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When I built my "roughly" 3/4 acre pond I sealed bottom (soda ash) and covered bottom with 8-12" of soil and when I layed my water supply line in I bedded it in sand/gravel on top of bottom seal as I figured this would be better than going through the seal. I have been reading a lot on aeration and am wondering if I could possibly Inject compressor air directly into my 2" main line?? Pressure runs about 6-7psi open flow at around 100gal/min. I also use this system for drip and I don't use a pressure tank, I just close "pond valve" down to produce 30-35psi when watering trees so I could (possibly) run air alone with valve closed upstream, or run air pressure into line with water flow. I also have the ability to close off all manifolds for drip so I can run full flow into pond. My line has a 90 deg fitting with a short 20" piece I installed to be my "augmentor" in approx 7' of water with max depth around 9.5'.
I've had a huge FA bloom this last 30 days or so going into winter and am not sure what I'm going to run into this winter.
Does this sound like a possible "good" idea??

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I guess I should mention this pond is less than 6 months old and my biomass is extremely low. I stocked 125 2-3" Redear, 35 3-4" yellow perch and 60 2" smallmouth after 2 months with only fatheads and 10 2-4lb CC to control any tiger salamander hatch that was obviously going to be an issue.

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You may want to look into a Venturi valve. It picks up air as water passes and gets infused with the outflow. Lots of info available on how they work and even how to DIY one.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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I agree with Mike. It's pretty simple to do if you are adding water through tubular type of water line.


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I can not advise to the benefits of injecting air into a water supply stream. I guess every little bit helps. I do not think that running air out your water supply line alone is going to be efficient at all. You really need a diffuser to maximize the air's effects on moving water.

What ever you do, do not use a standard air compressor that has oil in it. You'll get that rainbow sheen on your pond surface. A little oil contamination goes along way. I would recommend a rotary, diaphragm, or piston air pump (in that order of personal preference) to "inject' the air, BUT, at this point, spend a little more and add some diffusers and weighted air line and be done and done right (meaning efficiently and most effectively).

All things considered, if you are OK with marginal positive affects...the venturi is the cheapest way to go.


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Thanks for the replies all.. QA, I'll read between the lines a bit there and say first, I'm not sure how much, or should I say I don't know how much of what..I need?? I know the nutrient load in a new pond can be somewhat high, especially in a high Ag use land situation surrounding me. Some of the videos I've found show like a 50 GPM pump using a venture that literally turn the water white with micro-sized air infusion. I guess where I'm stumped is an unknown as to whether I need more/less aeration and if that is what I need to help with FA bloom or is it a response to my super-high fertility soil type, and how do I best handle that?? It's been my experience in fisheries management in larger bodies of water, I haven't seen this type of bloom unless there was something missing in most cases..
Most situations I see FA develop are at Hot, low inflow times of year, so I'm a bit shy about saying "I haven't seen this", and I may need some help here..:-)) I feel I am the same color as the FA I'm in question about right now.
Appreciate the input!

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The only real advantage to injecting air into the water supply is that its adding a minimal amount of 02 to the water you're pumping into the pond. If it's well water, then that's a good thing as well water has very little to no O2. If your pumping from a creek or spring, then your water inflow may have ample O2 already without air infusion.

The venturi won't do much for creating an increased O2 level as water needs to come in contact with the pond surface, where it absorbs oxygen. That's why a diffuser system is much more efficient as it pushes water to the surface.

Regarding your FA issue, I've never heard of aeration reducing the nutrient load, so its likely not going to benefit you much there. You have to reduce the load or find something (other plant growth, etc.)to use it up so the FA basically starves out, or introduce something (tilapia, grass carp) to eat it. I've run aeration at a rate of approximately 2 complete turnovers a day all summer, and still have FA...just saying.

