Looking for some advice on a good reliable pumps, trying to throw a diy setup together for my +-1 acre pond for a 2 diffuser setup, placement will be roughly 6-7ft of water. Water has no movement, except when it pours and it’s starting to reflect on surface and quality, and I want to get something going before I start seeing livestock problems. I seen a few videos on hiblows, which seem like they last a long time and you can buy replacement parts which is a plus. Don’t really want to spend a lot in electricity bills to run something. Thanks for any info
I bought a 120 cfm system from Nashville pond and couldn't be happier. Excellent service and support. My BOW is very similar to yours. I'm in my first summer of aeration and can already see the positive effects. I bought a diaphragm rebuild kit to have on hand. I run the pump 8hrs a day x7 a week and my monthly electric bill is $40.
Half acre 30 year old farm pond, Mebane NC. Aeration & feeder. LMB, CC, SC, BG, HBC, two no account welfare carp and nine seasonal Tilapia that all the other fish are terrified of.
Ryan, my half-acre pond is of similar specs as yours except for size. I did all configurations myself four times before finding the right system. Two Thomas 8011 Series Thomas Compressors (220v) Diaphragm compressors failed within the first year due to not installing cooling fans in the pump housing. Moved to a Gast Rotary Vane Compressor, RV33, 1/4 hp unit with two cooling fans configured to pull/push air through the cabinet, two Matala Single Air Base w/9 inch disc diffusers. This system works and runs consistently within the temperature specifications of the manufacturer. Summer dry heat up to high 90's and low 100's. The biggest issue my opinion is the capacity and willingness of the supplier to provide you with the proper information with secondary consideration to their profitability. On this matrix (Scale 1-10) Fispondaerators rates 0. Keystone Hatcheries rates 10. It was an expensive lesson but one I most willingly share to help you avoid a similar fate. My fault completely - trying to save money initially: Bad or no advice, cost around $1000. Cleaning of invasive plants $1200. The new system, complete less than $1000. Hope this helps.
If your putting a DIY system together I would go with a GAST or maybe a Thomas pump. 1/4 to 1/3 hp. You can find pumps all over the net but Mr. Bill Cody may be able to help you as well, and he is very trust worthy long time member here. I have a 1/3 hp gast 0523 that has been awesome for my 1 acre. These pumps are not real cheep but once you get air going you don't want your pump breaking down all the time either. No matter what you get I would also get a rebuild kit in case you need it or a backup form of pump in case your main one is down for a bit. You don't want your air dying on you in the middle of summer.
RC
Last edited by RC51; 06/27/1812:17 PM.
The only difference between a rut and a Grave is the depth. So get up get out of that rut and get moving!! Time to work!!
Ryan, my half-acre pond is of similar specs as yours except for size. I did all configurations myself four times before finding the right system. Two Thomas 8011 Series Thomas Compressors (220v) Diaphragm compressors failed within the first year due to not installing cooling fans in the pump housing. Moved to a Gast Rotary Vane Compressor, RV33, 1/4 hp unit with two cooling fans configured to pull/push air through the cabinet, two Matala Single Air Base w/9 inch disc diffusers. This system works and runs consistently within the temperature specifications of the manufacturer. Summer dry heat up to high 90's and low 100's. The biggest issue my opinion is the capacity and willingness of the supplier to provide you with the proper information with secondary consideration to their profitability. On this matrix (Scale 1-10) Fispondaerators rates 0. Keystone Hatcheries rates 10. It was an expensive lesson but one I most willingly share to help you avoid a similar fate. My fault completely - trying to save money initially: Bad or no advice, cost around $1000. Cleaning of invasive plants $1200. The new system, complete less than $1000. Hope this helps.
Dang it, now I'm paranoid about my diaphragm pump overheating. It's in a vented insulated housing and it only runs in the coolest part of the day. I will probably rebuild it yearly since its a simple job.
Half acre 30 year old farm pond, Mebane NC. Aeration & feeder. LMB, CC, SC, BG, HBC, two no account welfare carp and nine seasonal Tilapia that all the other fish are terrified of.
Thanks for the replies, just the kind of info I’m looking for. I am trying to stay away from problems if I can. What kind of watts are the gast pumps? Do they need to be inside of a case or can they take the weather?
For best results with the least troubles, You want the compressor to be in some sort of shelter even if it is a dog house or any well ventilated with free flow air form of plastic or wooden box. Pumps need to be kept dry and cool as practical. Heat and moisture are their enemy. Gast makes various sizes of compressors including 12 volt units. See this PB forum link for some details about power comsumption for the most popular Gast compressor for aeration. http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=37691&Number=491549#Post491549
Last edited by Bill Cody; 06/27/1808:21 PM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
I chose to run the lines out of my pump house separately because I wanted to put flow controls on each diffuser line to help equalize each boil and/or shut off each diffuser individually. I plan to use one diffuser in the winter so being able to turn the individuals off is a must and should one need repair, I can shut down that line only. Equalizing the boils is not that important unless your diffusers will be at much different depths in the pond. If one diffuser is at 12 feet and the other is at 2, there will be a significant difference in the amount of air each one receives. The deeper one will be very weak and the shallow one will be boiling like mad.
