Hi everyone.

My neighborhood in Midland, Georgia has about a 3 acre lake. Midland is in central Georgia near the Alabama border. I can't attach a picture just yet (on vacation), but you can see a satellite view of the lake by going to Yahoo maps or another map site and looking for "Garrett Creek Drive and Orchard Glen Drive, Midland, Georgia". The lake is just north of that intersection. I don't know how deep the lake is, but I'm guessing about 10 feet at the deepest. I do know that next to the dock about 15 feet from the dam it is about 7 feet deep.

The lake has no inlet that I know of and is filled by rainwater and runoff.

I've been doing volunteer maintenance on the 300 foot long earth dam on the lake, filling in erosion ruts, seeding Bahia grass, spraying for weeds, watering, and fertilizing. The dam has only been mowed for the last 6 years I've lived here and has had a lot of neglect.

I've been turning my attention to the lake now. Would aeration be beneficial for this lake? I believe there have been two fish kills in the last 10 years. The lake has bass, blue gill, and bream. I don't fish myself, but would like the lake to be as healthy as possible.

Unfortunately, the lake does not have electricity yet and I do not live directly on the lake to provide power.

Bottom aeration sounds like the best, but a fountain would be nice to look at. Would a bottom intake fountain be good? The only bottom intake fountains I've found so far are the Air-Max, Aqua Master, and Shearwater. Am I missing any? Does anyone have experience with these fountains? I also like that a fountain puts the noisy parts out on the water and there is no concern on where to put the aerator pump.

Would winter aeration be a bad thing for my location? A fountain would be left on 24/7 year round. Maybe a surface fountain and a bottom aerator only used in the summer would be best.

Whatever I learn I'll present to the home owners association.

I read somewhere that I should avoid phosphorus fertilizer near the lake. Is this really a concern?

Thanks! Any advice would be appreciated.


Last edited by Georgia pond; 07/09/08 01:58 PM.