Im a new guy and have been reading quite a bit. Anywho, here is the story.

Built our house 6 years ago and we dug a nice pond, it is about 12 feet deep and averages about 50x30 feet. Here is a story nobody believes but i have the pictures to prove it....

When we were digging the pond we dug right down to the bedrock. the bottom of the pond is rock. there were several large boulders we were removing and one huge boulder fell out of the bucket smashing onto the bedrock, water came out like a volcano! The entire pond filled in under an hour! It ran steady for almost two years and started to slow down. Now it depends on the level of Lake Erie (1 mile down the road), when the lake is high the pond water runs, when it doesnt rain for a while it stops.

Anyhow, the pond sprung to life quickly. Great color, great fish (We stocked it with perch) but somehow we also ended uop with Sunfish, Bass, catfish and clams (Yes huge clams!). After a few years we started noticing things dying, fish weren't jumping, bad smell etc. I did a bit of reading and soon realized the pond may have needed to be aerated. I read about the signs of a badly aerated pond and mine had many of them, black mud, water sammples were toxic etc.

I recenlty pumped the pond out completely and as I thought there were only a few fish left (And clams). The soil turned black and the whole pond smells like crap. It has been real dry here lately or pumping it dry would not have been possible. I am now on a limited time schedule and would like to add a basic aeration system to it before we get some rain and she fills up fast. I know I did not have to pump it out but I just needed to "reset" the situation and get a fresh start with new water. I decided on an electric system and have no problem with a "DIY" approach. I am looking for suggestions. The pond is slightly bananna shaped so i was not sure if i need two diffusers in it.

As far as my plans go I simply want nature to take it's coarse again but not die afterwards due to lack of oxygen. I like to stock it with fish I catch in lake Erie (Usually perch).

Lastly my budget is about $500, I am very handy and have no problem getting my hands dirty.

Any tips are appreciated. Here are pics of the pond getting dug, then pics of it filling up after to boulder dropped!

Welcome! Someone will hopefully be along shortly with some good advice. Ours is going to be about the same dimensions and self-installed, so I am anxious to read some opinions. Great looking place, eh.

Hello CNEPACE and welcome to Pond Boss.

Just curious, did you have much vegetation in the pond? Plants play a vital role in a pond, sure too many are a bad thing but not enough can be bad as well.

I did have vegetation but I usually mow around the pond. I did have some cat tails and other long plants growing a foot or two inside the pond and I kept those there. But the vegetation starting dying off also.

I sent you a P.M.

You may want to get the water checked. If it is an O2 problem it happens fast not over several years.

Another thing is, it appears you are dealing with a surface spring, (shallow spring that is dependent on water table levels) so it could actually work in reverse in that it could suck water out of the pond. This happens when the water pressure of the pond gets to be more than the pressure pushing up by the surface spring.

However you should have seen that yourself and I don't recall you mentioning that in your post.

That looks like quite a project but well worth the effort. What strikes me most is the amount of loose dirt around the pond. When it rains it will wash in and reduce clarity and cause lots of problems.

If this was my pond I would plant grasses around the edge to hold the dirt and act as a buffer. I would also consider planting some aquatic grasses into the pond and maybe on the bottom. Of course I am from Florida so stuff like that grows all the time. I don't know the specifics for the Great White North like Lake Erie! We have eel grass, sometimes called tape grass that grow on the bottom, even rocky bottom, and it is a great filter as well as habitat for fish.

If you have water coming in from a spring or underground well i would test the water for nutrients (PO4 and nitrogen)as well as dissolved oxygen. depending on the amount of water running in could really affect your pond's health.

Aeration and circulation are both equally important and you should really do your research for the most effective and efficient system for your application. Don't forget to factor electrical costs and runtime since that can add up quickly.

I hope this helped

Ontario really is incredible!!! You would think with the greatest freshwater lake in the world a mile from your house, you wouldn't need a pond, eh?? Just kidding a little, I live across the lake south of Erie and I like your situation there. I recently built my own aeration system and although I am far from an expert, the size of your pond seems to me you could get away with one diffuser station with 2 discs on it in the center just off the bottom to fully turn that pond over. A 1/4 hp gast rotary vane pump (I bought a used one off ebay for under $200), I selected a gast because of the ease they can be rebuilt and wide availability of parts. Trench in some UF wire and build a small dog house next to the pond to cover it from the elements, I powered my pump from a GCFI outlet in my garage, and presto, aerator engaged. You could spruce it up with weighted hose and multiple stations, but my entire system cost me just a shade under $300 and is barely noticeable on my electric bill. The air conditioners use more electric than my air pump system.

For do it yourself components, look into USA Bluebook.