Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Building a RC51 system.... Qustions?

Well over winter bordom I have been reading through rc51's aeration project. He used the EcoPlus 7 which has a max PSI of 5.1 and 7 cfm. I found them online for about $100. My pond is half an acre and about 10 ft deep. I was going to build a diffuser station with two disc's. Would that pump support 3 9inch or should I stick with 2. Also is it better to keep the diffusers close together or seperate them alittle. These were the diffuser I was looking at.

http://www.diffuserexpress.com/fine_bubble_disc.htm

Forgot to inform everyone of some important facts. Drained and mucked out the pond in june 2009. So there should be little organic muck on the bottom. Pond is tear drop shape with the majority of the pond in the 6-12ft depth.

Hey Cody RC51 here. Glad you found my posts and I hope they helped!! And your answer is yes you can use 3, 9inch. That is what I am using and it works great. I am using 5/8 inch ID weighted hose and 5/8 inch pvc pipe with 3/4 inch elbows on each end to screw the diffusers on to. The Eco plus 7 works real good up to 10 feet. I have the same exact diffusers your looking at. Just remember to make sure you get the fine bubble ones not the large bubble diffusers. I have mine set in about 7 to 8 feet of water. The nipple coming off of the Eco plus 7 is 1/2 inch ID so I used about 10 foot of plastic 1/2 inch tubing and then had a 1/2 inch to 5/8 inch nipple I used to connect the weighted hose to and used small steel clamps to clamp everything together. Here are a few pics of my setup. If you have questions feel free to ask. I will be glad to try and help you.

Do you have valves installed to controll air flow to indivdual diffusers or do they regulate them self?

No I don't have valves, because the diffusers that I used have a cfm rating of .5 to 5cfm and my pump only puts out a max of 7 so I didn't need to controll the air because I could have a max of 15cfm if I wanted it and I wasn't even close to that, but I suppose you could set it up that way if you had a diffuser in another area and wanted to push some air to that one as well, but I did not use any and it works great. The 4 circle things in the middle of my diffuser are 4 inch round wheel barings for weight. I needed them to weight it down enough to make it sink. The metal plate is from the side of a computer. I drilled holes in it in order to zip strip everyting down to the plate. And the wire you see is from hangers. I wrapped them together and then put a zip strip on the end of the wire and took some twine put it through the zip strip and lowered into the pond. Worked like a charm. Some guys use a tire to put there diffusers on that works good too.

I'm gona order the compressor and diffusers tommorow... I read that somone used a garden hose filled with sand then attaching it to the airline. I got a lot of garden hose and only have to go a short distance so I'm gona try it first. I like your plat form looks like its easier to pull up then a wheel.

Yeah all you would have to do is get a pole with a hook on it grab the hanger part and pull it up. The garden hose filled with sand is not a bad idea either.

Good Luck and let me know how it goes. Those little pumps are awesome for the price!!! Heck for that price you can afford to have a spare in the shed in case you need one!!

Later,

Thanks for your post and input... I do notice nobody like's giving much info on our " your " project think your on to somthing for those of use with ponds 1 acre or less in size

Yeah I don't always get a lot of feedback, not sure if I stink or what??? Actually a lot of the guys here chime in when needed or if they are not that usually means your doing / saying the right things and they don't have to chime in. My pond is right at 1 acre and this Air station has been perfect. I have mine out 85 feet from shore and no problems. This last summer I ran it 6 hours a night every night and my bill was only $7.85 a month. So don't worry it won't suck up to much money either. I am going to run mine for 12 hours this year at night. I can afford 15 bucks a month. Good luck Cody and just remember to follow the start up procedures once you get it going. It's important you follow that the best you can, and I would not start your air up until your air temps start to hit around 60 or so and mid to upper 40's for lows daily. Unless your going to put it in a shallow spot for the winter like 3 feet deep. Remember warm water holds about half as much D.O. as cold water so you don't have to be in a big hurry to turn it on in the spring as you don't want to end up super cooling your pond on accident.

