Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Muddy water aeration

i bought a 10' sprinker hose(looks like a soaker hose,but dirrerent)and put in the swimming pool to see if it would work for a aeration system.we installer a cast unit to the hose and it woked very well,it did take about 1 minute to start blowing.will this work long term for my aeration in a small pond?

Steve, it will work, but I think an actual piece of soaker hose will produce more and smaller bubbles and circulate more water. Some systems are actually sold with a kind of soaker hose. Get a piece and just fold back an end and use plastic tywrap cable ties to secure it. You may want to put it inside a rigid pvc pipe with larger holes drilled in it for protection. If your water is pretty deep, 10 ft or more, a round rubber membrane diffuser will be better, though. They are pretty cheap.

Although soaker hose works to produce fine bubbles you have to be careful to keep it clean or periodically replace it. The texture of the hose is conducive to clogging from various algal, bacterial, fungal growths and mineral deposits. You should have a pressure gauge (15-30psi) on the aeration system to monitor the amount of clogging of the diffuser. As the diffuser plugs up the operating pressure goes up higher than the original operating pressure.

Diffuser clogging causes the compressor to work harder and wear out faster. Clogging also reduces the water circulation efficiency of the diffuser.

Steve,

Soaker hose will produce approx. 1-3 mm bubbles. The smaller the bubble the greater the circulation of the water. The hose you purchased has small holes punched in it to allow the water to flow out. I think you had problems getting the air to escape because it takes so much pressure to push the air out these small holes.

The diffusers used by us is actually EPDM rubber extruded in at a rate to ensure .5 mm bubbles and even distribution of air accross the entire membrane.

Bill is correct about organic growth on not just the soaker hose, but it will attach to our diffusers, rubber membrane disc diffusers and stones. Cleaning is done by increasing the volume of air to the diffuser thereby blowing it up like a baloon.

This can not be done with stones, they have to be phisically removed. If you put too much volume of air in a rubber disc diffuser, the chance of blowing the membrane off the disc is greatly increased. The AirPod can handle up to 10 cfm without any damage. If you increase the volume with a soaker hose or the hose you purchased, the air will travel out the hose in the shallow area and never make it down to the bottom. It may even make the holes larger and decrease the effectivness of the hose.