I am moving forward with piecing together an aeration system for my share of 1.75 acre pond shared between 3 property owners, as well as exploring other solutions to improve our pond. I have attached an annotated satellite image to illustrate what I'm dealing with. I tried to get everyone to agree to a solar aeration setup where everyone could chip in then not have to worry about electric and various pumps, but ultimately I failed to convince everyone. The current agreement is each household takes care of their share of the pond.
My 0.6 acres is at the west end (far right) that I circled, and averages 3-4 feet in depth. Deeper holes in the pond are outlined with dashed lines. Historically, there has been a lot of plant growth and algae issues (we moved here in 2014). The pond is pretty old, and there is a good deal of muck everywhere. All depths were confirmed recently with a depth finder.
The asterisk (*) marks are existing diffusers from my middle neighbor.
The far east end is pretty shallow, mostly because it suffers from catching run-off that overflows from road (that is further to the SSW; out of the frame).
My understanding of pond aeration is that the more shallow you are, the more diffusers you need, thus my interest in getting a pump and couple diffusers installed. I'm hoping I can be set straight on a few items. Lets assume that cost is not much of a barrier at this point:
Pump location Will be housed inside my pole building. It is a dry space with concrete floor.
Pump For the area pictured, I have been looking at rotary vane, rocking piston, and linear pumps. I keep seeing linear pumps recommended for ponds up to 7' deep. Most discussions around here seem to focus on rocking piston and rotary vane. I see 1/4 HP rotary vane pumps paired with systems for "up to 2 acres" systems. Can someone set me straight on what the best choice would be? If we start getting control of the muck, we may gain an extra 1+ ft. of depth. Depending on where you read, I find conflicting information on the comparisons of linear vs. rotary vane vs. rocking piston. Sounds like linear pumps may be the quietest and most efficient for shallow water applications, but may need to have the diaphragm replaced more often. So I'm kind of at a loss of what to choose.
Tubing I'm still researching this, but my plan is a line that is buried (5/8" diameter) from barn to a manifold at the pond edge, then weighed air tubing from the manifold to the diffusers (5/8"). I'm not sure on distances yet.
Diffusers Still researching this as well. Open to suggestions as the number of options is overwhelming. I believe I would need at least 2 due to the shallow depth and irregular shape of my section.
I will be spending time searching the forum, but would appreciate any suggestions to get me started in the right direction.
The experts are recommending the 1" poly line from the pole barn because it has much lower frictional pressure losses compared to 5/8" line.
The 1" barely costs more, but it will save you on pump wear and electricity, and should pay out the price difference very quickly.
Also if you are in an area that freezes, it has less chance of accumulating enough water in it to freeze. I had a customer that had constant problems with 3/8" line freezing.
