Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Aeration in the Winter?

1/3 acre m/l pond, 9' deep, stocked w/LMB, BG and CC plus some hitchhikers, located in SW Indiana and subject to freezing, frost depth here 20".

What a drought! My pond is now almost 4' below full. We're over 13" below normal rainfall at this point. My simple method of aeration has been working great. It has kept the fish from gasping for air and eliminated the pond odor. I have a 60gpm, $60 Harbor Freight pump suspended 4' from a float just pumping water up and dumping it 2' above the float. This has solved all my problems and, with the warranty, I get a brand new pump every two years for $10.

I am in the process of building a large water feature (waterfalls and 30' stream) at my house. It is 110' from the pond. I am going to use pond water to operate it and hope it also does double duty for what aeration my pond requires. Time will tell. The details of this project follow. At the very least, they are creative. Who knows, it might even work


I have buried a 4" pipe 4'6" below full level at the pond with a 5' horizontal "probe" that extends into the pond (4' pvc weep with open end and holes in pipe covered with galvanized hardware cloth w/1/2" squares to act as a screen).

This 4" pipe then goes to the house and ends up at a depth of 7'. It does a 90 deg turn up into a 9" thick concrete pad. I stood up an 11' piece of 15" double wall pvc culvert I had laying around and embedded it 6" into the concrete. This is my "water column" in which my pump(s) will reside. This will allow water to gravity flow the 110' to the pump, eliminating all that head pressure and friction loss. The return will also be a 4" pipe that dumps the water back in the pond at about full level. Everything is set up so simply turning the pump off "winterizes" the entire system (pitch, weep holes, depth, etc).


Now, to my question. I just wondered if, during the winter, I could do more harm than good to the fish by drawing water from 5' down and dumping it on top, especially considering the flow rate (max of 120gpm) and pond size. Could this reduce the water temp down low to an unacceptable point? I am totally clueless on this point (and many others). Thoughts?

Nope, I don't think it will hurt. You are pulling water from roughly mid way depth wise in the pond, which will leave the lowest, warmest water undisturbed. I'm unsure whether you are planning on running the system all winter long.

Watch that you don't pump the "holding tank" dry before the gravity water flow catches up. I don't think that the 4" horizontal pipe, being gravity fed, will have enough flow volume to keep the pumps fed if the water column isn't sealed like a well casing with a submersible pump, creating negetative pressure to help the water along. But, that's just a WAG.

Interesting project! I'll be interested in how it turns out. Please take and post pics of how it's progressing.

Thanks for the comment. I'll try to post some pics in a few days. I have changed computers so have to get the software to reduce the file sizes. I've been taking pics since the project started. It may be next spring before there's actually a waterfall in place. I've got to gather up 40 or 50 yards of dirt and get it compacted for the "mini-mountain".

Just tested my water return line and all performs as expected. I placed a "T" about 8' short of the pond and stubbed up a pipe to flush with the ground and 90'd it back out over the pond (supported, of course). This will carry the bulk of the water. I continued the main line out a couple of feet beyond the bank and placed a cleanout at the end. It has a 5/8" hole drilled in the bottom of it so the "system" will drain down anytime water flow stops.

Waiting for some rain before I backfill the last 30 feet of ditch leading to the pond. This clay is like big lumps of concrete right now so compaction is out of the question.

As far as water flow goes, 4" schedule 40 pipe is supposed to easily handle 240gpm under gravity flow conditions. Doubt I'll ever get close to that. Additionally, when the pond is full, that will generate some additional pressure. The draw down with 1 pump operating in the "water column" was only 1" on my "test drive" so it appears everything will be fine and that is with only about 3" of water over the pipe in the pond.

http://flexpvc.com/WaterFlowBasedOnPipeSize.shtml

I know this all sounds kinda hokey but its been fun coming up with it and playing in the dirt for a while. I'm sure theres some fatal flaw in the plan somewhere, but it hasn't surfaced yet.

Here's the link to the photo gallery pics so far..

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showgallery&Number=238419&#Post238419

Hokey? Not looking at it from this end. I think you've put a lot of thought and planning into it. How much head did it say it needed to gravity flow 240 gpm?

The patio looks great! Having just spread out 80+ yds of black dirt with a 1/3 cu yd bucket on a Kubota, then using a Harley Rake to smooth it out over an acre to get the seed bed ready for drilling in grass seed, I feel your pain!

All the chart has is as follows to attain 240gpm.

"Assume Gravity Flow. About 6f/s flow velocity, also suction side of pump" "GPM (with minimal pressure loss & noise)"

Judging that my drawdown was consistently only an inch in a 14" m/l column with about 50-60gpm, that sounds plausible. I'm going to try running two pumps in the column in a few days and watch to see what happens. I just today got to the point where I can start test driving this puppy. Hopefully we'll have some stinkin' rain before then and get some more water in the pond.

Part of this project was also to route a 6" drain into the pond from our gutters and a couple surface grates. The pond relies exclusively on run off from an adjoining farmer's field (which can capped off and diverted if need be) which is around 20 acres or so (no till land). Usually plenty but not this year.

Wow, and I though I had my hands full. Spreading 80 yds is quite a task. When you're done with the drill, send it down here. I'll have a lot of grass to seed when this is done. The wife is not real happy with the mess but, what the heck, most the grass was already dead from the drought anyway. Kentucky 31 is all I will ever plant again other than maybe some creeping red in the woods. I've had enough of trying to keep these fancy grasses alive out here in the country.

All you need to have is a tractor with a class 1 or larger 3 point.

The local heavy equipment rental yard has a couple of drills to rent. $40/day is their going rate.

If you were up here we could probably piggy-back and get both places done the same day.

Yeah, it took almost 3 days to get it all spread out due to the distance that I had to travel with the dirt from where it was piled, then another day hit it with the Harley Rake. I'll be picking up rocks tomorrow and hitting the edges with a shovel and a rake, then rolling the whole mess with a 24" x 48" water filled roller. Drill in the seed on Thursday and hope that the gutter "below grade" drainage system is done correctly to avoid washing away the dirt before the grass sprouts in the Spring.

The 80 yds was easy compared to the roughly 2,000 cu. yds. that was brought in as fill from when I renovated my pond. (about 7 miles one way)