Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Windmill for dual usage

G’day guys
I have a small 1/2 acre surface area pond (15'deep). I want to start aerating it. I have a small stream (dry 11 months of the year) that enters at one end of the pond. Is it possible to set up a windmill to aerate, and also pump water from one end of the pond into the dry stream and also circulate water that way? I want to enhance the aesthetics of the pond and it will look great having a bubbling stream cycling into the pond almost constantly. It will also allow riparian species (native reeds) establish and improve water quality.

Brett

Brett,

It is entirely possible. The same shaft that normally pulls the water pump can be fitted with a pulley to pull an aeration pump. The air is not free. It will steal a lot of power from your water pump, so you may have to go to a bit longer blades on the windmill.

If you have lots of wind during the dry times, aeration will REALLY help your fish, but will add a just bit to the evaporation rate.

Merry Christmas to all!

Bob,
Thanks for such a quick reply. Can you reccomend one particular Windmill over an other?

If you have lots of wind during the dry times, aeration will REALLY help your fish, but will add a just bit to the evaporation rate.

bobad, at what rate and it should not be any greater than the evaportation rate created by the wind whipping accross the water surface, correct?

I am now really motivated and set on aerating my pond when we get back from the US. Can anybody shed some light on what would be the best value for money option? and approximayely how much will it cost to buy and get back to OZ? Oh and my neighbors back in OZ have put their cow and calf into the padock, is that going to cause a major problem? It is a new pond and vegetation is just starting to take on the dam walls. (The cows have to swim occasionally because it is over 100 F at the moment)

WRT cows in the pond, let me first state that I understand you gotta do what you gotta do for livestock. I took down the electric fence one year and let my cattle graze on & around my newly planted conifers because there was a drought and they really needed that extra 20x300 foot strip of pasture. It probably set my evergreen privacy fence project back 5 years, but I lost no cattle.

Sympathies taken care of, there are several generally recognized problems with letting cows into the pond field and pond proper:

1) Manure - maybe a year/year and a half ago we had a thread that converted one cow to an equivalent number of Canada Geese as far as manure production goes. I don't remember the exact number, but one cow was worth on the order of 50 geese. Now consider that many of us don't want more than 1 pair of geese permanently inhabiting (and "enriching") one acre of pond, and you can see that a cow and a calf are over the recommended daily dose of manure for a half acre. To say the least, you won't have to fertilize.

2) Muddying the bottom - from watching my In-Laws cattle in their creek, I would describe the behavior of hot cows in the water as being in between trampling and wallowing. If you do not have fish in the pond yet, at least it won't be affecting them. Some species (trout) would have a really bad (i.e. probably fatal) time of it, while others (cats, carp) wouldn't mind. If the cows have to remain in the future, that may have an impact on what types of fish you should put in.

3) Trampling down the banks - cattle will tend to blur the dry land/shallow water border. This should be minimized as much as possible by (trying to) limiting their access to a smaller area of the pond by fencing. I ESPECIALLY RECOMMEND THE COWS BE KEPT OFF OF THE DAM, PARTICULARLY SINCE IT IS NOT VEGETATED YET.

A possible long term solution to all these problems might be to run a water line from the pond to a low point (maybe excavate a bowl) downstream from the dam to make a wallow for the cattle to drink from and to cool off in during hot weather. The Summer temps here in Ohio do not require letting the cows swim, but I have a water line running from a filtered inlet in the pond down to a freezeout hydrant below the dam to water my cattle outside the pond field.

On a personal note , let me state that either written 'Strine looks just like American English (which is in itself arguably an oxymoron), or you are making a much appreciated effort to make it easy for us Yankees (and Rebels) understand you. For example, an "acre" we can understand, while a "hectare" is gonna be guessed to be either a square kilometer or the first name of a Pondmeister from South of the border.

G'Day.

G'Day mate. Everyone knows that 1 hectare = 2.471053815 acres. Even all those silly longhairs who write papers use the term to try to confuse all us commoners. By the way it is 20 geese to one cow and either way it amounts to a lot of mess or is it meadow muffins.

Trivia knowledge:

1 pair of geese equals one manatee. I used to work at Sea World of FL and we were amazed at how much worse the bird ponds were than the manatee ponds.

Those cows have gotta go!!! I have power at the pond already. But I am now considering electric aeration. Which system is best? and, how long should I run it each day?

Electric powered aeration is the most reliable. You want to run the system continuously to maintain a constant oxygen and temperature level from top to bottom. The most efficient type system is a membrane diffuser powered by a small piston compressor.

The most efficient way of circulating the water is by installing a diffuser at the bottom of the lake and allow the bubbles that are generated "push" the bottom water that is devoid of oxygen to the surface of the lake. There the water will de-gas the bad gasses like hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg smell) and carbon dioxide and at the same time absorb beneficial oxygen.

The water will layer on top of itself and eventually the lake will be oxygenated from top to bottom as well as the same temperature from top to bottom, thereby virtually eliminating any peaks and valleys that can disrupt a healthy ecosystem.

Smiley is right, the membrane diffusers are the "New" technology and the Wob-L or Rocking piston compressors are the most reliable and efficient.

When searching for a company to purcase from, make sure they size your system to include the Cow's nutrient loading. Otherwise you will be very disappointed in the results. Secondly, they should be able to provide you the estimated turnover rates for your pond as well as electrical estimates and a good "after-the-sale" support. Feel free to email or contact us for additional information.

Thanks guys,

Would any real benefit be gained from aerating using a timer for say eight hours per day? The water has very poor visibility due to suspended clay,(so, no aquatic plants apart from floating algae and some riparian sedges/rushes along the edges.

The fish species include spotted grunter (to 1/2 pound), native crayfish, silver perch (to 6 pound) and small gambusia-sized natives. These fish all thrive in these water temperatures naturally. The silvers will be the dominant species size wise and are a very hardy, omniverous species. Will aerating cool the water signifigantly. During summer the top two feet of water is bath temperature and the water below that is realy cool.

8 hrs. per day would help tremendously. It will mix(de-stratify) water and oxygenate it.

Aeration will bring the temperature up, not down, in the summer months. Not only is the compressed air going into your pond hot, but the water is also pushed upward to the surface where it is exposed to the warm summer air.

Yes. it will bring the average temp. up, but from experience in my pond, the surface temp. is brought down a good bit.

Another thought!!! I already have power at the pond and have a pump for irrigation. The pump has a pressure head that kicks off whenever I turn on taps arround the propety. Is it feasible to put a T-junction in the main line and run another hose with a timer on it back into the pond. I could the timer to open a stop-cock and circulate water arround the dam in order to aerate/turnover water. The pump inlet is only about 1foot below the surface so I imagine I would have to have the return water coming back in at the bottom somewhere and perhaps orientate it to point towards the surface to maximise circulation.

Bruce Condello has shown that a hose discharge placed horizontally at the surface will turn over a whole pond. I was unable to locate the thread; hopefully someone will remember where it's at.

Here it is Theo --from the unoffical PB librarian.

http://www.pondboss.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000125#000003

Holy smokes!! I never realized Ted responded to this thread! I'd better read it.