Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Small Pond - Big Heat - will aeration help ?

Small pond 50' x 50' - and 8-9 feet deep. Water stained - no plant life. Used to raise minnows and crawdads. Prolonged 90-100 degree weather here has made for some pretty ugly surface water - one condition I will call "floating pea soup" (I am sure there is a more appropriate name for it) and the other is a clear sheen to the surface of the water with some bubbles mixed in. Usually one or the other appears each day. I am concerned if this continues I might get a major fish kill ??

Wondering if some type of aeration would help ease these conditions ? If so - recommendations ? I have power 200' away - also the ability to manually add water via long hose, but by the time it gets there will be around 80 degrees.

Hey PS,
The floating pea soup may be blue green algae. One way to tell is to gather some in a jar and seal it for a couple of hours. If it smells like acid when you open the jar, that's most likely what you've got and you can treat it with algaecide.

The transparent sheen is something I've seen on my pond as well, usually earlier in the year. It could be a life cycle of either the BGA or some other growth, but I haven't seen anything detrimental other than it looks like someone poured oil in the pond.

Lack of plants has allowed the algae to prosper because nothing is using up the excess nutrients.

Aeration will help by allowing excess nutrients to be dispelled through natural digestion of the pond by adding O2. It will also help keep your surface temps lower by cycling cooler water up to mix with the warmer as long as you run it at night during the hot months.