Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Add another pond to existing aeration system??

Currently have 1/4hp Gast rotary vane pump with two membrane diffusers aerating a .45+/-ac pond. Pond is 1/3 20-25' deep and 2/3 11-15' deep with heads set at max. recommmended depth of 16-18'.

Second pond is only about 1/8+/- acre 5-8' deep and 300' away from the bigger pond. I almost had a kill last summer and had a complete fishkill this winter. Want to tap into the exsting system so I don't have to worry about kills in the future.

Question: Any problem adding this second pond to the one aerator pump?

Options 1: Simply move one diffuser from the bigger pond to the smaller pond. So I have one diffuser in each pond.

Option 2: Add 3rd valve to existing system and run a new line to small pond. Maintaining 2 heads in the big pond and 1 in the smaller pond.

I've had good luck(fish, weeds, clarity etc) with the 2 diffusers in the one pond and would hate to upset that cart. Cost to add the third line is not a problem.

Any further info needed let me know and thanks in advance.

Chuck

Chuck, what is the cfm requirement of the membranes now in use.Are they single discs or dual discs per station? At 10 psi you should have approx 3.6 cfm available from that pump if it is a 0523 model

Are you sure you pond is 20 to 25 feet deep at .45 acres or are you estimating? I has to be a very steep bank in that area!

I use a 1/4 hp. rotary Gast for three 1/10 acre ponds all approximately 7 to 9 feet deep. One is 7 feet, the other is 8 feet and the trout pond is 9 feet deep max. However in the shallower two the diffuser is in the middle in slighty shallower water as the ponds are sloped to one end for easy draining. I run one airline to each pond and regulate the flow with levers. The air flow will go to the shallowest pond so one has to open up the air on the deeper one to get it to even out.

Ted - I'm not sure of the actual requirement of the membranes. They are the "MD3" and each station is a single disc. It is in fact the 0523-101P-G588EPX pump. Does that help? Let me know if you are suggesting it is o.k. to add a third disc for the shallow pond or not.

Cecil - It's definitely 25'+/- deep over a third of the pond. It was just dug(renovated) 3 years ago. The excavator has a 50' arm and the elbow is at 25'. There is a small "shelf" or shallow area and then it is pretty steep on that part of the pond. So far it has worked quite well on keeping the weeds at the right amount. Which was my goal!! I put the aerator heads right at the edge of the drop off from the 15'+/- part of the pond to the 25' deep part.

Chuck

ETA: Another reason I dug it that deep as the clay in this area starts at about 4-5' so I typically lose about that much over the summer. It ends up being 10-11' in the shallow area and 20-21' in the deep.

If your MD3 is an Easy Pro model it is 1-3 cfm rated. You can rob some cfm from them "but"that is a med to large slit and not a good choice for shallow water in the other pond. Look at the Vertex Shallow Water model as it will only require 1 cfm and will give you 2300 gpm lift at 8 ft thus leaving your other two discs within the suggested rate range.This diffuser will operate to depths as low as 4 ft.When you tap into the air supply use at least a 3/4 to 1 inch line to the pond edge and then .58 to .625 weighted line from there to accomodate the vane pump.You want to lessen the friction loss and back pressure as much as possible on a vane pump

Ted - Thank you very much for your post(s) and the time you spent with me on the phone!! You earned a new customer!

The order I placed with you arrived right on time and in good order!!

TWO THUMBS UP!!!

Chuck

Is this site great or what?

Thanks for supporting one of our sponsors Chuck. There are so many pond experts that make a living providing goods and services to us pond meisters and yet they willingly and freely give us advice. Purchasing from a Pond Boss vendor not only repays the vendor but also IMHO encourages this free exchange of ideas and advice.

Jeff,how true.Ted told me about the site whenI was checking into the areation thing.After all his help I did purchase my stuff from him.Now you know who to yell at for me being around pestering everybody.
However,if you harang him too much,you might find a small explosive device under your chair at the conferance this fall.

Note to self. Send Ted a letter and double check all potential seating arrangements.