Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Aeration Strategies

Regarding the time, yes. BUT I'd like to add a few points of interest here. 1) Most aeration systems are designed to run 24 hours a day. You design a system to bring "X" number of gallons of water to the surface of the pond in a 24 hour day. Running them less than that can lead to worse nutrient loading and it's associated problems. 2) I think Bob is talking specifically about ponds in Texas where the get a lot of days in excess of 100°F.

My personal observations regarding running aeration systems at night when the temps are cool (specifically in May and June when night time temps are below 70°F to keep the pond water cooler) was just the opposite. The overall O2 level in the pond was slightly lower than running 24/7, and the pond seemed to warm up faster. At least the trout died earlier in the year than running the aerator 24/7.

A member here did a great graph chart showing his water temp running the aerator 24/7 and running it only at night. It should be in the aeration section of the forum. It might have been gehajake that did the graph.

I'd love to see Bob's data on water temp profile to support what he's saying. I think the depth of the pond also plays a part in water temp in the summer too.

There are O2 systems out now that will aerate the water below the thermocline and they won't disrupt the thermocline, so you have the best of both worlds in keeping a pond cool and oxygenated for the fish.