Hey RC51 and Cody I am in the same boat as you guys with a smaller pond at 3/4 acre. I like your set up. could you guys let me know what the prices were on the compresser, diffusers, and weighted hose.Just was curious on what this set up will run me and where is the best place to get all these items. Thanks in advance Roadjoker

I am also looking at building an aerator for my 1/3 acre pond. I'm dealing with the same depths. Is there a single thread that details your parts list, parts sources and has pictures? thanks in advance for the help.

I got my pump for $110 the diffusers were just under $20 each. It should cost me around $250 all said and done.
Found the Pump here
http://www.dga-online.com/mm5/merchant.m...mp;Store_Code=D
Disks here
http://www.diffuserexpress.com/fine_bubble_disc.htm

Hey RJ,

Thanks for the kind words. Here are my links where I bought my diffusers and my Eco plus 7 air pump.

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog...ac6a4ac1fada291

http://www.diffuserexpress.com/catalog/flexair_threaded_disc_diffusers.html

You can get the pump for 104 bucks plus shipping. Awesome deal on this pump man it works great for 1 acre or less ponds with a max depth of 10 feet.

The diffusers I believe were like 16 or so bucks a piece plus shipping.

Here is what I have.

1 - Eco Plus 7 Air Pump - 104 bucks plus Shipping.
3 - Air diffusers 9 inch in diameter FINE bubble NOT large bubble. They have both on the site be careful you don't select large bubble.
75 feet of weighted 5/8th inch ID hose from Ted Lea at http://www.cleanponds.com

He has a pretty darn good price on weighted hose and he is a good guy and will try and help you out if he can. I can't quite remember what I paid for the hose. I think is was around 115 bucks give or take a buck plus shipping.
For my diffuser station I used 5/8 inch PVC with 5/8 inch to 3/4 inch elbows cause the diffusers will have a 3/4 inch male thread on them to screw into the 3/4 female end of the PVC pipe. Just screw them down. Of course you will need a nipple where you join the weighted hose to the PVC on the diffuser station panel and I used a 3 way piece in the middle so I could branch off 3 different ways. Make sure you glue all your pvc pieces together good.
I used the side of a metal computer panel for my platform. Drilled holes in it where needed and used large zip strips to fasten it down to the panel. I also stuck a couple of hangers in the holes and wrapped them up so I could lower into my pond with something as simple as some rope. Just double the rope over and when you have it in place let one end of the rope go and pull it up. My only problem was weight!! I set it in the water and it wanted to semi float on me. So I took 4, 4 inch round wheel bearings and fastend them to the panel as you can see in the picture that worked great!! Some guys use tires as well.

As far as my air station I pretty much made a mailbox type post stand just not as high and screwed a small cat/dog kennel to it. It works great cause you keep your pump out of the elements and you still get good ventilation. I just took the door in front off.

I extended my tubing some by putting a 15 foot piece of plastic tubing on my air pump first and then attaching my weighted hose to that. But if you going to go that same route let me tell you what I did wrong. I put that plastic tubing directly onto the nipple coming out of the air pump! Bad idea that pump does get pretty hot really hot here in Arkansas so I took it off and went down to Auto Zone and bought a 12 inch 1/2 inch ID radiator hose to put on first and then put the plastic tubing onto that. That worked great!! Now I don't have to worry about the pump melting my plastic tubing. And of course I put metal clamps in the the spots needed to secure the tubing and weighted hose. I hope this helps here are a few more pictures for reference. As you can see in the one picture of the air station I have not added the radiator hose yet. I did that after I took these pictures. I attached a timer on the side of the 4x4 post to run at 2,4,6,8 hours or from dusk to dawn. I have to give a shout out to the pond boss memebers though for much of this setup. They were great in helping me out so I hope I can return the favor.

Thank you both for the time, I will be ordering this stuff tonight. what depth is a good depth to put my difusers? my pond is 15 feet at the deepest and has steeps banks on 2 of the sides with the 3rd side gradualy sloaping to 15 feet deep. 70% of the pond is 12 to 15 feet deep. The pond looks like a basbeball diamond. the gradual sloped area is where i have 80% of my structure.

During the summer put it in the deepest area of your pond. Make sure you read up on proper start up procedure.