If there is a very strict budget, running one line from the pump to the water will be a bit of a savings especially if you have to go real far. If you are trenching the cost of some pex tubing and fittings is pretty minimal compared to trenching again.
Here's and example of how I plumbed my pump. The pump is hidden above the plumbing in a fan cooled "box".
Good info, the difference in depth should only be 1 ft or so, but I like the fact of if I have a problem with one I can shut it down. I can even just get 1 going and then just add a new line for the 2nd at any time.
Just a side note, You cannot see in the pic where my PEX lines exit my pump house, but I laid 4" sch 40 PVC from the pump house into the water so that the PEX line would be protected. I have ALOT of rock. This also allows me to push another PEX line through in the future or replace a line if need be. I could even run two more lines and add a pump to the house that could operate a fountain. My pump house is only 30 feet from the water's edge.
That’s a nice little setup, my shed is only about 20 feet from my shore so I will be making that the base. Does this pex line sink? Or do you have it weighted? I assume you have it protected from sun breakdown? What kind of diffusers are you using?
Thanks for the compliment on my efforts, I really enjoyed cobbling it together.
The PEX only extends into the pond and out of the 4" pvc far enough that I can loop it back to the shore and make the connections to the weighted hose that goes to the diffusers. So there is maybe 5 foot of PEX loose in the water. It does not sink especially with air in it so I had to place some rocks on it to keep it on the bottom - 18" deep. The only protection it has from the sun is my poor water clarity. I will place more rocks on it when it becomes visible again. I am in the middle of an algae bloom, heavy runoff from rains, and I really stirred it up last weekend installing the system.
The diffusers are Vertex that I purchased from Hoosier Pond Pros...
Awesome! I plan on using sinking hose, I haven’t decided on the size yet, either 3/8 or 5/8. Do those diffusers work pretty good? I was looking at them but I didn’t realize there was so many choices, is the base needed to hold it on the bottom? Will it not work without them?
The only think I would do differently would be to either make the base thinner and bigger footprint or else combine a plastic disk or something for a bigger footprint.
With yours being extended up above the bottom they will be fine. But such a small heavy base tends to sink down into the much in the bottom of the pond. I have a plastic concrete mixing tub to put under one of mine but I have never installed it. I used to have a little problem with the concrete diffuser base stirring up sediment but I have not noticed that recently. Maybe it has cleared out a big enough area around it so it does not do it any more. But a heavy small footprint base will tend to sink into soft muck or clay.
Awesome! I plan on using sinking hose, I haven’t decided on the size yet, either 3/8 or 5/8. Do those diffusers work pretty good? I was looking at them but I didn’t realize there was so many choices, is the base needed to hold it on the bottom? Will it not work without them?
You will definitely need a base heavy enough to keep them down on the bottom. As the diffuser fills with air to do its job the membrane expands and balloons out. It will definitely float without weight.
If you want to learn how to not add wood to make a base footprint larger and why you do not want to do it I will post a link here as soon as I find it.
Here is where I fixed the problem I created by making the diffuser base buoyant. diffuser base modification
Factory diffuser bases will have provision of adding weight to keep them from floating. Usually a hole to fill them with sand. If you make your own you will have to ballast them in some way. Concrete works if you make a concrete base like in this thread.
John has answered some of your question as well as they can be answered. It's good to have John on the forums. As far as the line size goes, it is popular to use 5/8" ID weighted hose for the bottom of the pond. The larger size will be easier on your pump. Smaller hose is harder to push air through and will cost you some extra money in the end by higher electrical costs and shorter pump life. If I could change one thing on my system it would be to use the next size up from 1/2" PEX to get from the pump house to the pond. I may be restricting the system a little bit, but not much. I did some bench testing of my system and was goofing around with the 100 foot roll of 1/2" pex and the pressure gage and was surprised how much back pressure the 100 foot roll created when it was hooked up to the pump. I do not remember the pressure readings, but do remember thinking that it was more than I would expect. I went ahead with the 1/2" pex becuase there are three parallel lines after my plumbing tree that triple the cross sectional area and, hence, act like a larger tube. With all that said, the Gast 0523 on has 1/4" NPT holes at the pump which is pretty small compared to the line sizes I used. It's actually the length of the hoses that can create the backpressure issues.
IIRC, it only takes 15 pounds to sink a Vertex single diffuser, so I used 20 - to 25 pounds for good measure and my bases could be wider, but seem to work. They are positioned on the slope of my pond bottom and are a bit "tippy".
