Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? What’s the best type of aeration?

I’m building a new trophy bass pond. About 2.5 acres. I have electric close by. What would be the best aeration setup? I’ve included plans for the new build.

I would go with a rotary vane compressor system. More GPM per hp, easier to rebuild when needed than rocking piston compressors.

You will need a ventilated enclosure for your compressor. It will make some noise - and my wife hates "white noise" when she is trying to enjoy the peace and quiet of the great outdoors (interesting animal sounds excluded).

Is there a good place for you to set your enclosure away from the places where people sleep, eat with family, or just relax? If so, I would set the enclosure near an easy electrical connection that is handy for you to check in your normal routine, but away from "people". Running a few extra feet of polyethylene air pipeline is pretty darn cheap at current prices.

P.S. I believe esshup sells compressor systems and has installed many systems for his pond clients. I would definitely listen to his advice on this topic.

Just sent you a pm.

There are "sound kits" that are available from different mfg's for their enclosures to knock down the compressor noise. Vertex Aquatic Solutions has done dB testing on their systems with and without the sound kits installed. That's the only aeration mfg that I know of that has done that. The other thing about Vertex is that 99.9% of their products are made here in the USA.

My "ventilated enclosure" is a 6'x8' pole barn construction shed, with forced air cooling (from the North side of the shed) for the compressor as well as storage for fishing gear, canoe paddles, and more. The noise outside is much reduced compared to a naked compressor (and more so since I have insulated the shed. If you might want an "oarhouse" next to your pond, it is an option to consider.

Based on the bottom structural configurations. Uneven deviations from the basic bottom bowl shape will tend to restrict the affects of the aeration water patterns. This I think means more bottom based aerator diffusers will be needed to get effective circulations to all areas of the deeper pond basin. To my thinking I would have at least 4 bottom diffusers and better to have 6 or 7. The cross ridge hump side should have 3 maybe 4 diffusers. Then put 3 of the other side of the pond. A 3/4 hp rotary vane with 10 cfm open flow will operate 6-8 diffusers. Done right with strong circulations IMO you would only need to run the compressor 6-8 hrs per day to adequately circulate deep water areas (7ft & deeper) to the surface. I tested my minnow pond (10ft deep) that has no aerator yesterday. Water was mixing with wind circulation and good oxygenation down to 7 ft deep. Water clarity this year so far 2-2.5ft.

Is aeration needed? What is the benefit? Does it reduce or eliminate algae?
https://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=579563#Post579563

I am considering adding aeration to my 2.5 acre pond and would love some advice. Max depth is about 15 feet, its an irregular shape with 2 coves. The coves are about 5-6 feet deep. The company I'm speaking with (the Pond Guy) recommended one of their largest systems with 5 diffuser plates, which seems like over kill to me. My thought was 4 diffuser plates and a smaller pump. The difference in what they're recommending vs my initial thought is about $3,500, not a small chunk of change.

The pond has not been properly managed over the past 25 years and I moved into the house about 3 years ago. Over the winter I had the pond dregged and repaired a leak in the dam. The water is super brown and prior to dredging about 60% of the pond was covered in watershield and there is about 2 feet of muck in some of the places the excavator couldn't reach. The pond is spring fed and water primarily flows in at the two coves and the property overall sits at the bottom of a valley.

My biggest question is this, what is the danger of having an "under aerated" pond?

Would 4 aerators clear the water up and also prevent future weed growth?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Pondwald I sent you a PM.

Bottom diffusion is the best for your situation (vs. a fountain or surface agitators).

If you didn't have the water level dropped when they dredged it out, there might still be a lot of muck left in there. Water flows out of the bucket when the dredge/excavator bucket is picked up out of the pond, and that water washes the light fluffy muck back into the pond.

Without knowing the shape of the pond it's impossible to properly spec out a system. A system is spec'd out based on the total water volume in the pond. The different diffusers (or air stations) bring up "X" amount of gallons of water per hour based on water depth and CFM going to the diffusers. Vertex is the only company that I know that has tested that and they have specs for their diffusers.

At 15' depth you could use a rotary vane compressor. That will put out more cfm per hp than a rocking piston compressor. A rotary vane compressor is easier to rebuild than a rotary vane compressor. The rebuild kits cost about the same.

You should use 1/2" ID or 0.6" ID self -weighted tubing in the pond, that will have the least amount of back pressure on the compressor and allow more air flow to the air stations than 3/8" hose.

You are in Ga, so you don't have to worry about winter aeration.

