Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Aeration on/off cycle time

Greetings, I have a 1.2 acre runoff pond with and average depth of 6 feet. it is located in South Carolina which has 90 deg days in the summer. It may have a spring upstream as there is always a small amount of water flowing from the pond level pipe.

I have a LivingWater Aeration system with ( 2 ) dual diffuses and is running on a timer. It is currently set to cycle on at 6 am and off at 3 am the next morning. It is running all 7 days. It was installed 3/20.

I would like some advise regarding the cycle time as it relates to how the cycle time impacts the health of the pond.

If I were smarter regarding aeration I could ask better questions. Thanks for any and all comments.

Doug

Doug for most folks water temp limits run times. As outside air temps, and therefore water temps, start to rise you will want to shift run times to night/early mornings to try to keep the water temps down. IMO, basically run as long as you possibly can without raising water temps too high. It will take some experimentation and monitoring to figure out those run times for your specific pond as every pond is different. Then of course similar approach but opposite concern in the winter, you don't want to cool the water temp too much.

Thank you for the information and cycle changes. When monitoring the water temps where is the best location to monitor it?

Thanks again
Doug

Ideally, more data is better. Would be great to measure top to bottom in 1' increments.

Great, I'm putting it all together, I knew I needed a small john boat.
Thanks Again
Doug

As long as you're boating around, you might want to find out more about your depths.
Like how deep is you pond, approximately what percentage of it is deep, and how deep are your diffusers?

Typically you will want it off during the hot periods, no sense turning off at 3am.

With a cycling aeration system...your water will be ALL the same temp (or very close), OR warmest at the top and coolest at the bottom. The first scenario happens once the aeration systems has thoroughly churned the pond water over several times equalizing the temperature top to bottom. The second will be witnessed after the pond waters have stopped moving due to the air being turned off and once the ambient air temps start to heat up the uppermost water column. The reverse would be expected in the winter (coolest at the top and warmer below).

For very general discussions...taking the water temp about 18 inches below the surface (out in rather open water - not in 18" of water near the shore) will be the norm for "my pond water temp is...". The top several inches of water in my pond can be scary warm, but just below that be very cool to the touch. So, don't get concerned if the surface is above 90 degrees, but do be concerned if the 18" depth starts getting into the low 80's.

I would run my aeration all the time if I could, but Midwest summers dictate that I turn it off during the hottest part of the day. Run yours as long as the water stays cooler than, say, 83 degrees at the 18" down mark (assuming that you do not have cold water fish).