Originally Posted by Steve_
Hi Mary, your neighbor is correct, you don't want to run your aerator when the air temps get that high. What happens is your aerator is pushing lots of water to the surface where it heats up quickly, and doesn't allow the deeper water to provide a thermal refuge for your cold water fish. If you've ever gotten into an outdoor swimming pool for the first time of the day, you'll probably notice that the top of the water is a lot hotter than the bottom, but after people have swam in it for a while and mixed it up, all of the water will be roughly the same. Kind of the same thing that can happen in a pond.


Umm, not exactly. It all depends on what temps the upper water is. I did just that, using a thermostat that would only allow the aerator to be on when the ambient temp was below 70°F. Didn't contribute to the trout living any longer, in fact I think they died quicker than if I would have left it off and didn't disrupt the thermocline.

There will be an aeration system available to pond owners later this year or early next year where you can oxygenate the cold water where the thermocline starts and not disrupt the warm upper water. I can see it in some ponds that are deep allowing the pond owner to have two complete different fisheries in the same pond, a cool/cold water fishery and a warm water fishery.

www.hoosierpondpros.com


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3/4 to 1 1/4 ac pond LMB, SMB, PS, BG, RES, CC, YP, Bardello BG, (RBT & Blue Tilapia - seasonal).