Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Fountains and areation

I think that a great future article would be some comparitives between some of the major diffuser types or maybe a product testing article in each issue. This would be a great way to bring in more subscribers. I'm sure suppliers would be happy to donate some equipment to the PB crew in exchange for some free advertising. This would be great for lesser known brands, and I promise that I won't put the others out of business, maybe.
Robert B

I forgot, a follow up on the big bass in farm ponds is often simply a matter of restricted harvest and less pressure. If you look at the fish biomass in a heavily fished lake, there are much less larger fish at the top of the pyramid. With virgin fisheries it is more of a rectangle than a pyramid. Even on larger lakes with catch and release in tournaments, biologists are finding that there is a much higher mortality rate than we thought. Also, spread of diseases due to stress and concentrations of fish in livewells add to the problem, although my hypocracy knows no bounds.
Robert B

I think Bill Cody should do an article on pond areation especially regarding northern ponds. that is if he gets paid this time for an article rather than getting just a hat for it.

This magazine is in dire need of in depth articles like this and not something that just skims the surface as in an article on northern ponds in the last issue. Are you listening Bob?

Yes

Brevity is the soul of wit.

Bob Lusk is a good man. He takes constructive criticism very well which indicates wisdom. Bob you're O.K. in my book.

Bill thanks for the websites they are informative. I think one of my major problems in picking an system is first knowledge which all you guys have been overly helpfull I appreciate it. Second I guess what I am trying to avoid athough its what I want is a compressor running all the time along side my pond. Now its peacefull and quiet and after coming home from a Chemical plant the last thing I want to hear is a motor or compessor running away instead of frogs or something. Are these things like peace killers or can I still think while one is running? I guess what I am comparing it to is the one in my garage I purchased at Sears. Even the running of a small one like is in a fish tank eventually get on your nerves. If these are the only choices I would rather listen to a fountain. Any thought on noise levels? Also, I am still working on my fish stocking numbers I promised you. Anyone thinking of any good articles for pond boss mag? There getting kinda boring. how about talking about smaller ponds and maybe somewhere besides the great state of Texas. ( I am a Cowboy fan) but move on. Ideas, how about runoff and how it effects my pond, How about what cycles a pond goes through when its new or old or ideas for places for fish to hide. Tagging fish where they go where they dont go what they eating or not eating. I could go on just some ideas if anyone is reading this.

Not sure of others, but Vertex has its compressore mounted in a cabinet. You can barley hear it about 30 yards away and can still talk standing right beside it. Also you can build an additional cover around the cabinet to muffle sound even more, just don't block air intake. Others will tell you the same, you do have to run diffuser types 24/7 to serve their purpose.

bc,

If you have the same compressor I have from Sears there is nothing that loud except when Baghdad was bombed.

I would not worry about noise with these compressors. Even when you get close it is not that bad of a sound.

bc - Greg G. considering where he is in the south may need to run their aerators 24/7, BUT we in OH very rarely need to do that. I have never tested circulation patterns and mixing frequency in areas other than in Ohio. You can run aerators 24/7 in OH but it is definately not needed in most ponds. Exceptions occur. I consider 24/7 run times in our area a waste of electricity and it causes premature wear out of the compressor vanes and bearings especially when the extra run time does not provide anything more than that of a daily 5 to 8 hr mixing.

With 4+ cfm and two diffusers running in a northern, 3/4 acre, fairly normal, shaped pond you can thourghly mix it in 5 to 8 hrs running time. Guaranteed. Double your money back if I am wrong. I and others in my area have proven this many, many times and verified it often with oxygen & temperature tests throughout the summer. The important thing is to adequately size the unit for your pond in the first place. Don't undersize it and it will mix and destratify your pond quickly and efficiently.

Get a good unit adequately sized for your pond and put it on a timer and run it at night or during the day when you are not there. Rotary vane compressors are barely noiser than a loud hum. If no noise is a real important issue place the compressor in shed or garage and run the air delivery line to the pond from the compressor location. (Which is the way I always recommend one doit if at all possible.) Outside shelters tend to be more maintenance and "messing around" in our winters. We can push air 1000 ft if the tubing is sized properly.

bc - Bob Lusk has taken over the "driver seat & controls" of Pond Boss mag. He has new things planned. Sit tight, and watch him in action for awhile. Then re-evaluate the situation.

Lets give him a chance and I think for everyone to participate here they should be required to subsciebe to the PBoss magazine. Inexpensive fun and it's probably the BEST all-around source of good sound pond mgmt knowledge / information .

Some of the topics that you mentiiond above have been discussed in past articles of Pond Boss. Bob may revive and enhance some of old articles by providing updates and more detailed information. New things are always happening.

Check out the Product Sources section on the "forum home" (this page top right). I have created a Table of Contents or indexes for several of the back issues of Pond Boss magazine where I list the titles of articles and I often include a brief article description. I will be adding indexes for more issues later this winter when I get more time.

Cody,
good point about not 24/7 in the north. Man I would be out of businees up there with my lack of knowledge. If you do not run the comprssor 24/7 here it is tough to destratify the pond. I'm sure in some situations here you could run with less time, but seems too risky for me to recommend that. I have a client fairly close to me with diffuser. When I get another full timer on staff I will do some water quality this summer and test out diff run times. Thanks for the correction.

I agree that the farther south one goes the more the aerator has to run to overcome the additional surface heating of the pond. Run times are also dependent on: 1. how big the pond is, 2. tempeature difference between the top and bottom 3. how many acres of water per diffuser, 4. how big the diffuser is and 5. how much air each diffuser is getting. All these things (plus a few more) affect how much and how fast water can be mixed.