Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions vertex pondlyfe 1 vs airmax am10-sw system

I have an approx 1/4 acre pond, 6-7 feet deep. Considering both systems, both made in USA, both rated for this size pond. I have an irregular shape (rectangular with a 20 x 20 finger forming the leg of a T shape), so thinking the 2 diffuser setup of the airmax might be better. I'm going to run buried PVC (1") appro 135 ft from well house to waters edge, so would need a valve w/ the 2 diffuser setup. Haven't seen this available w/ airmax, but did w/ vertex.Any suggestions, I need to move on this project this week. Thank you

I looked at the specs and I couldn't find any lifting specs on their diffusers. Have you found any?

I don't know what that is, sorry. i'm a behind-the-curve amateur at this point.

You should be bringing up or "turning" the water volume of the whole pond at least once per day for proper aeration. Here's where the learning curve is steep.

one acre foot (ac/ft) is 325,851 gallons. That's the amount of water that will cover one acre, one foot deep.

If your pond is 1/4 acre (go to http://www.acme.com/planimeter/ and measure it) and is an averages 3' in depth, then you have approximately 244,388 gallons of water in it. You want the lifting rate to be at least that much in a 24 hr period if you were to run the aerator 24 hrs per day.

The lifting rate will vary with the depth of the diffuser. They should have a chart that shows the different lifting rates if the aeration company did their proper homework.

Without knowing that information it's impossible to know if the aeration system is properly sized for your pond without buying it, installing it, and measuring the oxygen levels at the bottom of your pond with it running for "x" amount of time.

I believe the AirMax 10 SW max's out at 6 ft, Try to avoid running a system at the suggested max depth as can be tough on compressor life.

I was way off. It is 4900 ft x 6ft avg, so a little under 30,000 gallons. I'll try and find the lift specs and return with the info. Thanks for the lesson, very eye opening

thrdez, before all the experts calculate volumes of water and daily "turnover" rates for approx 1/4 acre pond, 6-7 feet deep, remind them that pond depth is a variable with our on-going drought ....unless you have a well to keep it full.

Have you looked into surface aeration?
http://www.kasco-fountains.com/id5.html

Thanks for the information. I do have a well to keep it full since it's not really that large. I'll needto get the turnover rate from vertex and airmax.

PM sent.

Any updates on your decision, OP? I am also considering the Airmax, but the Airmax 20SW. I have a similar pond size but my pond is 6-7' deep right now and could be deeper at times. the 10SW seems borderline for me.

I got the 10, and have been running it a couple weeks. It does seem the water has cleared somewhat, but I still have algae issues which the aeration may not solve by itself.The white cup test has gone from a little under 3 feet to ab out 4 feet in a little over 2 weeks.

Thanks for the update! Does the system have any drawbacks thus far?