Well I would put it as far as the pump will allow. I have not tested the pump over the 10 foot range. Most guys will tell you in the summer you want it as deep as you can get it so I would say try and center in pond as good as you can and try if you have enough line try it at 15 feet and see if it works. It may be to much for the pump?? Not sure. The first time I turned mine on it took about 10 to 15 seconds to see anything as the lines were filling up with air so don't freak out right awasy if you don't see anything right off, but if you don't see anything after 20 seconds or so then i would say your too deep and then just slowly bring it in till she kicks off! If your going to set it up for the winter remember to keep it in the shallow about 1/3 of your depth. So if your 15 feet deep I would be safe and put it in about 4 foot of water in the winter. keep me posted and let me know how that pump does in 15 feet of water I am interested to know. If it were me I would try and bring it in on your easy sloaping side that way your air tubing will lay down real nice and settle into your pond bottom.

Thanks again for the info. RC51 will keep you posted on how deep of water the pump will work in. Also Cody what do you mean by start up procedure?

Here is a great article about aeration I cut the startup procedure out for you.

"When an aerator is first installed it is important that you don’t begin running it constantly right away. If the aerator rotates the water column too quickly, it can actually cause a fish kill by moving the toxic gases throughout the pond in one fell swoop. The best route to take is to run the aerator for only 30 minutes on its first day, then shutting it off for the remainder of that day. The second day you should run the aeration system for one full hour then turn it off. The third day double to 2 hours, then to 4 hours the next, 8 the next, until you are running your system all day. This process will take 7 days to accomplish. Not only should this process be followed the first time an aerator is installed, it should be followed every time the aerator is turned on after an extended shutdown."

http://pondaerators.wordpress.com/2008/10/

Cody thats a great article, thanks. right now there are no fish in my pond. I dug it out in august and it filled up the week of thanksgiving so i didnt have any time to stock it. I was going to start aerating before i stocked it in the spring. I was going to run it on a timer only run it part of the day. should you run the aerator 24/7 or is it ok to run it 8 to 12 hours a time. I noticed that RC51 was running it for 6hours and was bumping it up to 12 hours? what are both of your thoughts on that?

The price that pump runs at I am probably gona run it 24/7 in the summer.

Cody or RC51 what are your thoughts on going with the EcoPlus Commercial Air 5 Pump? according to its specs it should run 2 difusers and be less to operate? What are your thoughts running 3 difusers with the 7 pump or running 2 difusers with the 5 pump? just curious if there was a reason going with the bigger pump

From my reading you can get into some trouble by under aerating. You also said that you have 15ft deepths I dont think the you would be happy with the 5. For the little bit more $ just go with the 7 and enjoy it. Rc51 runs three diffusers, I built mine to run 3.

Ya for 35$ bucks it isnt worth foolin around. I appreciate all the info and an getting ready to order all of the system tonight. Just got done building my 12x16 floating dock on the ice this past weekend and i am getting so pumped for spring to get here! Thanks again Cody and RC51

roadjoker, how bout a new thread and some pics and info on the floating dock..

Hey BK, will try to get those pics up tonight. it was a fun project. keep an eye out on the dock section. when i get home ill post those pics.

Hey Joker no problem glad I could help. Cody gave you some good advise about the pump. I don't think an Eco 5 would cut in 10 foot plus of water. As far as how long you run your pump? Really it only needs to be ran at night which is when you lose alot of your DO in your water because the sun is down and your plants in the water are not able to create any DO as a matter of fact your plants take oxygen from your pond at night that's why our want to run it at night for sure. If you have no fish in it you can start up your pump how ever you want. Just remember to use the start up porcedure the next spring when you do have fish in it. 12 hours a night for a 3/4 acre pond I think is more than enough IMO. Some guys run them 24/7 in the summer. That's up to you. From everything I have read it doesnt really seem to do any more good to run it all day? You may want to run it all day if you dont have many weeds in your pond at first. That way you know your getting plenty of DO in your water. I can tell you this I ran mine for 6 hours at night and my fish were loving it and very happy about it. So this year I am going to 12 hours and they should be estatic!! Have a good one and both you and Cody keep us posted.