If you don't have electric at the pond that's no big deal, the compressor can be where the electric is and black poly tubing can be trenched to the pond, attach to a remote manifold box and then distributed in the pond from there using the weighted tubing. If electric is at the pond, double check the wire size to ensure that it's the correct size for the compressor. Running too small of a wire size will create more heat in the compressor and shorten it's life. There are both 115v and 220v aeration systems. Cost is roughly the same for both, but I believe it's a bit cheaper to run the 220v system.

Under aerating the pond will cause more problems than not aerating at all. You will bring up the nutrient rich water that is at the bottom of the pond and it will feed the algae in the upper part of the water column. The pond needs at least 5mg/l at the bottom of the pond so that there will be enough O2 down there for the aerobic bacteria to work on consuming the organic matter (nutrients), and it will also be enough O2 to allow the fish to utilize the whole water column. Under aerating won't have enough O2 down there so anaerobic bacteria will be chewing on the organics - they work much slower than aerobic bacteria. That is why waste water plants run a BUNCH of air in their ponds, they want the aerobic bacteria to flourish and chew up the organics.

Air stations have "areas of influence" in ponds. The shallower the water, the closer they need to be spaced so they can work properly.

Proper aeration will not prevent weed or algae growth. It will create healthier water by adding more O2 to the whole water column and slow down the eutrophication process.

The brown water could be just sediment that was stirred up when it was renovated and it will settle down as the pond comes back to normal, or the influx of water will help wash some of it out of the pond. If the water coming into the pond is brown, that could be either suspended solids or tannin in the water. Suspended solids that stay suspended could be from a few things, either mechanical (fish) or an electrical charge imbalance in the water. Aeration will not help either of those.

Do you know the alkalinity of the water that is in the pond? .

I plumbed the "manifold box" at my second pond with galvanized pipe and brass ball valves. After 16-17 years, corrosion from the dissimilar metals has it leaking and I have to replace it (have been thinking of all brass but might go all plastic - although in Ohio I worry about condensation in the latter freezing and breaking it - that probably wouldn't be as likely in GA). Consider this problem and avoid it.

Theo, I have seen that exact same problem here in Indiana with brass/galvanized, but never with plastic (PVC) and brass ball valves or the aluminum/brass manifolds. Those aluminum manifolds are anodized though , and I am talking about the same length of time for all 3 types of manifolds.

In my experience, the plastic ball valves are too much of a PITA to turn, and I have broken the plastic handles on 2" plastic ball valves that were used to adjust water flow. They ARE pricey, but now I just use brass ball valves.

I live near the Pond Guy and get a lot of supplies and info from them. Their Airmax aeration system is a nice, high end unit. I agree, I think they tend to oversize, as they did in my pond estimate. They recommend 5 plates for you probably because of the coves in your pond - they will put one in each cove in addition to a few in the main body of water.

As @esshup said, the pond volume and turnover determines the system sizing. Pond Guy calculated 9+ turnovers per day for my pond. (My understanding is that 1 to 2 is sufficient.) From this value, I back-calculated 3600 gpm is coming from their ProAir4 diffuser. This is a huge flow rate compared to a Vertex model that delivers 1600 gpm in my pond scenario.

I ended up going with a more economical EasyPro system.

I looked at the specs for the ProAir4 diffuser. Do you know how many cfm air it needs?

That was missing in my quotation.

Go here and scroll down to Tech Specs:

https://www.thepondguy.com/product/airmax-pondseries-aeration-systems/

That table suggests the diffuser can use 1.4 to 2.35 CFM?

I am not sure if their term for "diffuser" is for each cylindrical diffuser or for the group of 4 that are on one plate. Vertex specs are calculated at 1 psi at each membrane diffuser, so if there are 4 membranes on one AirStation, then the water lifting specs are @ 4 cfm.

The AirMax 1 hp compressor puts out a max of 7.1 cfm (that is at its shallowest with 0 backpressure). I cannot find a back pressure/cfm chart for it. You will see roughly 7.5 psi backpressure @ 15 feet. The 1 hp rocking piston Vertex compressor puts out 8.6 cfm @ 0 backpressure, I will have to dig in my literature to find the back pressure/cfm chart. The 1 hp Gast rotary vane compressor puts out 13.2 cfm @ 0 psi and 10.0 cfm @ 10 psi backpressure (roughly 20' water depth). The AirMax compressor says it should be rebuilt every 12-18 months, the Vertex compressor goes at least 3 years before needing a rebuild and the Gast rotary vane will go at least a year more than the Vertex before it might need a rebuild. I have a 3/4 hp Gast rotary vane compressor in my pond running at 18' depth (9.5 psi backpressure) and while I don't run it for approximately 4 months out of the year, it's going on year 6 without needing a rebuild. The Stratus Rotary Vane compressors @ Stoney Creek/Easy Pro are made by Gast.