Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Aeration frequency

Bill - thanks again for the advice. Have been monitoring the water temp at bottom for the last several weeks and have noticed it has changed very little....generally running in the low-mid 70s. I run the aerator about once a week. For example, I measured the temperature at bottom yessterday afternoon and it was in the 74 degree range. With severe clear and air temps at 100, near surface temps were well into the 90s. Ran the aerator overnight and bottom temp was around 76. Near surface temps were in the lower 80s as air temps had dropped into the low-mid 70s overnight. Water clarity remains about the same at @18" or so.

Seems to me that it will not be necessary to run the aerator any more than once a week or so as the thermocline has effectively been eliminated and the bottom temp is not changing all that much day to day, or even week to week. From that, I am assuming DO concentrations should be supportive from the bottom up giving the fish access to at least somewhat cooler water.

I understand what you are saying about mixing depth and its relation to wave height. Obviously, for a pond my size that is not going to be a consideration. For the other pond I mentioned, its larger size does allow for larger waves, but I doubt seriously the wave height ever exceeds a foot or two at the most. This is Oklahoma, and the wind does blow, but the fetch on that pond would be at most about 500 yards, if that, which places a serious limitation on the wave height.

Thanks again, always appreciate good, sound advice.

Dick

Dick,
When running the aerator just once a week with only 18" of water clarity, DO at the bottom could be quite low if not exhausted especially 4-6 days after aeration is stopped. As water clarity decreases, generally the DO is consumed proportionally quicker. DO can be consumed even though the water temperature has not increased or changed very much. Sue Cruze or Ted Lea may be able to provide additional info on this topic. I recall that Bruce Condello found that DO is reduced to below 3ppm in the lower water after 24 hours when water clarity is less than 2 ft. Although i found that in a clearer water 4.5ft vis, 2-4 yr old pond DO lasted 5-6 days before DO dropped below 2ppm. Best thing to do in a situation similar to yours is have someone measure the DO at the bottom.

Hmmmmm.....guess my assumption regarding the elimination of the thermocline and the DO at pond bottom is not necessarily valid. Don't know of anyone who has a DO meter, so guess I should start running the aerator a couple of times per week.

Thanks again.

Dick: I am no expert but most people I know with aeration either run it in summer 24/7 or overnight daily. Is there a reason for you not to do something similar?

If you were putting in an aerator prior to filling a pond, with what frequency would you aerate after filling? Maybe there are some previous postings regarding aeration in a new BOW that someone can guide me too.

If you fire it up and run it 24/7 when there is 4-5 feet of water over the deepest diffuser, you can start running full bore from the get-go. It's when you have anoxic water in the pond bottom, then you have to watch the start-up procedure.

Before deciding how long you want to run your aerator I think it's important to know if you plan on adding beneficial bacteria to your pond. If you want to keep muck accumulation down (and nutrients) you should add bacteria. If you add bacteria you should run your aerator 24/7.