Just my very uneducated 2 cents.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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Mike, That's why i'm asking.. it's a new pond, my aquatic vegetation is extremely limited at this point and I don't have a nutrient converter in this early stage. I've planted about 25 arrowhead plants, about 100 cattail bulbs and some transplanted sprigs of American pondweed. Maybe I'm expecting too much too fast..

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On the bright side, snipe, the fa is a good indicator that the necessary nutrients are there and those plants you've introduced should do well. I'd keep a close eye on those cattails. Once they get established, they're going to get aggressive.

My pond is even smaller than yours, and still sparsely vegetated, but I'm letting nature take its course for the most part. It does take time for a pond to come into it's own, but I have seen that smaller ponds tend to do things a bit faster than larger BOWs. Just be patient.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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I'm sure you're right.. Time will tell the story and I guess that's why we call it management. We've been in the teens the last 3 nights and she's solid ice now so we'll see what spring brings.

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With your biomass still being low, you most likely won't have any issues this winter with DO since you've got decent depth at 9.5 feet, but since your pond completely freezes over, you might want to be thinking about future aeration if for nothing else than keeping an area open to allow gasses to escape the pond when it gets iced over.

Once your biomass gets heavier, it'll be more important to prevent a winter kill.


.10 surface acre pond, 10.5 foot deep. SW LA. The epitome of a mutt pond. BG, LMB, GSF, RES, BH, Warmouth, Longear Sunfish, Gambusia,Mud Minnows, Crappie, and now shiners!!...I subscribe!!
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IMO injecting a significant amount air into a 100 GPM flow of water that is exiting into the bottom of the pond would have tangible benefit. (I would use a venturi if possible). The air bubbles generated will pump a considerable amount of water to the surface using the same principle (expanding bubbles) as a bottom diffuser. The bottom diffuser is more efficient, as it generates a huge amount of small bubbles, but if you are pumping the well water anyway, your method is "free" and would help your low DO well water mix more quickly with the water in the bottom of the pond and move a significant amount of water to the surface.

Just my 1 cent........

Last edited by Bill D.; 11/11/18 12:09 PM. Reason: Typo

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Bill D, I appreciate every 1 cent addition.. And to be clear on my water line, as it enters and follows pond bottom, at what is approx. 7.5ft deep, I added a 90 deg (actually 2 45 deg) fittings and a base bracket with a 2' riser coming straight up. I added a 10" piece surrounding the 2" main line to create an augmenter tube in effect, an underwater venturi of sorts to help lift bottom layer. with water on it creates an incredible surface "boil".. Moves a lot of water.
I've built a venturi to try in-line after researching the different types of DIY methods out there. I didn't get to try it before it iced over though..
I got a very small window of "feeling out" evaporation rates as the pond was finished mid July and looking back, I ran water for 24hrs an average of once every 9 days. I'm going to try it out if the weather lets things normalize temp-wise. Something I had never given a second thought to was well water being low DO2, even though in these parts with flat ground and no trees, the surface is subject to winds so there is some small wave action to expose and aerate but not when there's ice.. I gotta try it out.

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If you are moving water at a 100GPM rate, I'd build an oversized section of pipe about 4' long and use Liquid Oxygen at a 20LPM rate through 2 Ceramic Oxygen diffusers 2.5" wide x 36" long



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Rainman, is this something I can "see" to better understand?? I'm interested.

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Originally Posted By: Snipe
Rainman, is this something I can "see" to better understand?? I'm interested.


I presume you are using a 2" PVC discharge pipe.....If you upsize to a section of 4" PVC, you would have space to put a ceramic Oxygen diffuser in the larger section. You can rent Oxygen Bottles or Dewar LOX tanks at any welding supply. Install a bulkhead nipple fitting for the Oxygen, add a regulator and adjustable flow meter and your water could be saturated with oxygen when entering your pond.

These are the diffusers.... https://pentairaes.com/point-four-micro-bubble-diffusers-mbd.html They are not cheap. but a must have to diffuse pure oxygen,,,they produce bubbles in tiny micron sizes that easily dissolve into the water.




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