The DO levels still leave me wanting more. Removing craws seems to have jumped my clarity from 12" to 23" and I will be extending my aeration run times from 3am to 8am gradually further into the daytime hours to get more run time and maybe more DO. My main concern is turning the blooms under and killing them off (is that really happening)...Which is better, more aeration run time or leaving the bloom alone to do it's thing. I am second guessing the importance of aeration at this time. It seems that the DO is weak from top to bottom with the aeration running, but improves quite a bit in the upper water column without air running. If I feed during low DO (in the morning), there is little to no interest, but feeding in the evening when upper column DO levels are increased, feeding is much better (still not a frenzy by no means)...I'm cornfused on what can be done at this point! I should have the air running a full 10 hours compared to the current 5 by this weekend to see what that shows on the DO meter.
Latest readings:
I caught 25 crawdads overnight Friday night and returned them like last week. The water clarity has leveled out around 22-24 inches.
Saturday's readings (Aeration has been running 3am to 8am)...
Time - 8am in BOLD , 1pm in RED, 6 pm in GREEN
Ambient Temps - 69 F, 78 F, 86 F
Secchi Disk Reading - 23", 23", 23"
Water temps - Top to Bottom 75 F, Bottom 75 F - Top 83 F, Bottom 75 F - Top 82
DO - 4 ppm from surface down to 2', 5.9 ppm @ surface, 5.0 ppm - 12" down, 3.9 ppm - 24" down, 6.5 ppm @ surface, 4.9 ppm - 12" down. 4.0 ppm - 24" down
TDS - 47 ppm, 51 ppm, 51 ppm all taken at 12" deep.
pH - 7.0 @ surface, 6.8 - 12" down, 6.6 - 24" down, 7.1 @ surface, 6.7 - 12" down, 6.4 - 24" down, 7.3 @ surface, 7.0 - 12" down, 6.8 - 24" down
Ammonia, Nitrates, & Phosphates - all zeros throughout the day
HSB feeding has been strong all week which is a new thing as of a few weeks prior. HBG feeding has also been good, consistent with previous weeks/months. My fish do not go nuts at feeding time, they just peck away a little at a time. I have been throwing out a total of a 1/4 pound of food over the course of an hour. I throw a little, they eat it slowly, then throw more and so on. I'm pretty sure they would eat more, but I get bored and quit. I have upped my feeding amounts and frequency since learning that the pond was NOT very fertile with no evidence of problems.
