Was wondering if this should be enough to arreate a half acre pond properly? I don't normally run both fountain and compressor at the same time due to the cost of electrcity.I was also wondering if it is nessary to run 24-7 due to cost of electric?


This is the 1/2 acre pond at a farther away view to get a better look at how I spaced the diffusers , which consist of soaker hose weighted down with rocks in 5 gallon buckets.If you look closely I tied plastic bottles onto a piece of string and ran it to the handle of the 5 gallon buckets. The compressor that I am useing is a 1/3 hp gast, half inch waterline used to run air to the pond, and weighted to the ponds bottom through cinder blocks. I just spaced the cinderblocks out enough to keep the airline on the bottom of the pond.

This is the boiling patteren I'm getting from the soaker hose used as a diffuser. I tried to take good pics to help but, it's pretty windy here today..

Nice pond! I would defer to one of the experts but I have had a lot of the same questions that have been addressed so I will pass on what I have learned. 1. just because you have a nice big boil does not mean you are getting the most bang for your buck. I would recommend a dual membrane diffuser (if you have more than 2 cfm) as smaller bubbles lifts more water and does a better job and aeration. I have a similar size Gast rotary vain compressor and I ran ¾ in air line to reduce friction loss at the diffuser. Do you have a pressure gauge at the pump? What’s your psi? How long of a run for your air line? Is your compressor getting hot? I am running a dual membrane diffuser in the deepest part of my pond (also ½ AC) and have been told by all that it is plenty for my pond if not over kill!. I started out running in short cycles of a few hours and increased to 24x7 due to hydrogen sulfide on the pond bottom. I have all intentions of running 24x7 but I have yet to receive my electric bill (if it is real high) at which time I will only run the compressor at night when it is needed the most. I do not have a fountain but have a neighbor who does and like me he does not have a well to replenish water supply he runs his 24x7 and has a much bigger evaporation rate than I do. From what I have learned I would chose the compressor over the fountain for quantity and quality of aeration as the diffusers turn the pond over and saturate the water column

There is a pressur gauge at the pump and it reads 20 psi at the air dryer and when it comes out of there it reads 10 psi at the other pressure gauge. The distance from the garage to the pond is aprox 30 yards, then it T's and I have 2 valves one for each diffuser. The diffusers are spread out from there aproximently 30 yards apart and from shore. The compressor is warm but not hot. When I start the compressor up, it will go to 30 psi before it blows off and then remains at a steady 10 psi .

This is where the airline T's to go to the diffusers.


This is a picture of the distance from the garage where the gast compressor is to the pond/diffusers.I paced off 30 yards.

Boiling pattern from soaker hose diffuser.

I have a half acre pond with a similar setup and I find I get plenty of airation just running it for two 4 hour shifts per day. You might have some southern folk that swear by running 24/7 during the summer but remember that they sometimes get fish kills from excessively warm water which doesn't hold much oxygen combined with calm days with no surface action. You are in a similar climate to myself and so I bet you won't have to run 24/7. Personally I think I could get by not running my aerator at all from about ice out thru June. As my water warms up to be safe I'd probably run it in July and August and I bet I could shut it down again come September. I currently run mine on the same cycle all winter just to keep the ice thin enough to get good sunlight through. I haven't had the guts yet to turn it completely off as described above but I know I could. Let's face it, by running mine only 8 hours per day I'm saving 2/3 the electricity as compared to running all the time and that's significant.

I have a .62 acre pond and I run two airlines out and space them apart. That's plenty of air for just one diffuser. I've even run four airlines out to put a diffuser between two sets of four fish cages along with the two diffusers equadistance in the center of the pond and still had good bubble up flow at all points. I'd say you need to run two airlines out with a diffuser at each one. I also think you could have probably gotten by with a smaller compressor and must run one airline and diffuser.

I've run mine 24/7 but since I am going to be running two 1/4 hp. Gast rotary vanes in the near future I'm going to cut back on 8 hours a day and at night. Bill Cody says that is plenty of running time.

IMHO the fountains look nice but for practical purposes are pretty worthless.