you a system. Keep us advised to what direction you decide to go with. It helps others that are new to the forum and have the same questions you do.

Yes I am draining the pond completely and having it redone then filled hopefully in the spring...I thought it might be better to have the aeration in place at that time..the shape of the pond is somewhat oval or like 2 triangles butted together..I would like to raise a fair number of catfish yearly to catch and eat while maintaining a quality bass fishery without too much algae growth and possible fish loss..is there a book on how to manage aeration year round? like a timetable with what to watch for?, when to aereate and when not too? etc...what does a system cost to purchase and what is the estimated monthly cost for elec. to run 24/7? That is for a pond about the size I have..thanks

For starters, Jeff, you can see the archive thread on Aeration Simplified. There's a lot of info right there, and a bunch of links (roughly in the middle) to specific threads including seasonal aeration topics.

Bruce I'm so glad you all put together the "Aeration Simplified" post.