Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Diffuser Run Times

kennylee, great questions of which Greg hit the magic word "depends"1.Even as mentioned with goals set you must know the turnover or lifting ability of your system.Then knowing the demand for DO you may place now and in the future is also important, ie light,med,heavy fish load, will use UV inhibitors, some plants OK etc etc.Is maximum amount of DO in entire pond with a lot of aerobic bacteria on the pond bottom part of the goal ?Normally systems are sized to run 24/7 and once the cooler weather arrives 40-45 F average daily temp your water is cool enough to hold a lot of DO so the supply is high but plants fish (demand) is going in the opposite direction. Since your pond is only 4 years old it should not have a lot of oxygen robbing organic matter yet.The key is to keep the supply of DO above the ever changing demand for DO.2.Some diffusers have check valves built in to prevent the airlines and the diffusers from filling with water and some do not. The problem with (add on) check valves is that its just one more item to maintain and one more obstruction in the airline, Try to stay with diffusers that have them built in. Add on check valves allow water to enter the diffuser and can plug up quickly, some manufacturers suggest removing the diffusers yearly and cleaning them. A good pressure guage will tell you when to clean your diffusers and most can be cleaned from the shoreline with out removal by flexing 3. Most pistons that we use are oilless and the lower cfm units are used in the air brush industry.