Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions start-up recommendations?

My son and I installed a version of the "RC51 Special" yesterday (Ecoplus 7, 200' of Forever Green's sinking tubing, and 2 9" diffusers spaced about 100' apart. It was a cold, wet job and may require a little re-positioning of one of the diffusers, once the weather is warmer, but it looks pretty good for now. Our 1-acre pond is pear-shaped and shallow (4-5' average depth). I am also using VitaStim Polar. We ran the pump for an hour or 2 yesterday and experienced no odor whatsoever. What start-up procedure would you experts recommend for our situation?

Also, my wife wants me to add a floating fountain. Any suggestions for a decent, but relatively inexpensive fountain? It would primarily be for aesthetics.

Thanks!

What's your water temp now?

What's your dollar figure for a "relatively inexpensive fountain". What's "relatively inexpensive" for someone making $500K a year is different than it is for a person making $50K a year.

Price depends on how much water you move with it (how high and wide the fountain throws the water) amongst other things.

Water temp is in the 40's.



Unless you're like the federal government, where spending has no correlation to income.

Seriously, I was thinking about something like http://www.discount-pumps.biz/floating-fountain-eco.htm, as opposed to a $2,000+ fountain. Since, I'm aerating with diffusers, I figured I wouldn't need a higher-end fountain, since the fountain would mainly be for looks.

Ideally the start up procedure is run for 15 minutes the first day, then each day double the run time. But, at that water temp I would be tempted to run it 24/7 from the get go.

If you are on the property every day, it's better to play it safe and go the doubling time route.

SML,

Good to hear you got your system up and running. Sounds like you did a good job with it. You will enjoy that pump for the price. I have had mine for 4 years now and no problems yet. Give us a few pics if and when you have time. Would like to see your setup. Just take your time with the startup as esshup says. Remember cold water holds double the amount of D.O. as warm water so you can take your time with the air start up. Good luck and keep us posted as to how it's going.

RC

Thanks. Your posts, along with the others whom you inspired, were instrumental for me. It's great to hear that your Ecoplus 7 is still getting it done after 4 years. That pump is very impressive for the money. Especially with a shallow pond, it seemed like the ticket, and the sinking tubing definitely was a time-saver. I ran the system for a solid 2 hours last night and will probably double it tonight. We have lots of sunfish and at least a couple LMB that were caught and released this fall, but I don't think that there are enough fish in the pond to worry too much about a kill. My goal is to get the pond in good enough shape to start stocking later this spring and to minimize algae. The kids like kayaking on it now and want to swim/tube/etc. this summer.

Sounds like a plan. You start taking care of that pond and I have figured out it will take care of you. Your fish will be very happy with the new D.O. all over in the water! Before you know it you will have them Bass having babies and you will need more than just sunfish to keep up with their eating. You going to need some Bluegill before to long and then watch them Bass grow baby grow!!

Have fun
RC

So we've been up to 12 hours...6pm to 6am for several days now. Everything seems to be working just fine, and I"ll be adding another pack of VitaStim Polar this week. Lots of filamentous algae in the pond, and I'm wondering if I should start working on removing what I can manually. I have Cutrine Plus left over from the fall, but I'm thinking that I shouldn't mess with the Cutrine until the water temp picks up later this spring. Thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I would love to do some stocking, but part of me thinks I should wait until the pond is looking better.

Your right on the CP I think. I don't normally put any CP in my pond till it's mid to late April here and the water temps are in the mid 50's to 60 range and I start to see algae growth, but if you already have algae issues maybe it wouldn't hurt? I am no expert CP guy not sure how well it works in colder water??? Maybe someone else will chime in and help with that.

RC

RC, where do you source the Chain Pickerel? (CP)

LOL!! No, no sorry I meant Cutrine Plus!! That was my bad!! Sorry about that! I don't have any Chain Pickerel in my pond. Although I have caught a few in a lake about 40 miles from my place.


RC