Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? Old pond aeration help!

I currently share a 7 acre pond. It's at least 60 years old and until recently. Has never been maintained. I have been using bacteria for the past 3 years and can tell a noticeable difference in the sludge depth. I'm wanting to add aeraeration but not sure which. The pond is 4-5' in the coves and 6-7' in the the center. I do have power in 2 locations at the pond and possibly more if needed. I see the benefits of both surface and bottom aeration. What would be the best bang for my buck? Systems that would keep it aerated and keep my power bill somewhat in check. As a reference I have a 3/4 hp ice eater I use during waterfowl season and it's runs $40 a month. Attached is a picture of the pond.
Thanks for your help!
Clint

Question 1.) What are your goals for the pond?

Question 2.) Will the other owners support your goals and split some costs?

The other owners support my goals and are willing to help out to a degree. Financially most of the cost is my responsibility. My goals are to create great habitat/ecosystem for all wildlife. Once I have that, I would like a great fishery.

Good deal that everyone is mostly on the same page!

Your pond definitely looks shallow in the aerial view. Stable, shallow water is certainly good enough to support most of the mammals, birds, and amphibians in your area.

Are you a duck hunter? It might be possible to make the small pond in the upper right a duck magnet pond. Especially if you are willing to pump water in and out to control the water level. This allows you to do plantings to attract your waterfowl. Do a search in the forum to find some of the good projects from the duck and geese people.

The pond also looks to be highly eutrophic (too nutrient rich). This is very common for old ponds. It will be difficult to develop a good set of fish populations in that condition.

Hopefully, some of the experts will drop in and give you some help on that item. I suspect draining and removing muck and sediment, plus deepening will be on their list.

Finally, do you have an existing population of fish in the pond, especially "trash" fish that stir up the bottom? A deliberate fish kill and starting over fresh would be a cheaper option than a full cleanout.

Does a creek or a neighbor's pond wash out into your pond during big rain events, or do you have total control of what aquatic creatures make it into your pond? That info definitely affects your options going forward.

Good luck on your project!

I had an unreal bass pond in the past. The spillway pipe eventually rotted out and I replaced it. Knowing what I know now,, I should have dredged it when it was low. Unfortunately, I don't want to spend that kind of money draining and dredging it. I also do not want to lower water levels for planting. I usually broadcast millet in the summer when the banks recede. I've had a nutrient overload since I've moved in. 2 years ago I stocked 50 gc and they have massively reduced my FA problem. Now I have a water meal problem. The past 2 years I have been transplanting pickerweed in the shallows and that seems to help as well. I'm just wanting to get aeration in place so I reduce my fish kills. There are some fish currently in it but not many, and I don't want to restock until I can sustain the habitat.

Yep, I figured that "drain or dredge" would probably not be acceptable to all parties.

I am not an expert, but I think aeration would probably be your best "bang for the buck" at this point to help your fish populations. However, dissolved oxygen is strongly temperature dependent.

If you get a hot, dry August some year, and your 7' deep water becomes only 5' deep, then it will be tough to avoid some significant loss of fish - even with aeration. Shallow water MUST become very warm in that scenario, and it is difficult to keep that warm water oxygenated.

Hopefully some of the aeration experts can give you some advice on that aspect of your project.

Thanks for your input. I figured surface aeration would be my best bet and it's looks like I'm going to need at least four of them. I was hoping I could offset a few of them with bottom diffusers to offset my wattage increase.

In something that shallow, I agree that surface aeration would be best. Maybe not the cheapest to operate, but the best. Depending on the budget, you could get an O2 meter and use that to dictate the run times. You can put tubes on the surface aerators to suck up water from the deeper areas. You will want to run it the most after the sun goes down to about an hour after sunup. Plants/algae/phytoplankton use O2 in the water to survive the night and the closer to sunrise you get the lower the O2 levels.

Depending on what type of use the pond will get, stocking the TGC might not have been the best thing to do. They eat underwater weeds which free up more nutrients for the algae and floating weeds like duckweed/watermeal. The surface aeration will help make waves on the surface, but it will be hard to combat the watermeal. Best bet for that is to chemically treat it when the wind blows it to one area and concentrates it. The fish that would eat is aren't legal to stock in Illinois. (Tilapia)

Thanks. Prior to having the GC i havent had any other plants in the pond, aside from shoreline primrose. I'm hoping if I continue to transplant the pickerweed in more spots, increase the beneficial bacteria input, and add more surface aeration. I can greatly reduce the nutrient load and make it more sustainable to fish. Possibly deepen it some with the reduction of muck. I definitely understand this plan is a marathon and not a sprint, and more than welcoming to better plans for what I have to work with.

Pickerel Weed will help, but if you had underwater plants in there those would utilize a lot more nutrients. Unfortunately with the TGC now it will be impossible to get any established. Filamentous Algae is way down on their preferred food lists, but still higher than cattails.

There is still some FA in the pond. It's just not completely covering it now. If need be. I guess I could slowly start killing the tgc off. Possibly caging spots and planting eel grass until it matures, or maybe get some lilypads started in the other coves where I can contain them easier? I'm open for suggestions.

Eelgrass, Sago Pond weed, American Pond Weed, etc are all good. Think of the plants that have a lot of green mass underwater, those will utilize the most nutrients.

Some great ones, but I don't recommend them because they are invasive and can overtake a BOW quickly, but utilize a tremendous amount of nutrients are Curly Leaf Pondweed and Eurasian Watermilfoil.