Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Low water level and aeration

I have about a 4 acre pond that is normally 12-15 feet deep just outside of Wichita KS. With last years drought and the lack of rain this year, I am down to about 4-5 feet of water on 50% of my pond with the other half being less. I have a feeder on it twice a day and there is very little structure since I didn't place anything that low during construction. I am running my well 12 hours a day (6 hr on 6 off 6 on 6 off) and it seems like it is maintaining the level.

I have not ran my aerator this year since the levels are so low. Should I be? We've only had 3-4 days of 95+ degree heat, but summer is getting ready to fire up. Do I need to be running it at night? 24/7? I had two aerators in the pond, but one of them is exposed, so it'll just be the one in the middle/deepest part.

I do plan on throwing some pallets out there to provide some shade, but it may be to late. Any advice would be appreciated!

IMHO vastly lowered water level exacerbates some of the reasons we use aeration. The evaporation greatly increases the concentration of minerals in the water, some of which tend to be problematic. The reduced volume increases the density of fish biomass, hence increasing the need for oxygen.

I'd be running aeration quite a bit in your circumstances.

Now we open the floor for Cody, Esshup, et al.

Drawdowns or low water can cause population imbalances as fish are concentrated and subject to more predation. Also a large % of your total water is gone - as T noted above and you have to deal with that and the O2 problems he also pointed out. IMO you need cover at all depths in a pond for reasons in addition to low water levels. I would start the aerator and add some cover to deeper areas. Also often well water is low in O2 so that should be addressed.

I think the easiest thing to improve would be to start some aeration of the well water.

Do you just have a pipe that runs into the pond under the surface?

If so, can you bring the outlet to the surface and let the water run over a series of waterfalls with gravel, down a cascade of buckets with lots of holes, etc.? Anything that turns the 2" stream of water into a mist or lots of dribbles in the air will help.

Further, your well water around Wichita may have a moderately high iron content. Does it stain your sidewalk or fence an orange/brown color if you use the well water for lawn irrigation? If you run your well water over a large surface area, you will drop out some of the iron (and other mineral content) before sending 100% of it into the pond.

Thanks for the input. I really do appreciate the quick replies that ya'll provide. I turned it on and will run it for 12 hours at night for now(unless ya'll tell me to run it 24/7). I am worried that the day time temps partnered with the shallow water will over heat the entire water column and do more harm than good. Am I wrong?

I have two hoses that feed off of my irrigation system that I run at the same time so I can maximize the output. They were near the water surface, but after reading the O2 concerns I pulled them up the bank and now it runs down the side of the pond bank for 12-15 feet. It isn't perfect, but it'll break some of it up. If oxygen is a concern, then I could always add two standard sprinkler heads per hose and it'll break it up much better. Doing so would reduce the output of the water added, but I'm not sure how much. I am leaning towards volume being more important right now.

I do think that I may have higher iron content in my well water since I have some stains on some parts of the concrete where the water pools up after I irrigate the yard.

I'd run the aeration 24/7. As for the iron in the water, aerating the well water is important as it will get the iron to precipitate out of the water.