Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Water Color

Water quality plays a big role in fish production. Look at world famous Lake Fork, in east Texas. That lake is known for producing huge bass, and the water is mostly tea stained, soft, and slightly acidic.
But move west, to the lake which currently holds the private lake record bass in Texas, and the water is so hard and alkaline, you might walk across it.
Here's an interesting fact...people with soft, acidic water MUST dissolve lime into the water to put enough calcium to support plankton and fish growth. So, when choosing a site, I would look at all factors, watershed size, soils, soil chemistry, that sort of thing, to make the decision where to build a lake.
Water chemistry, while important, tends to be one fabric in your lake's tapestry, not more or less important than all factors combined. In our work, I see more problems with population dynamics and fish production issues than water chemistry.
Here's the biggest issues of water chemistry...Soft, acidic water can't dispose of organic matter as quickly, it can change chemistry dramatically, with leaves, with runoff, with influxes of mud, or chemicals. Hard water, on the other hand, buffers many changes, especially changes relating to acid. Hard water has plenty of antacid, like Rolaids for your pond. Hard water can take some of those changes more gracefully than acidic water.
You asked about aeration. Aeration is good. Be careful, though, especially in the north. Bottom water is warmest this time of year. Look elsewhere on this board. Several experts chime in on that topic, and have provided all the information you might ever want to know about aeration.