Steve,

Hopefully you will hear from Sue and Ted and others who are experts on aeration.

Just a word of my personal experience...based on expert advise, we ran an airline 600 feet from the compressor to the pond initially to a two diffuser set up. This year we added another line and diffuser to that existing line to supply aeration to another pond. Our system has worked great for four years, without a hitch.

The PVC pipe is more expensive than the plastic pipe but if you are anything like me and have equipment that transverses the lines, then it is much better to go with PVC. I used 3/4 inch PVC initially, but based upon Sue's advise the second line went in with 1 inch PVC to reduce resistance to air flow.

If you have a small (or large) tractor, you can attach a middle buster and dig the line in no time at all....covering it up takes more work than digging it. Aeration is great........wish I could get it to all my ponds.