I want aeration, but don't know how much air to push. My pond scenario is 5 acres, a typical dam, bowl shape, backing up into a "tooth" formation. Only the bowl will contain deep water. Deepest water is 24' but only in the middle. The bowl is about 2 acres, the rest of the pond is 8' or less. I'm guessing that I only need to aerate the 2 acres of the deepest water, but how many cfm do I need to push ? I like the Gast 4 cfm pumps for their economic value. The kicker is that I can't run 24/7, it's solar powered and I'm limited to 8 hours a day run time per 1/4 hp aerator. Can anyone assist ? My fish sure would appreciate it

Hey, Eastland; I have no idea about your questions but am real curious about your solar power stuff. I don't have power at the water on my place and no aeration.

How does yours start? Are you charging batteries and running off DC or? How is this set up?

Dave, I ran into a good deal and picked up 200 rechargeable 4.5 Amp Hour Universal Batteries, I wired up 30 parallel for each bank. They are in a cabinet that is cooled by 12V computer like fans that run on fractions of an amp of power. Each bank is connected to a Polar Power controller that senses dawn & dusk with settings for run times .30 min, to 24 hours. That gives me continuous power and the ability to automatically have things turn on. The controllers are fed by 55 Watt panels. I run 12V lights for the pond (20 lights) and have a power inverter that changes the 12V to 110DC for things like my aeration system, radio, & power tools. I'm also installing a water pump and sprinkler system for my food plots (deer!). I have regular electricity at my place, just couldn't justify the cost of running it 400 yards to my pond. So far I have about $700 tied up in everything, but there's no electric bill and I have more power than I need at this time. It's cool stuff.

Damn, thats neat!

Eastland,

That system sounds awesome !...I'm in the same boat with power and would like to duplicate...can you tell us where you got some of the "solar specific" type items like panels and controllers ? Also, do you think a bank of deep cycle 12v 115 amp hr marine batteries would work as well as your bank of batteries ?...what sort of reserve capacity/solar generation do you recommend for 24/7 operation of an aeration system...wouldn't be used for much else...ever think about putting a "package" together and selling it for some "side money" ?

Torchy

Eastland

That makes three of us right down to the food plots. I would also be interested in such a system but would need technical guidance. If you ever package it, count me in. Do you have any pictures?

I am also interested in this setup since I have pond far from power also. Would be more interest in using marine batteries.

More details.

Eastland, If your are limited to 1/4 HP and the Gast 0523 rotary is the direction you are leaning this unit will pull about 5.3 amps on 115 volt and produce 3.6 CFM at 10PSI (18-20ft of depth)This unit can be made with the old style Vertex Air 2 or if you have 5.3 amp cap. you could go to a Brookwood piston in an Vertex Air 3 which would give you 4.4 CFM. You are correct in aerating the deep part with your limitations. The important part is to get as much turnover capacity out of you diffusers as these CFM will allow > www.aquaticaeration.com if interested in more details. Good Luck Ted

Question on solar power:

If I don't want to have continuous power available, can you just wire the air supply to the solar panel directly (no batteries) and let it pump when the sun shines? Any downside to doing it this way?

Thanks