Your biggest problems and when you need to be most watchful for the deepest water will occur when the air temperatures are the highest for your weather zone, probably in July-August. At this time also your surface temps will be the warmest of the year. The process may involve quite a bit of temperature checking in the deep water. IMO I don't think a bottom water temp of 60F will provide enough DO for the trout. If the trout suffocate in the deep water I doubt you will see them when they are dead & they are not likely to float.
Once you see a pattern develop in the pond as it responds to your specific aerator system then you will have a fairly good idea what will happen in future years during the hottest part of the summer. Several members here with marginal trout ponds aerate only at night to help keep the overal pond cooler. Keep good notes of aerator run times and corresponding water temps at the surface and bottom. These data will be very helpful in the future summer seasons providing you don't make equipment changes to your aerator system. When you have a pattern developed the biggest variable will then be the affect of eutrophication on the pond which over time increases the biochemical oxygen demand of the ecosystem especially in the deepest part of the pond.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 05/01/12 09:38 AM.
