Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Established Pond. New Owners Aeration HELP!

I've done a fair amount of research on the forum, and have sent Bill Cody a PM, but not sure if he will get the notification or not. My details are below. FYI, the pond is in Ohio.

I bought a house about 2 years ago, pond completely neglected, thick cattail bordered entire round pond, Pond is about 1/2 acre 8-9 foot deep. Since buying the house, I have been getting the cattail killed using rodeo. There are some monster blue gills in the pond, when I first cleared a spot of cattails large enough to fish through I caught 4 8-9" BG in 5 minutes, on bread balls. This year, I plan to install some type of aeration, in order to put oxygen in the water and lower chemical consumption hopefully.

Aerator questions:
I am considering both electrical aerator or windmill. I am out in the open and get plenty of wind. However; I have electric at my pole barn that is only 100 foot away from the nearest edge of the pond so trenching it wouldn't be a problem either. Being familiar with the geography. would you be able to provide any assistance on what I should do and recommend a system? I am fairly handy so DIY is fine. I had been looking up gast pumps, just not sure which one I would go with if that is the best option.

Thanks in advance

Your options are dictated by the geographical area around your pond. The number of trees and will influence the air near windmill to produce air (circle patterns of wind will not keep the blades turning consistently), solar-depndant on average % of sunlight availability, and electric is good option when very close.

I was dead set on a windmill for aeration. After doing a lot of reading here on PBF, talking to the fish guy I bought my fish from, and figuring the cost or each setup and how long I could pay for electricity because of the extra cost the windmill was going to be, I chose electric.

I don't know how your area is, but in our area we also get wind MOST of the time. Problem is, when we are most likely to get a fish kill from low DO, is in the dead of July or August when temperatures soar and sometimes the wind dies down for a few days in a row to nothing. The exact time when aeration is needed most, it might not be there.

If I absolutely could not get electric or remote air line to the pond, I would think the ultimate non-household electric setup would be a wind mill with a solar pump backup for when the wind was not blowing. But that would also be boo-koo bucks when it was all said and done.

For my money, the household electric for the reliability of air when it was needed worst and dependability was the way to go.

+1 to what Snrub said with this caveat. If anybody ever puts a solar aeration system on the market that makes sense from a cost stand point, I will happily turn my landline electric system off and use it only as a backup when I need it.

Bill, U GOT THAT RITE !! I was quoted $20,000.00 (solar) to aerate my 3.52 acre pond. From a vender at PBS. I am sure it is because of my pond bottom having two separate 10 and 12' depth 1.5 acre holes. So, now I am looking at pumping air 2,000' and still getting the pressure and volume to support maybe 9 diffusers and and maybe one surface aerator. And this was not in my pond budget. So I have to figure out to get it done as my pocket book will allow.
Tracy