RC51 and Cody got all of it ordered tonight. thanks again! BGK and any others pics of the dock are up in the dock section

Great info RC on helping these guys put a small system together, another option to consider adding to your aerator is a bubble hose, you can do it on the cheap with a soaker hose and a sand filled hose attached to keep it on the bottom, or a more expensive but much more efficient specially made bubble hose.

I like the results from a soaker hose but would like to get the specially made ones which should be much better.
http://www.epaeration.com/pdfs/ADS_aeration_tubing.pdf

I'm on my 3rd season with an Eco plus 5, here's the soaker hose laid out straight for the summer.


Hose in a half circle for the winter.

Hey thanks AP! I learned a lot from you and others on the PB so I finally got to pay it forward a little. I am interested in seeing if Joker can get that pump to work in 15 foot of water. I think it will be close!

Ok cool! Your 70 percent there now. Putting it all together is not to hard. And if you have electricity at your pond already or near by your good to go!! Take pics and let us know how it goes.

ya I think Im going to try a plastic bread rack for the difuses mount with some weight on it for my mounting plate. amd have some stainless cable I am going to attach to all 4 corners going into 1 peice that will be 16 foot long with a duck decoy on the end of it that way I can row out grab the decoy and move it shallow for winter. The elctricty is about 200 feet away nothing a ditch-witch cant solve. I put my 240ft service line for cabin. with 1 they wor great and the rental shop only charges like 50$ for 4 hours. we did the service line, ditched it, put it in conduit and backed filled it and had the Ditch-witch back to the rental shop in 3 1/2 hours. Just went to menards today and bought all the conduit and outside boxes. So this spring my "RC51 Aeration Diffuser Station ®" will be on-line lol. Thanks again!

Hey I kind of like the way that sounds!!! "RC51 Aeration Diffuser Station"
Oh very good idea with the "Rope A Duck" too!


P.S. Your place looks great by the way!!

RC51, getting most of my stuff in the mail this week. Diffuser express messed up my order. But am gona post some pics as it all comes together. I ended up usuing a plastic bread rack with some 1/4 in alluminum plate on the inside for weight. its turning out preaty good.

What do you mean on the bread rack.. You kinda want a solid base that will get your diffuser 5-7 inches off the bottom. So it don't stir up muck. Which in your new pond you shouldn't have to worry about.. Just a thought

I have 4 plastic bread racks. there made the same way as plastic milk crates. they slide into to steel, 4 wheeled racks about 7 feet and keep the bread from being smashed during delivery. there 22"x26" and area about 6 inches tall. I will have 3 stacked on top of each other, and the difusers will be about 1' off the bottom and one rack will be on top to guard the diffusers. They are very solid and the rack that the difusors will be on ( 3rd one off the bottom) will have a 1/4 inch thicl aluminum plate 22"x24". this way if it is still stiring up mud I can just add another rack and lift it up another 6inches. hers a pic of ones simalar to what I am using
http://www.southernperfection.com/products/bakery/plastic-trays.aspx

Joker,

That's sounds pretty cool! Looking forwared to seeing your setup!! The bread rack sounds like a pretty good idea. My whole setup is about 3 inches off the bottom and I have a LOT of muck and I don't have any stir up issues. Cant wait to see it!!

I've got a quick question about this system.

We'd like to put our compressor/pump near our hose, and bury the airhose all the way out to our pond. It would be around a 150-200 foot run.

Is this something that could be done with this system, using the ECO 7 pump? or should get something larger for that long of a run?

I run this distance with buried garden hose and a 1/4 HP Gast rotary vane compressor.
No problems after about 8 years usage.

George is correct it should work fine as long at you dont have any air line leaks along the way! I would use a larger hose/line when you run it. Like a 3/4 to 1 inch line and then downsize to 5/8th at or near the air system. Remember larger line over long distance equals less friction and more volume. Just don't be alarmed if it takes a minute to fill the line and actually start pumping air out of your air station. I have about 75 feet of line and it takes about 5 to 8 seconds before I see any bubbles. So 200 feet of line at first may take a bit to fill it up is all I am saying.

