The concept of aeration isn't about aerating, strange as that sounds. Aeration, in our pond management scheme of things, is about moving water vertically, where it can contact the atmosphere to release its gasses and absorb oxygen from the air.
To that end, as long as ALL your water (or at least most of it), contacts the atmosphere often enough to make that healthy exchange, aeration can be part time.
To that end, it isn't an "all or nothing" thing. It just needs to be "enough".
An older lake with lots of nutrient load needs more aeration than a young lake with more sterile water.
Teach a man to grow fish... He can teach to catch fish...
With that being said does that mean you can have a minimal system, provided it is enough, As opposed to an elaborate system.
I'm sure "it depends" on many factors.What I'm really trying to figure out is where to put it on my list of want's for my BOW. It is 5 years old,20' deep kinda shaped like a V.
Going to build log cabin(for permenant residence) among many other projects so in my mind I'm just trying rate it on my level of importance.
Also by the way I do have access to pretty much any kind of testing equipment.
Sometimes "under" aerating can cause more problems than not aerating at all ~ you will de-stratify your pond and mix the bottom low oxygen water with the top oxygenated water, but not move it enough to bring the oxygen levels up throughout the water column. I have seen where oxygen levels are sooooo low by the bubble column because the low oxygen water is being brought up from the bottom, a sure sign of under aeration. You really need to circulate the total volume of water atleast one time per day to bring those DO levels up. My suggestion to you is to put it on your list of priorities and plan on a properly sized system when you can find it in your budget. Don't waste money on half a system that won't benefit your pond at all. Now, that being said, I have seen benefits to aerating an isolated area of a larger lake, such as a cove ~ or a seperated section. I had a large fishing lake in East Texas that had annual fishkills and we aerated about a 40 acre section ~ they never had fishkills again and that was about 5 years ago. You wonder if fish are able to find their way to oxygenated areas ~
Sue (or Bob), if you were testing the water, what O2 levels would you be looking for near the upwelling water column to consider it "not underaerating"?
Well...I had more of a temperature/O2 saturation thinking in my brain. It depends on elevation, I know, but a general chart showing how much oxygen is "saturated" into water at a given temperature, in ppm.
Teach a man to grow fish... He can teach to catch fish...
Inquiring minds want to know. Why is measuring the DO near the upwelling bubble column important or more important than measuring the DO near the bottom near the diffuser and at other similar depths above the bottom in other areas of the pond?
There are charts that show % DO saturation when water temp and DO in mg/L(ppm) are known. I have one of those charts. It is a nomogram (nomograph). It also has a correction for altitude. Now I need to figure out how to post it. It is likely someone else has one of these charts. Sue should have one, so should Dr Willis and a few others.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/04/1111:10 AM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
If you measure at the upwelling bubble column, you can tell if you are moving "dead" water and have a common sense approach to how efficient your system is...or how efficiently you are using it. For example, if we run a system for 8 hours daily, shut it off for 16 hours, turn it on and measure zero oxygen, the pond is either re-stratifying during the off period or the system isn't adequate. If we run a system for 8 hours, shut it off of 16 hours and then turn it on and we have 4-5 ppm O2, we're pretty efficient with it.
Teach a man to grow fish... He can teach to catch fish...
The best thing to do is have someone size it up for you and make a recomendation ~ do you know if your pond is visable yet on Google Earth? You said it is 5 years old, so it may be available ~ if not you could draw it out with dimensions and depth and send it to me or someone else in the business. My email is below if you want to contact me ~
R&R, the only other thing that Sue or anyone else will need is the actual depths of the BOW. You can guesstimate, but it's better if you have actual measurements. Not necessiarly a full topo chart, but something saying deepest spot, shallow here, and overall depth average. That way you can know what type of diffusers you will need (shallow or deep), and where to place them.
Well, there is a more expensive YSI or Hach meter that allows you to measure DO, % saturation & temp throughout the water column or you could get a little snap test kit that isn't as accurate and only allows you to test surface water, but may be all you need.
Sue, I'm curious about your experience with aerating a portion of that large pond (sounds more like a lake in TX. Was there a bottle neck or any other kind of physical structure that minimized migration or "connectivity" of water from that 40 acres to other parts of the pond or was it open to the main BOW? It seems to me that if you only aerated a relatively small portion of the pond you might get some localized aeration but the oxygen should diffuse into the surrounding low oxygen waters in fairly short order....unless there was some sort of barrier seperating the 40 acres from the rest. Were you able to test DO in the larger body of water? I know this is kind of a tangent and I don't want to hijack this post so you can respond in a PM if you prefer.
Richard Dennis EP Aeration rich@epaeration.com www.epaeration.com (800) 556-9251
Sue and Essup Thanks for the input. Iv'e attached the google earth pictue (I hope) And I am planning on mapping it out and getting it tested sometime in the not to distant future.
Heres what I do know from pictures during construction and conversations with the previous owner who did build the pond. It is devoid of any variations in the bottom and the deepest point at the time of construction was 20' straight out from the dam. The dam is a 5to 1 slope on the pond side.I measured it on google plnimeter and it is 9.5 surface acres.
Thats really all I know at this point other than it has always been very clear.
No, it would have a negative effect, destratification with out enough oxygen anywhere. Nutrients would be brought up from the bottom that would feed algae and aquatic weeds. Under-aeration is not good at all!
in TX. Was there a bottle neck or any other kind of physical structure that minimized migration or "connectivity" of water from that 40 acres to other parts of the pond or was it open to the main BOW? It seems to me that if you only aerated a relatively small portion of the pond you might get some localized aeration but the oxygen should diffuse into the surrounding low oxygen waters in fairly short order....unless there was some sort of barrier seperating the 40 acres from the rest. Were you able to test DO in the larger body of water? I know this is kind of a tangent and I don't want to hijack this post so you can respond in a PM if you prefer.
Thanks for the input.
