Originally Posted by rlb3
Septic aerators move orders of mag more air and water (proportionally).

I'd really like to see the math on how much O2 it takes to break down muck vs how much is available with aeration vs without.

I figure most of the dissolved oxygen added to the pond by aeration comes from spreading the O2 that's naturally produced in shallow water during the day to deeper water that's able to absorb it, instead of it rising up and outgassing into the atmosphere where 99% of the O2 produced by the pond during the day ends up. The amount that's directly added by bubblers is minute.

Thus you'd think it'd be better to run the aerators during the day than at night. I mean, I'd think. But I really have no idea.

Unless you have an O2 meter and check the level of O2 in the pond water, you are correct, you are just guessing. What data have you seen that makes you think that the pond outgasses O2 into the atmosphere? What data has shown that it is better to run the aeration system during the day vs the night? You said that septic aerators move order of magnitude more air and water than pond aerators. How many GPH of water will a typical septic aeration system move per hp?

While it may not seem to be much of a change in a 1 acre pond, 5.2 mg/l changed to 6.9mg/l overnight when a 1/4 hp pond aeration system was started up after sundown and was run all night. That particular system moved roughly 400,000 gpm of water to the surface.

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