Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Re-stratification after aeration

Does anybody have factual knowledge about how long it takes a pond to become stratified after you turn off aeration? I have a brand new 14' deep, 1/4 acre pond that I am considering using a windmill to aerate. That means intermittent aeration with random intervals of no aeration that could last for days. My primary purpose for aeration is to de-stratify the pond. It must take a while for the pond to re-stratify and for de-oxygenation of the bottom water to occur. I just wonder how long that might take in a 1/4 acre pond?

No idea but welcome.

A lot would vary from pond to pond. Is yours surrounded by trees that block the wind, or open space that will let it through to stir the pond without aeration? Location and hence climate would also matter. (Are you in Oxford Mississippi, Oxford Ohio, or Oxford England?)

Bodark,

It is not possible to give a good answer to that question.

In addition, to the particular conditions at your pond, the daily wind activity is another important variable at Theo stated above.

Finally, the time of the year is probably the most important factor. Due to the annual temperature cycle, your pond should be relatively well-mixed in the spring and fall, and peak stratification should occur in the summer and the winter.

It is probably peak stratification during late July and early August that is your biggest risk since the warm water holds less dissolved oxygen.

In your situation, I believe experimental data would be the best solution. Shut off your aeration system and sample your pond over the following few hours or days. Unfortunately, professional level oxygen sensors are quite expensive. There are cheap ones at Amazon ($90) but they do not have a long probe cord, so you would have to buy or create a deep water sampler.

I believe several of the fish suppliers that post on Pond Boss have their own probes and would probably test your water during a delivery, but you would never be taking fish during the hottest time of the year.

Sorry to provide such little useful information!

You might be able to run your own "poor boy" experiment. Shut down your aeration on purpose on the hot days and observe your fish. They will let you know if the pond oxygen levels are getting dangerously low. Make sure you have some charged batteries to immediately re-start your aeration since this test would be more accurate during a wind calmed period.

Hopefully you can install a reasonably efficient system within your budget. Good luck on your project!

P.S. I suspect you are a long way from AC electricity. However, airline costs are much cheaper than running electrical wiring. Consider that trade-off as you start pricing your windmill aeration system.

What is the water clarity? How deep can you see a 6"-10" diameter white disk in the water?
You should be most concerned with oxygen loss rather than stratification. Stratified clear water ponds can have dissolved oxygen(DO) in the deep water if light can reach these areas for phytoplankton, periphyton and or submerged vegetation to create DO. Rate of DO loss will be dependent on the biochemical oxygen demand of the water and water clarity.

I am in Oxford, OH. My pond at this point varies greatly in clarity from week to week as I am unfortunately getting some occasional large injections of muddy water due to parts of the watershed having no grass yet. The pond has an ~8 acre watershed, most of which is a hay field, but part of which is bare ground from construction. I am trying very hard to grow grass, but we have had a couple of extremely intense rain events (>2" / hr!) that have washed off my seeds to a large extent. I'm sure by the end of the summer, I'll have the mud issue resolved.

I have come to the conclusion that electric aeration will be the most practical. I have several factors that I have to consider, but I can make electric work. Cost is a BIG factor. The source for my electric will be our horse stable. The pond is about 250' away. My wife doesn't want to listen to a compressor all the time while she's at the barn and I don't blame her. So I have to position it far enough away that it won't be too annoying. So I will place it about 50' from the stable, and run 5/8 full burial air line the rest of the way. to the pond. I ordered an Airmax PS-10 compressor that is supposed to put out ~55 db of noise, which is pretty low. So I only have to run a conduit and wire 50'. Heck, the air line is cheaper than the electric conduit alone, much less including the wiring.

Assembling and installing a windmill seems like a lot of work. Servicing the compressor would be difficult as well, and the initial cost would be higher. All that for an intermittent and unpredictable system. I like the controllable, reliable, and easily serviceable nature of the electric system.

Oxygen in the water, happy fish!

Happy wife, happy life!

Sounds like you have all of your priorities covered correctly.

Maybe plant a few lilac bushes (or something else your wife likes) in the line between the compressor housing and where she will see and hear it.

Just remember that heat is the enemy of your air compressor. All of the people on Pond Boss that get long run times seem to have housing cabinets with excellent air exchange.