Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Swamp aeration?

Ruff, in order to determine if you are likely to see results from aeration you must first determine if you have oxygen deficiency and or thermal stratification. Generally speaking, BOW that are only 3' deep rarely suffer from oxygen depletion because they get oxygenated from wind and photosynthesis. There is rarely a thermocline because sunlight can typically penetrate all the way to the bottom of the pond. In this regard, you are probably not a great candidate for aeration. But that's just an assumption.

If you are suffering from oxygen deficiency, you may get good results by simply removing some of those cattails to increase aeration from wind and algae photosynthesis. If you're not opposed to chemical treatments you might consider dosing your cattails with a systemic herbicide such as combination of Aquamaster (Glyphosate) and a surfactant such as Magnify....if they're legal in your area. Glyphosate will kill your cattails all the way to the root ball preventing them from re-sprouting. This application should be done while your cattails are actively growing rather than at the end of the season. Also, you will want to remove the dead material afterwards so that it doesn't decompose in your pond.

Finally, if removing the cattails doesn't work and you want to try aeration, a linear (hose) type diffuser would be ideal to distribute the mixing over larger areas to overcome the loss of efficiency from shallow water depth. If you PM me I can make you a great deal on 100' of self weighted aeration tubing. 100' requires a compressor putting out 1.5-2.5 CFM.

Good luck