Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Aerating a pond with no life in it...?

Right now there is nothing living in my pond aside from frogs, turtles, and bugs. It's about 5000-6000 SF and varies in depth from 6" to 5' with probably a good 12" or more of muck in the deepest part. I have a ton of work to do around the pond as well as in the pond (removing aquatic weeds, etc...) and there is no way I would stock it with anything until next spring at the very earliest. That said, should I be aerating 24/7 now to try to release the H2S and break down the muck since I don't have to worry about a fish kill? What about manual removal? Because of where it is on my property/in the woods heavy equipment is not an option, but I've thought about trying to suck some areas out with a trash pump. Basically, what would you do with your pond if you didn't have to worry about keeping fish alive while you were doing it?

I'm in a similar situation...no fish just frogs and turtles...I just put an aerator in it and have some Clipper coming in for the watermeal. I'm running 24/7 with the aerator and will put much removal in in a few weeks. I'm going to get it under control before I stock. I'm not going to stock until next year. At least that's my plan

Any updates on how running the aeration with no fish present affected your ponds? I'm in a similar situation and was thinking about running an aerator heavily for a month or two this spring before stocking minnows.

Freg,

Disclaimer...I am a new owner of a aeration system with only one year under my belt, but have been reading here at PB about the systems for two years now.

With that said, I think running the system before stocking is a good idea. It can't do any real harm and it would let you get used to the system without the worry if a fish kill. I would still bring it up slowly as if you had fish merely to watch the gradual effects and to minimize any lower food chain damage. I would watch the water temps as it comes up and as it continues to operate to get a feel for the effects on the water column temps.

If ample muck already exists, the system would start working on that which would be a benefit even though minor when considering only a few months before stocking, but it would get things stirred up prior to a fish population and allow it to settle out before stocking.

My pond seems to suffer from muddy waters, even more so with the aerator running. I have not figured out the best time schedule just yet to minimize the muddying effects and minimize the hot summer daytime temperature effects. Starting your system early will give you a jump on that learnign curve too.

All in all, I think the benefits would be minimal when considering just the health of the pond (and only a couple months prior to stocking), but well worth doing when you look at understanding the system and establishing a settled pond prior to stocking. One less thing to worry about. Once again, I do not feel that it is too critical to start it early, just a nicer start than I had.

Thanks QA,

This is a very small pond only about a 1/10 of an acre. Its new to me, but I'm guessing its several decades old. I'm hoping there's not too much muck and sedimentation. Just trying to get the pond established as soon as possible without making any major mistakes.

Swamp Yankee,

I think that the aeration system would be a good idea in order to keep your pond alive and healthy for the most part. As far the muck on the bottom, the aeration system will not do much other than disperse some of the muck. I would say the best way in order to eventually get to stocking your pond is by, adding the aeration system so your pond is not stagnant. Then getting rid of some of the muck through either physical removal or using certain products such as Sludge Reducing Pellets that will get rid of your muck with each application and then applying biologicals so then your pond will be ready and healthy enough to be stocked.