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.
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.
