Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Thinking of Aeration, Couple Questions..

I live in the thumb of Michigan. My pond is 30 years old, dug in a farm drainage ditch. It's approximatly 1/3 surface acre, when full about 180' X 90' pretty much rectangular. When dug it was nearly 20' deep in the middle, but I'm sure not that much anymore. It has sloped sides and the north end was a beach so the slope is less. The soil is mucky and my water has tannic acid, but I guess not the bad kind as I have had fish for years. Usually I can see about 1-2 feet down from my dock. I get runoff from the fields that are farmed on my property and have a 6" drain pipe that empties the excess back into the drainage ditch. Most runoff occurs in the spring when the snow melts, but this year we've had two 5"+ rains that caused runoff to enter. Generally during the summer the pond stays below the drain pipe so it is static. I have had a wind powered floating windmill in the pond in the winter to pull warmer water up from the bottom, but it is wearing out. I have had a few winter kills, but last year was super cold and snowy and my small windmill could not keep up. Also this year with all the rain and runoff from the fertilzed fields my algae problem has been terrible. Been adding Cutrine too much and am worried about the copper. Mostly have the FA but also this year have seen a new type called Water Net Algae. Had alot of Sago Pondweed but got rid of most of that with Hydrothol 191. Very few emergent weeds.

With the age of the pond I know there is a bunch of old leaves and decaying weed and algae matter that are just lying there. I need to start to take care of my pond instead of just adding chemicals. I think it's still a healthy pond as I have clams that are some 4-5" in size and have heard if they grow your water is OK. My fish are at a minimum from my kill last spring, but I have added 12-4" cats, and 25-3 to 4" LMB and BG. And there were a few residuals that made it thru the winter. So I have decided to look into an aerator and have a few questions:

1) My pond is around 100 yards from my nearest power source. Is it cheaper or better to bury an electrical line out closer to my pond or run the air tubing from my garage? What size wire would I need to run a small 3-5 amp pump if I have a 300' length? I think I would prefer to run the electrical wire as I hate to develope a hole in the air tube and figure out there it is!
2) Living in Michigan I would like to run it in the winter to keep my pond opened up. Does the air line have to be placed under the frost line all the way from the pump? (42") And how deep does it have to be where it enters the pond? Can't figure out how to dig a trench in the pond to bury that deep!!
3) Will probably contact a few companies here on the forum for advice, but I imagine 1 or 2 diffusers will suffice for my needs. I would guess the type of pump would depend on if I set it up back by my pond or run it 100 yards away.

Sorry I rambled on, but wanted to give as much information as possible. Appreciate any ideas or advice and would like to have it going before winter rolls in!!

Might add would probably make this a DIY, but want to have it designed properly as I've read the stories of an improperly laid out system that did not work.

Brian S.

Brian, running oversized air line is far cheaper than electric. A long run on the electric will increase the amp load and require a heavier guage wire as well. I would say 10 guge wire would be the safe minimum size.

Adding a properly designed aeration system will definately help deacy the detritus faster than without it. If your watershed is farmed land, I suspect you have a large amount of soil in there as well. Largebuffer strips for the run-off to flow through will reduce this a great deal.

Brian:

I can answer some of the questions, but not all, I'm a rookie with aeration systems. If you will run the aerator in the winter, you should have the diffuser at about 1/3 the max depth of the pond. i.e. a 15' deep pond, set the diffuser 5' down. That way you won't super cool the water during the winter, which the fish won't like at all. After ice off, either move the diffuser to the deepest part of the pond, or use a different diffuser for the deeper water and "T" it into the line with a shut-off. That's the way I'm setting up my system. I'll shut off the deeper diffuser during the winter.

You can run the air line out to the pond, and it doesn't have to be buried. I ran mine right on top of the ground and into the pond and it never froze, but I ran the diffuser 100% of the time during the winter. As for the correct wire size, I can't give you an exact answer because electricity isn't my strong point. But, if the aerator is the only thing running, I think 10ga would do.

When running air line in the pond, I made the mistake of not using self-weighted air line the first time. I ended up buying the thick walled, self weighted stuff from Ted. You can run the unweighted air line above ground if you want a cheap way to get air to the pond without running electricity, then splice it to the weighted line right before the line enters the water.

p.s. Rainman types faster than I do as well!

Here's a quick pic of my pond. Not very detailed but gives an idea of shape and contour.

You can see where the field drainage enters the pond on the lower right of the picture and the outlet drain pipe is on the left near the middle.

Hi Brian S~
If you run electric, it will need to be a 10 gauge. It would be much less expensive to run a single 1" PVC from your current power source. I got your email/mapping request and have pulled an aerial of your pond. I will email you my recomendations.

Hi Brian,

Rainman gave great advice on the buffer strip and it looks like you have a decent grass buffer in that drainage. You can enhance the buffer strip a couple of ways. First, allow the grass to grow longer in the months when you get the drainage. Second, you can use a plug aerator (the ones for your lawn that create the little soil nuggets) to improve water infiltration in the soil and allow some sediments to settle out in the holes. These two practices will allow the lawn to capture and use more of the fertilizers therefore reducing the amount that makes it into your pond. Good luck to you.

This thread may answer some frozen airline questions.

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=2887&Number=30284#Post30284

Sue,
Thanks, got your mapping today. Will be getting in contact with Ted soon. One correction on your map. The building I will be running electric from is not the one you highlighted, it will be the one directly north of it. Doesn't change too much, just makes the run a little longer!!

Wood,
Wow I thought Michigan winters sucked!!! I would be interested if anyone here in the midwest had winter freeze ups in their airline.

Waterwizard,
The water draining into my pond do go thru some taller grass and weeds. Except for normal springtime melts we generally don't get the drainage problem of this year. Hopefully this summer is an exception rather than the rule!

Still weighing the choices of running 300' of electrical or airline back to my pond. Understand PVC would be cheaper, but the freeze up possibilities with a longer air line run kinda concern me. Don't really want to sink 300' of airline down below the frost line!! Splitting the soil to bury electric would be much simpler.

Is there anything else you would like to use electric for at the pond? Run a fridge for cold drinks and bait/caught fish storage? Lights for night fishing & feeding bugs to BG? Electric dog polisher for cleaning up the retriever during duck season?

Theo,
That will probably be the reason I spend a little more money and run electric back to the pond!! My wife can think of numerous reasons to have some power back there. Also the thought of the air line freezing on me this winter sends shivers down my back (no pun intended)!!

I knew mentioning the electric dog polisher would do the trick.