I am looking to aerate a 1/3 acre pond 7 ft deep. My plan is to put the pump in the basement and run the tubing about 250ft to the pond. I also need to be concerned with water temps as I will be stocking trout. I am also on a budget so would like a recomendation on a fairly cheap system. Thanks to all that have helped me to this point.

t1mmbo, since no one has replied I'll throw in my 2 cents.
I use an Eco Plus 5 linear pump, it's small but does a good job for small shallow ponds. It's attached to a 50 ft. soaker hose, I replace the hose each year. The soaker hose is zip tied to a garden hose that is filled with sand so that the bubble hose stays on the bottom. You can buy weighted bubble tubing which is more expensive but probably does a better job.
The pump has been running for 21 months (full time in the winter) and hasn't failed yet.


Here's the pump I have.
http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=139_267_532&products_id=1187

Adirondack, Thanks for all your help. I would like to pick your brain a little more if thats ok.
What tubing do you use from the pump to the soaker hose? Is the cheap 3/8 ID airline tubing ok for this use? Will it survive the cold winters in NH? Is it ok to put the pump in my basement or would outside be a better choice to keep the pond cooler?

I'm using 3/4 " hose from the pump to the soaker hose, the bigger hose lessens the chance of ice blockage. If you can keep the pump close to the pond that would probably be best unless your using a much bigger pump, mine is 200ft from the cabin next to the pond, some day I'll put in a heavy electric line but for now an extension cord does the job, the pump only draws 80 watts.
It's mounted in a plastic container, the sides are cut out with furnace filter material over it to allow air flow to the pump, the thermostat is mounted to the left.

If I can answer any other questions feel free, the guy's on this forum have given me tons of help.

AP,

So the soaker hose provides oxygen without messing with the thermocline in your trout pond as in hypolimnetic aeration?

The ice went out today. Here is a pic of the pond. I am going to take the boat out tommorrow and rake out all that brown stuff. Is that last years alge blooms or is it something else? Will a soaker hose help to clean this up or do I need something more intense?

Cecil, I have the soaker hose coiled in a 10ft. diameter circle for the winter in 4 ft of water, the pond is still iced over except for the large hole from aeration, 10 gpm inflow from my stream siphon pipe, pond is full, this morning the temp. gage which is at 5ft read 36.8F. Maybe this will be the year the trout survive the winter.

t1mmbo, I think you should post this photo under "controlling unwanted plants" so you can get someone with experience to give you advice. I wouldn't stock any fish till you find out what needs to be done.

t1mmbo,

3/8 dia tubing is pretty small. You will have a decent amount of friction loss in PSI and from what I can tell from this winters posts, a reasonable chance of ice blockage. I would use at least 3/4" if you're going 250'. Rather than using tubing it may be less expensive if you use 3/4" or larger PVC from the compressor to the pond edge and then adapt the stubs to receive the EPDM tubing from the compressor and the feeder tubing to go to the diffuser.

CB, Soaker hose (although not the most efficient way to aerate) works the same way that membrane diffusers or airstones work. Aeration via diffused air occurs from the point of bubble rise upward. So, hypolimnetic aeration is not so much a function of the type of diffuser as the placement of the diffuser in the water column.

Adirondack, by soaker hose do you mean the time bought at a garden center for watering plants? Which type? Round black type that sweats or more traditional ribbon type?

Rick, I use the round black type which seems to work well for me, if you look on Water Wizards site he has the air diffusion tubing which is pre weighted and probably works better, but you get what you pay for.

Adirondack....what size pond are you aerating with that pump? Seems like you have a budget oriented system and if it works....sounds great.

Our diffuser tubing is more expensive than soaker hose but it has a 20-30 year life expectancy. Our standard diffuser tubing produces a fine bubble which is great for mixing water but not as great for ice melting. We have the same tubing but cut differently to produce a course bubble which is better for ice melting.

An important consideration when using soaker hose is that the orifices don't require much back pressure to emit the air. The significance is that if there is more than a few inches of water depth difference over the length of tubing, all the bubbles will come out of the shallow spot. In short, your pond needs to have little if any contour. Our tubing requires 2 PSI to open the slits. This gives us the ability to deal with a larger contour difference of about 3 feet over a single length of tubing.

