Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Solarbee system

I have no electricity at present time to pond. Anyone have any experience with the Solarbee aeration system? I haven't checked prices either. Anyone know approximate costs?

http://www.solarbee.com/index.shtml

I'm not sure I really need aeration; but thought it might help. I did more checking. I had about determined the solarbee might be the ideal system for my situation, then I got a quote. Out of my price range. I think I'll try my luck without aeration.

Rangersedge, I have advised on making an inexpensive solar aeration system in past threads. Will have to dig them up. Have to go now. Will post past threads this evening. How big and deep is the pond?

I also have been looking at solar and heres a post about it.I'd be very interested in your past posts.Only on Pond Boss,what a place!
Thanks Mike

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=12;t=000063#000000

here is a long thread discussing solar aeration.

another on do it yourself aeration.

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000113#000000

Rangers Edge...what is your closest power location? The reason I ask depending on the depth of your lake and the lenght of self-weighted tubing required, we could pump the air from your power location up to over 5,000 feet away (close to 1 mile).

This thread is moving towards the topic of solar vs. electric. I'm interested in thoughts about Solarbees' "paddle" technology vs. standard diffusers. Is their's the technology of the future? I'm planning to go with an electric diffuser system for my 2.5 acre pond.

Cary: It is probably around 1/2 mile away so it sounds like tubing could be an option... Thanks! Jeff

Rangersedge, with your size pond, and all the coves, points, an island, and open NW to S side, I would doubt that you need aeration at this time. If you have a large area of deep water, maybe at some point. Cary and/or Ted will be able to advise you. As Cary said, 1/2 mile for piping air is probably the best plan. Solar power is not cheap, and you would require a large system, but not a $30,000 system. Good luck.

I'll see how it goes without. Thanks Burgermeister!

SInce your interested in their info why don;t you email solarbee and see what they spec out for your pond. I'm curious as to cost as well. Then you could come back here with the info and see what the experts have to offer up.

Greg: I did. It sounds like a good system. They were prompt, nice, and all. Cost was just a lot more than I had anticipated or what I am currently willing to pay. The pond has quite a bit of wave action and I doubt if it will be anywhere close to fish capacity for some time so I think I'm going to go without aeration and see how it goes. Following is the response. Jeff

Jeff,

Thanks for your inquiry.

Not sure how much you have been in our web site but it has just about everything in it that I could send you.

The expected life of a SolarBee is 25 years. It is built of stainless steel and corrosion resistant polymers. Our brush type motor will have an average life of 4-6 years and our brushless type motor on our v12 series units will have a life of 25 years with one bearing change. The solar modules are garmented for 20 years to have 90% of their original capacity. We have a 2 year parts and labor warrantee. We have SolarBees out all winter in very cold climates and if they do freeze in the do not get damaged. I would suspect in your climate they would not totally freeze in.

As far as cooling the water over winter there will be some but not like an aerator system. We have one of our largest SolarBees in a 27 acre lake in WI. The past 2 years the owner has reported great DO reading top to bottom (22 feet). The area that is kept open varies, at –20 maybe 10 feet around the SolarBee to 25 above a 1/2 acre or more is open. Water at the surface was at 0 degree C and at the bottom 4 degree C. With aerators before SolarBee everything was at 0 degrees.

I do not know all of your issues that you want to address in your pond. If it is blue-green algae and better water clarity we would recommend our medium size SolarBee model SB2500v12. With basic options the cost is $24,900 and delivery to the St Louis Area would be around $4,300. This is equal to about $70 per surface acre per year over 25 years.

There is no system on the market that can mix a 17 acre reservoir from one location and have as great of a positive impact as a SolarBee has. To compare this to an aeration system SolarBees this size have replaced 10-20 hp of grid power mixing aeration.

If you have more questions you can contact me using the information below.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Michael Christensen Midwest Regional Manager SolarBee, Div of PSI 866-553-5590 mikec@solarbee.com www.solarbee.com--

Ranger thanks for the email. Yep you can run a normal diffused air system like Cary has for many years and still pocket money vs. solarbee. I look forward to hearing water quality results from some PB member that gets one. Bob didn't a client of yours try one out? If so it would be great to see some water quality, algae , etc. diff.

Ranger,

Check your private messages. Thank you.