Hello All, My name is Rocko, from Alvin Texas and I am new to the forum. In June of 2018 my wife and I dug a new pond on our place. It is 80' x 140' and approx. 18' deep, with a deeper hole on one side. We are planning on stocking it this week with Bluegill Perch and Blue Catfish. I have a few questions about pond aeration. I have been reading a lot of posts and watching a lot of videos and not sure of what we need to do.

We want a healthy pond full of fish and feel pond aeration is a key. I am a career Firefighter and working on a budget. So, I may try to build my own system using a HiBlow HP 200 septic air pump and two airstone diffusers or I am looking at a Koenders HD 250 with two airstone diffusers.

My questions are as follows:

1. Will the HiBlow pump be big enough to do the job?

2. How deep do I place the diffusers?

3. If I don't place the diffuses on the bottom will the entire pond circulate?

4. Will pond aeration keep the pond from turning over?

5. Do we aerate 24/7/365?

6. Is starting pond aeration better now while its still cold or wait until it warms up a bit?

Thank you in advance for helping us out and answering our questions. We are really excited in our now pond and want to get started in the right direction. I have subscribed to the Pond Boss Magazine and really looking forward to learning more about pond management in the future.