I am a new member. I have 3 ponds on some property that I recently purchased. They are all in timber. But 2 of them have some runoff from farm fields one much more than the other. #1 is 4.4 acres, # 2 is .8 acres and #3 is 1.8 acres. I was told by the builder of the ponds the are 3 feet less than the dam for depth, which would make them about 25' deep each. I have only been in a boat in #3 and only found 15' of water. Could the ponds have filled in 10' over the 20 years they has been filled?
I was also told the #2 pond had a total kill about 4 years ago during the summer. That is the pond with the most farm field runoff. I know the fertilzer can promote algea.
Pond #1 is fairly close to a power supply so I can get aeration to it.
The other 2 ponds are about 1000' from the nearest power source. I have been researching some options. Running electric out there is not a good one. Running airline out could be, it would be about 1750',just to get to the edge of the pond, because of the rough terrain in between the pond and the pump ( running electric overhead would be about 1000'). I am not sure about the pipe type and size that would be best, if it's even doable. I'm thinking I would need roughly 15cfm and 2-3 diffusers for #3 and a little less for #2.
I was also thinking of using the weighted type hose/line submerged in the pond. Do the diffusers need to be spaced apart equally or can you place them pretty much together in the deep center?
I know about the wind mill option and I will probably do that in a year or two when I can afford it.
OK with all that said now here is the crazy question:
Another thought I had was just temporarily for maybe one season, was to set up the pond with the weighted hose and diffusers, however they need to be, and supplying them with a portable air tank metered down to the minimum that still gets good bubbles. If I changed the tank or maybe 2 tanks one after the other regularly maybe 4 times per week during the worst part of summer, could that help?
FYI I don't really have any problems right now just want to keep the fishery healthy. This property is new to me, I think there may be a spring feeding pond #3, will that bring o2 into it? There are no weeds, algae or smells. Only thing is there are leaves on the bottom and it may have filled in 10' already.
Sorry for such a lengthy post but most seemed relavent.
Thanks for your thoughts,
Matt

Hi there Gethooked! You don't need as much CFM as you think ~ if you would like a recomendation, I'd be happy to put together an aeration design for you. Just email me your address and I'll pull up an aerial image of your ponds and run some calculations. That will atleast give you a better idea of where to start. sue@vertexwaterfeatures.com

gethooked. I would take Sue up on that offer.You mention no weeds,no algae and leaves. This can lead to low DO (dissolved oxygen)quickly as without plants ,algae you have little natural oxygen production.If you will stir those leaves you might smell the rotten egg smell which is hydrogen sulfide from the lack of aerobic bacteria trying to decompose those leaves.With the information you have provided and depending on the location of all 3 ponds it is possible to aerate all 3 ponds with one system.Perhaps 11-12 cfm total to aerate all 3 correctly.Again let Vertex design a plan for you at no cost or obligation.

Thanks for the info Ted and Sue. Sue I would be glad to get you that information and I am eager to here back from you.
Thanks again,
Matt