Originally Posted by kansasbass2002
But if I aerate the pond and do sort of what you are saying with the stands for the aerators I can maintain a thermocline and aerate the pond bottom in areas where organics are piling up the most like along the edges? I guess I was worried that if I didn't aerate the whole thing top to bottom I would pull up some water below the thermocline and mix it which could cause issues but maybe that doesn't make sense as that water would be the most dense and sit below the aerators.

Yes, with aerators on stands you will keep most of the pond bottom above the stand elevation in an aerated water condition. This will help retard organic muck accumulation. However, this will also help slightly with muck accumulation in the center of the pond where the water is deeper than your stands.

A heavy, water-logged oak leaf will definitely settle to the bottom of the pond outside of your aeration lift columns. However, there is usually a fair amount of tiny bits of SUSPENDED organic material in the water column. Some of that material may be in the deep center of your pond and outside or your aeration circulation cells. However, if you have two days of big winds at the pond, then the center water is going to get pushed over to some of your aerators. They will then keep that material in the aerated water column for some extra time, and allow the aerobic bacteria to work on your material that otherwise would have become bottom muck.

Aeration diffusers off of the bottom is not a perfect solution, but it will give you multiple big benefits to your pond. The biggest of course being aerated water for your fish.

One reason "cold water" fish thrive better in colder water is that they are more likely to perish during an oxygen crash event than many warmer water fish. Warm water holds significantly less dissolved oxygen.

I believe walleye and yellow perch are more likely to avoid an August high temperature fish kill in an aerated pond compared to an un-aerated pond that is located a bit farther north - even though the latter would have been naturally cooler. (If this is wrong, experts please correct or clarify!) I think that is a very important consideration for the benefits of aeration in your pond, especially based on your geographic location at the southern edge of where your fish generally thrive.

You are also correct about the aeration bringing up lots of anoxic water into the level where your fish are living. However, that only applies to the INITIAL conditions in a strongly stratified pond at the start of aeration. There is a very comprehensive set of guidelines to be followed whenever you start aeration from a previously stratified condition. Several of our aeration experts have outlined those rules in some of the other threads.