Mark,
I'm no expert but I think your assessment on the aeration is correct. Cold oxygen poor water at the bottom doesn't do your fish any good but aeration will raise the water temp. It's been a couple weeks since I've taken my water temps, but in my little 1/8 acre pond with Max 8' depth, my bottom temps in the heat of summer hang around 74-78 degrees with 24/7 aeration. I do have a spring that trickle's in most of the year but has been dried up the last week. Again just my guess, but if my temps are where they are in a tiny shallow pond, your temperatures would likely be 10 degrees cooler which should allow trout to survive. If you had 25 ft depths I would consider putting a diffuser a few feet off the bottom. Personally I would start with baitfish and put 100 or so trout in just to see how they do and go from there. If you can't get them to survive you can always go a different route with species.
Last edited by Freg; 08/23/19 08:45 AM.
