Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - Pond Areation

I have a 3 acre pond that is 18’ deep. The depth drops off pretty quick from the sides. It is long with depths at the shallow end at 5’. At what depth should I set my diffusers?

If you have a pump producing too much pressure/volume for the diffusers you wish to operate at that time, you can always install a waste bleeder in the system.

At any place where you have an existing manifold, or can easily install a tee, run a short piece of hose into the air with a valve on the end. Leave that valve cracked, so that a small amount of compressed air is always wasted to the atmosphere - as opposed to operating the system above the design parameters of your diffusers.

If possible, I would place the waste bleeder at some place I travelled past frequently on my daily or weekly routines. If you hear the bleeder just screaming air, then you know you have a freeze up in your line to the diffusers. If it is not making any noise at all, then that signals several other possible problems that are nice to diagnose early.

Cody Note - Good advice as an option above. I have seen this done for several aerator systems. When you have this situation where you are releasing excess air volume, why not add another diffuser and put that wasted air to work moving water in the pond.?

Bill, you are correct. I need to test the EasyPro diffuser since we are a distributor for both Vertex and EasyPro. I tested a single Vertex diffuser a number of years ago and it had no issues running for 4 months in 4' water depth during the winter when using a Gast 1023 3/4 hp rotary vane compressor. It was WAY over cfm Vertex specs. IIRC the back pressure tested like you described was 1 psi. It takes 0.5 psi to open the check valve in the Vertex diffusers.

I tell my customers that they could turn off the system when the water temp is in the low 50's and dropping and that they can turn the system back on in the Spring when it's in the upper 40's to low 50's without worrying about the start up procedure. I tell them to turn the air on going to the winter diffuser when there is or will be 2" ice and 2" snow on the pond. Some years it's on for only a week or two. Last winter it was on for about 3 months.

That is WATER Temperature, NOT air temperature. I take water temp at 12"-18" depth.

When my pond lost 9 foot of water depth due to a drought, (half the pond depth) I took out roughly 100# of fish before the pond iced over, and re-configured both the shallow and deep airstations so they'd BOTH work for the like they were supposed to. I had probably 30% of the surface area ice-free and didn't lose any fish. BUT I was concerned because of the high biochemical demand on the pond that winter.

Now what I do for my customers that have ponds that ice over, I found a diffusers that has medium sized bubbles for the winter diffuser. Larger bubbles make more surface disruption (waves) and open up a larger hole. This one uses 2-12 CFM, and has 6-10mm bubbles. Compressor specs are important, a low cfm compressor won't work with these diffusers.