Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Small pond

Just found this place, very interesting. I'm in Northern NY with a 6 year old pond. It's about 80ft. in diameter and 10ft deep in the middle. I have a spring that feeds it, it runs a 3/4 pipe full year around. The first year I put 25 brook trout and 25 rainbow trout in. 4 or 5 died, the Herons got 4 or 5 and I ate a bunch. There are now 6 remaining,(about 5 pounds). I feed them 3 or 4 times a week. If the algae forms on the surface, I made a skimmer to suck it off, works great. The water stays greenish, cloudy like. I've tried Barley straw, it helps some and have had mixed results. What about an ariator, or pump the water from the bottom of the pond to the top.

Tim

Hello TJA,

Welcome to the forum. The "greenish" water is most likely plankton algae.

Aerating a trout pond has some issues with possibly warming the water past what the trout can handle.

That being said, what is the temperature of the water at the surface? If you don't know, a simple pool thermometer from Walmart will work to test it.

If the surface temp is above 70 degrees, you can expect to be 1-3 degrees of that at the bottom. The trout especially the Brookies will not be able to handle any more than 65 degrees.

There are ways to overcome that. I know you do get quite cool at night in your area. Run the system at night when the oxygen levels are their lowest and the cool water from the surface will be circulated at the bottom.

The other option is to place in a surface type aerator. This will circulate the top water without affecting the bottom cooler waters. This may be enough to have an affect on the plankton algae.

Again, welcome to Pond Boss.

TJA, welcome to the forum... The greenish color as Cary said most likely is a planktonic bloom, basically little tiny single cell plants and animals. This is a good thing! The single cell plants are eaten by the single cell animals which are in turn eaten by large animals and even your trout.

There are a couple forum members who aerate their ponds but use a thermostat to have the aerator only run when air temps drop below say, 65 or 60 degrees. That way they do not warm the pond up too much.

Sounds like you have a great pond if you are growing trout to 5 pounds! Some fun fishing right there... Are you considering stocking another batch of trout to grow out?

TJA Welcome, as was said hooking an aerator to a thermostat, or running at night can help keep those temps down. Plug in thermostats can be had for about $35. Many of the experts like Cary can advise you on aerators.
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Building an artificial island can also help keep temps down and provide additional forage for your fish.

What part of upstate are you located?