Mike the pond is about an acre and max. 8ft. deep. We get very heavy snow here as we get lake effect from lake Ontario so the aerator is used to keep an opening in the ice. The area you live in there would be no problem keeping a large area open with that small pump.

Richard I know what you mean about keeping the soaker hose in a fairly level depth, where the hose dips lower you see less bubbles from the additional pressure so I have to move it around to get the best position.
Someday I'll spring for the diffusion tubing.
My next project is a circulator for next winter.

My pond is just shy of an acre. 10' deepest part about 20% of the pond. The rest is about 6'. I have menbrane diffuser at 10' and one I move from 6' to 3' in the fall. I only run the 3' in the winter. It will put a 40' hole in the ice all winter. Thats only running the pump 6 hrs a day. 3 times for 2 hours. 11 pm to 1 am , 4 am to 6 am , 2 pm to 4 pm. Problem running the pump 24 hours is $ , about $25 a month. At 6 hours its somewhere in the $7 to $8 a month. Beats shoveling snow. You have to play with your times. Of course at night its alot colder , so you want move movement. I'm running a 1/4 hp Gast rotary vane 220v pump. Had go 220v because of the distance from the house for power , about 900'. I ran 240v to the pond. Lost 10v to resistance. So at the pump hook up theres 230v. Start up was a concern. The 220v draws lot less amps. So had no problem. I used rebar 3/8" 20' long and tywrapped it to the 1/2" poly and all the way to the diffuser plate. Sent my kid down to make sure they were laying flat. Pump is about 6' from the pond under a fake rock. Been there 7 or 8 years , no problem. Just have to clean the air filter twice a year. I do drop a few drops of syn oil into the vanes every year. I all so took one leg of the 220v for a 110v line for tools or a light to fish at night. I bought the complete kit at Stoney Creek for $600 included shipping. I see now its around $800. Also on e-Bay theres a guy selling the same pump for $100. I bought one as a spare. The vanes are more then $50.

WOW....$25 a day ??? My pump for my well sets me back about $90 a month. I can get away with a 110V which would be cheaper but I wonder what the price difference is. Maybe I can get my son a long hose and tell him to blow into it...LOL !!

something not quite adding up with a 1/4 hp pump using that much electricity per day. It should be no more that 500 watts, maybe less. that is 12 kwh per day running full time. Cost of electricty would have to be $2.00 per kilowatt hr., or more than 10 times the national average. At that rate, it would take $2000.00 per month to air condition a small house here in Houston. Maybe 1 decimal place misplaced in calculations. Cost of $.20 per kilowatt hr. would be more the norm, and closeer to the higher side of average.

One other comment, 110 or 220 would not make a pump cost less to run, due to the watts being the same if a dual voltage unit.

Here is a typical pond air compressor for a pretty good sized system. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/4...20Pumps-_-4F740

Yeah Burger something doesn't add up. My linear air pump draws only 80 watts and even with our much colder winters it keeps a atleast a 20 X 30 opening in the ice, it runs 24-7 and thats only about 30cents a day.

Ken that Gast 0523 vane on 230 volt should pull no more than 2.2 amps/ @ 12 cents per KW figure a buck a day to operate.Start/stop several times per day with pressure in the lines can be taxing on a vane punp.If yours is drawing more amps than that something may be very wrong.Also your pressure should be about 6 psi and the lower the pressure the less the amp draw.

sorry guys , its a month , lol

Here's what I've been using for years:
http://www.herbach.com/Merchant2/merchan...gory_Code=PUMPS
These run continuous, I bought a spare but have never needed it yet. And the price is right. Garden hose runs 200 feet to the pond, thence to soaker hose for 50 feet. Sand filled hose ty-wrapped is a great idea to keep it on the botom.

Can anyone explain why there's such a major price variation in compressors people use to aerate their ponds. From $70 for Dick Parks' one to nearly $500 for burgermeister's. And the specs don't look that much different. What am I missing?