Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Thoughts on aeration?

As I have been digging my pond over the last few weeks, several people have asked me if I plan to aerate it. Honestly, right now I don't know enough about the aeration process to discuss it. I know my neighbor has a windmill system and has trout, but we have other ponds that seem to do fine without.

My surface area is going to be right around an acre with a true average depth of ~11' and a max depth of 25'. My fish choices are outlined in my signature and I plan on feeding as well if that makes a difference. I also will have power very close so electric would be an option if that is better than wind.

So I guess my question is, "Do or will I need it?"

IMO forget wind aeration in a 1 ac pond. It does not produce enough cfm to adequately mix that amount of water especially in mid-summer when mixing is most important in a pond where there are higher fish biomasses due to "supplimental feeding". Many ponds, especially relatively new ponds less than 10-20yrs old without pellet feeding can appear to do very well without aeration. Appearences at the surface can be deceiving considering what is occurring on the bottom in deep water. At 25 ft deep also forget aeration that operated by a rotary vane compressor. Your best option is a rocking piston compressor that has higher psi with good cfm.

Truly successful SMB ponds long term rely on good daily water quality year round which good aeration provides. One of the main reasons for failure of SMB in ponds is reduced water quality primarily DO. SMB can tolerate well warm water conditions if adequate DO is always present. SMB are more intolerant of low DO compared to LMB.

Thanks for more help Bill!

Although my pond goes to 25', I believe it will silt in to around 20' fairly quickly. 20' was really my goal depth anyways and it covers somewhere around a 1/4 of my pond and is shifted to one side. The remainder of the pond is 0-8' with a 1 on 3 slope and then to 12-14' or so.

Would one diffuser placed in the deep portion of my pond be enough to aerate the pond properly or would I need two?

Since wind mill and rotary vane systems are out, what do you consider a good rocking piston compressor with "higher psi with good cfm"?

I could install a pump in my pole barn which sits 150' or so away from my dock at the pond edge and then hard pipe the plumbing under ground right into the pond before I finish backfilling around it.

Hey HM,

I would not go with less than 2, 9 inch diffusers. 1 I don't think would cut it. 2 Vertex fusers with a 1/4 or a 1/2 horse GAST pump would work good at your depth. I use 2 diffusers on my 1 acre pond and it works fine as long as your pond is not funny shaped. If it is the starndard oval or triangle type shape you should be fine. But if you have an L shape or smaller area into a larger area you may need 2 setups stations to get all your water moving.

RC

Look into Gast or Thomas twin head rocking piston compressors. I would strongly consider two air stations, either two dual head or one dual and one tri-head at deep location..

I would go with Gast or Thomas. They have been around for a while, and at least, the nameplate data is correct! Not so with others out there.

The integral motor/pump designs that are offered, really suck on electrical efficiency tho. Don't matter who it is!

I've heard that output HP means nothing from an AC induction motor, that is a constant HP animal! Who wulda thunk

I recently purchased a rebuilt Thomas twin piston (model 2660) pump from a major internet auction site from a major rebuilder at a really cheap price and am very happy with it. Pump puts out 4.6 cfm free air flow. Make sure you match your cfm to the diffusers you purchase.