Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Neighborhood lake

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.

I think you have lots to learn and this website is a wonderful place to start. Many of the questions you asked are covered here. Also to let you know we install aeration systmes in your area. I can not tell you what you need it depends on your goals. Feel free to visits us at http://www.lakework.com and visit products page for founatin info. Call or email with any questions even if we can not help you directly we will try to help make your dcision a little easier. BTW had a crew in Columbus today spraying aquatic vegetation and I will be in Harris county working on new lake for Jeff Foxworthy on Monday. I might have time for a consult if interested while in the area. Good luck.

Thanks Greg. This is a great forum and I'm glad I found it. I've been reading the forum until I can't see straight

My original post must have been too general. I'm mainly interested in whether a bottom intake fountain would be an adequate replacement for a bottom aerator and if anyone has had experience with the different brands of bottom intake fountains. I haven't seen much on bottom intake fountains here.

If anyone wants to address the other newbie questions I would appreciate it.

the pro's will chime in soon, but it seem if theres no power then wind would be ideal, your far enough south I would think aerating all year would be allright, you can always turn the air valve off and bypass it.
that would not raise the dues, windmill aerators roughly cost $2500 and can be installed in a long day.

one company i dont recommend is superior windmill in canada, they have a poor customer service program. Other than that wind is the way of the future!

A bottom inlet fountain would be more beneficial to water quality and top-to-bottom O2 availability than a surface inlet fountain, but will be much less efficient than a bottom aerator. It is much easier/cheaper to pump air to a pond bottom and let it lift water than to pump the water. So for show AND effect, your "surface fountain and a bottom aerator only used in the summer" would have the most to offer for both the aesthetic minded residents and those dedicated to fishing

I suspect the need for Winter aeration in GA will be minimal; Greg or one of the other Southern aeration pros would know definitively.

If there is a homeowners' association involved, IS there electricity available somewhere on/near the pond?

Thanks Theo. From further research here I don't think we would aerate in the winter here in middle Georgia. A bottom aerator sounds like the best way to start and add a fountain later, unless I win the lotto

I fairly certain we don't have electricity to the dam. The sprinkler system on the dam is controlled off of 9v batteries (Rain Bird Easy Rain controller) and there are no lights on the dam. I'll look into getting electricity to the dam when I get back to Georgia.

With the bottom based systems you dont necessarily have to have electricity right at the lake. In cases where there is no electricity right at the water, additional lightweight tubing can be used to get the air from the compressor to the water and down to the diffusers. Of course, this an option if the electricity is still a reasonable distance from the water. If you just dont have anything even close then a solar or windpowered system may be necessary.