Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? surface circulation to trap debris

I have a tear drop shaped pond about 1/4 to 1/3 acre, which many here know gets alot of leaves and other stuff associated with having timber around your pond. I was wondering if I postioned some sort of surface type turbine to move the water without using too much energy say only couple amps max, If I could get the water to slowly rotate so that I could build a floating collector that would trap the surface junk then I could just swing the collector over to the bank and clean it, kinda like what pools have. It wouldnt have to be a 1 hour type deal but slowly over a day or two. It seems that it takes very little wind to push the debris over to one side. Has anyone ever noticed with surface aeration or circulation a rotatation that would circulates the entire surface?

Sounds like you have a good idea for keeping your pond clean.

Check out Bruce's post:
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000125

He used sweeper noozles to circulate the surface water in his pond. Sounds like it would be easier and cheaper to use water for circulation than buying a surface aerator (http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.categories/ssid/846).

does anyone know what type of pump I could use that would run for long periods of time and pump enough gallons per minute and use the least amount of amps. of electricity to get a "Lazy river" type effect? Would a submersible sump type work suspended in the pond acnhored so that I could control the direction of flow

I have used a trolling motor to due what you want. Seemed to circulate the whole pond except the skinny end of the tear drop. I thought about installing a floating wing dam to dump the leaves in that area.
I also made an airlift pump with some 4 inch pvc and 3 inch nozzel and an old hot tub blower. That thing really moved some water.

Yes I have been messing around with a old trolling motor attached to the side of my dock, It will get my whole pond flowing which is good becasue I am having a real issue with algae right now and I am trying not to keep putting in cutrineplus to control it. The trolling motor will actually break up the algae on the surface and open up the pond and it seems to lesson the amount of plankton algae on the surface or at least it looks like it. My problem is I can only get a good hour out of the battery. I want to try and find away to run a ac motor equivlant to run a propeller to get things circulating without dropping a huge amount of cash. I have been using bacteria and it seems to be helping but not keeping up.

How much current does the trolling motor pull? I was thinking you could just hook it up to a good battery charger and run it as long as you wanted.

Good question! I dont know but I can find out. I bet a bunch though. I was re reading on Bruce's surface circulator post and thought that would be just what I needed until I seen what the price is for that baby.

Wow TG, devious minds think alike. I was thinking of exactly the same thing, but mostly for surface aeration. Trolling motor motors are about the most efficient you can get. Screw pumps (look a lot like propellers)are also the most efficient at moving large volumes of water at very low pressure. Since I have no electricity at my place, I was thinking of going solar. I think a 55w panel would really spin the motor up. But Theo's idea about a battery charger is excellent. It does need to be fairly heavy duty though. I'll be following your idea with interest.