Good Luck

Which model are you using? I'm looking at the 323 and the 523, and not sure which way to go.

RC...bought everything and finally put it together, same config as yours, except instead of the computer siding I strapped the difuser heads to a tire to be weighted and dropped in pond....question is the (eco-7) doesnt seem to push a large quantity of air through the three elbows with the diffuser heads off....Im afraid this wont produce a significant boil...I have 100 ft weighted hose to push through....the only other thing I did was place the plastic hose and attached it ti the inflow valve and drilled a hole through the pet carrier to allow it access to outside air....what are your thoughts and experiences with a dry run?

It is nornmal to not see bubbles right away when pump starts. Once bubbles are released it takes 1 sec per foot of depth for bubbles to rise to the surface. When it takes longer than that the pump is probably pushing water out the airline - unneeded and over stress for the compressor. A low pressure guage (15-30psi) at the pump lets you monitor lots of things including when the air is released from the diffuser. I always suggest a low psi guage at the pump. The membrane diffusers almost always have a build in check valve to prevent water back flow when the air flow stops. Clogging of diffuser can eventually result in clogging of check valve. It depends. Diffuser check valves can be cleaned.

I would be very interested to hear about the life span of these compressors when used for deep pond (6-15ft) aeration. Users please report back as your systems age.

[quote=dracor]RC...bought everything and finally put it together, same config as yours, except instead of the computer siding I strapped the difuser heads to a tire to be weighted and dropped in pond....question is the (eco-7) doesnt seem to push a large quantity of air through the three elbows with the diffuser heads off....Im afraid this wont produce a significant boil...I have 100 ft weighted hose to push through....the only other thing I did was place the plastic hose and attached it ti the inflow valve and drilled a hole through the pet carrier to allow it access to outside air....what are your thoughts and experiences with a dry run?

/quote]

Dracor,

I didn't really do a dry run per say. The first time I used the air pump I had my system in about 2 foot of water just to test it. It will push it. I can't remember how deep your putting your pump? Mine is at 8 feet now and no problems. Remember these diffusers only need a minamum of .5 CFM and your Eco 7 puts out a max of 7 CFM. Joker another user on this site using the same system has his in about 12 feet of water and it works great for him. I don't know after 12 feet how good this pump will work as I have never tested it past that? So if your going deeper than that let us know how or if it works ok?

Hey Bill,

That would explain why mine takes about 8 seconds to show up then as my fusers are in 8 foot of water. Thanks for that bit of into. I have had mine only going on my second year in 8 foot of water. So far no problems at all. I know AP has had a Eco plus 5 pump for 3 or 4 years and he runs his year around in the winter and has not failed him yet although he doesn't run it very deep I don't think. Joker is the only one I know of that has one deeper than mine and his is at 12 feet but he just put his in a couple of months ago. And for 105 bucks for the Eco 7 you can't beat the price. Heck you could even have another one on the shelf in case you need it for that price.

I was getting ready to buy a $1200 setup online when I ran into this thread in my search to figure out which pump technologies would be best for my pond. I ended up ordering the RC51 special and I was pleasently surprised by the quality as the motor and diffusers arrived yesterday.
I currently have a 2HP fountain (otterbine) aerator at the surface. Im excited to see how this does with breaking down the organic sludge at the bottom. When the pond was new (6 years ago now), I had a huge algae bloom early, and got a big sludge layer at the bottom. The otterbine really cleaned up the surface algae, however the bottom has never been able to shake the anerobic muck in a few locations. Im hoping that placing this new system in those locations, I can get some oxygen circulation and finally break down the organic sludge area's that area fully anerobic right now. Ill post back with my results...

krhule,

Looking forward to what you have to say! I think you will like the system it works pretty well on smaller ponds for sure! Let us know how it goes!!

RC51

I've got some 3/4 inch pvc will that work for the diffuser station. I think I'm going to go with 3 diffusers as well. Thanks

Hey Chris hope it works out well for ya. Let us see your setup when your done take a few pictures ok! Holler if you have any questions that haven't already been answered!!

Have a good one! RC