Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Renovating a Pond or Lake? New Pond Owner, trying to get things under control

The feed may be 200' above your pond, but the well pipe is always full down into the well. If the water level in the well is lower that the top of your pond's water level, it will siphon, continuously to the lowest point until air enters.

So...I managed to bump into a close friend that had a 2 year old or so aerator laying around for her pond that she is no longer using, after bartering a bit, I wound up with it. It is a 1/4 hp gast pump with a 9" kamair diffuser.

I added it to my pond today and plugged it in. It seems to be doing a great job as far as bubbles go, however, the smell from what I assume is years of decaying matter on the bottom of the pond is enough to gag a maggot, it appears to be hydrogen sulfide from my research.

I ran the pump for about 30 minutes and unplugged it as that seemed to be the common consensus from most of my reading, however, one article said to float the diffuser a few feet down then lower gradually over the course of weeks?

What is the preferred method to get this gas out of the pond? Should I go full bore and just let it run, very few fish in pond, but really don't want to off my tadpoles that are in there as I love frogs. Or should I gradually run pump more and more everyday. Would bacteria help speed up the process of the gas being brought up to the surface? Thanks for any help. Matt

I wouldn't aerate at all until after I determined what I was going to do with the pond. No sense spending the money on electricity. Are you still doing the water holding test?

mnfish, yes I am it has dropped a good amount, I'm not sure where it will stop.

The rule of thumb is 15 min the first day, 30 the 2nd, 60 the third, etc. But if the smell is strong, I'd go slower, maybe 2 days at 15 minutes, then 2 days at 30 minutes. Hydrogen Sulfide is pretty toxic to fish, even in small amounts.

Ask me how I know Hydrogen Sulfide will kill fish in a hurry. Six years of fish growth gone.

The peat bottom giveth bug hatches...the peat bottom with a bubbling diffuser sunk into it with a frozen over pond taketh away