One topic I don't see covered on this thread is "under aeration" ~ this relates specifically to bottom diffused aeration. I was just on the phone the other day with a new pond owner ~ the 6.5 acre pond had just filled and he wanted a recommendation and a price estimate for a Vertex aeration system. He also mentioned that he really only had so much budgeted for this aeration project, which was about half of what he would need to adequately aerate. He thought he would be ok installing half of the necessary Air Stations and tubing and add to it later. I explained to him that he would be better off waiting until he could afford the whole system and since it was a new body of water he should be fine for a year or two. Many people are under the impression that some aeration is better than no aeration at all.... this is totally incorrect. If you throw a diffuser into the middle of a pond or lake you will de-stratify it, but you will not necessarily keep the dissolved oxygen levels up high enough to support fish or control nutrients. At least if a pond is stratified, there is some oxygen at the surface to keep your fish alive - sure, it is risky that your pond or lake could have a turn-over event, but if you inadequately mix the hypoxic subsurface water with the surface oxygenated water, you will get low oxygen water through out the water column, mixing nutrients and causing more problems than you started with... I have actually seen extremely low oxygen readings on the surface directly above a bubble column in a situation where there wasn't enough aeration installed. The rising bubbles were bringing up the dead water from the bottom, but not enough to bring the oxygen levels up. We have a case study here in Florida where someone purchased an aeration system (not one of ours) and it was grossly undersized! There were not diffusers in the deepest areas and this body of water was in such bad shape that even the birds were dying from the gasses. I can't stress how important it is to consult with someone who knows what they are talking about when it comes to aeration. There are just so many factors to consider.
