I have a 3/4 acre pond that has been neglected for 20 years. Currently in the shallow location (indicated in yellow), there is a large amount of muck. On the right side of the photo, I am dealing with branches and undecayed leaves.
Since the satellite photo was taken, I have removed ~ 75% of the trees surrounding the pond.
My question is, what pump and bubblers should I purchase? I have been looking at Hiblow 120LL and a couple Gast units. Taking into account the price of a quality unit, I prefer something rebuildable.
The air line will be ran from a pole barn approximately 30 to 40 feet away.
3/4 acre pond Yellow=1 foot deep Orange = 3 feet deep Red = 9 feet deep Pink = direction of air line coming from pole barn Blue = locations I felt would be ideal for both of the bubblers.
I'm completely open to suggestions on pumps, # of bubblers, even chemical additives - though I see this is not the correct forum for chemicals.
Would I be wrong to use 3/8" line for the system outlined below?
The line coming from the barn will be 60 feet. After the initial run, it will be diverted into 2 separate runs with valves for each leg. The first will be 90 feet and the second will be about 200 feet with a diffuser at 100 feet and at 200 feet.
For the 0523 you want at least 5/8" ID airline especially when pushing air 200ft. . Note the common black plastic water line is sold as 1/2" however it's actual ID is 5/8". Do not expect the bottom aeration to get rid of the duckweed. Duckweed grows because the accumulated nutrient load or budget is high and had developed to a condition that favors the needs of growing duckweed that has unique nutrient requirements. Whenever I see duckweed growing,,,,,,, the water is hypereutrophic very organic laden which almost always means there is deep accumulated organic muck on the bottom indicating the pond is approaching old age conditions. Best plan to get rid of the duckweed is plan to drain and dredge out the muck. Trying to digest it will likely redissolve all the nutrients and will likely grow something else just as problematic as the duckweed. Solution is to actually remove the large accumulation of organic muck.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 03/17/2109:24 AM.
aka Pond Doctor & Dr. Perca Read Pond Boss Magazine - America's Journal of Pond Management
Would I be wrong to use 3/8" line for the system outlined below?
The line coming from the barn will be 60 feet. After the initial run, it will be diverted into 2 separate runs with valves for each leg. The first will be 90 feet and the second will be about 200 feet with a diffuser at 100 feet and at 200 feet.
Like Bill said above, the short answer is yes. Long answer is the 3/8" line will freeze up a LOT quicker in winter, will cause higher back pressure in the system which will wear on the pump faster (which creates heat which increases the likelihood of the line freezing in the winter), and will provide a smaller volume of air to the pond than the larger airline.
Run 1" ID larger for the first leg and 5/8 ID for the remaining at a minimum.
If I understand your plan, you will have 3 diffusers, correct?
2, at 9 foot deep, and a third at what depth?
I ask because the 2 diffusers on the one leg would, ideally, need to be at the same depth. Otherwise the more shallow one will get more of the air flow hence reduce the effectiveness of the deeper one. Not a killer, but not ideal...depending. Actually (maybe), if both were at the same depth, the first one in line would get a bit more air flow due to being first in line. This comment is a "maybe" since my fluid dynamics is rusty.
I like to have valve control of each diffuser, but that's just me being controlling...lol. And, spending your money.
The initial 60 foot run in 3/8" line would consume 3.7 psi of your available pressure from the pump.
The second 200 foot run of 3/8" line would consume another 1.2 psi
Diffusers typically take 1/2 to 1 psi to operate (I'll use 0.75 psi as a calc number).
Plumbing bits and pieces could easily add another 1/2 to 1 psi (I'll use 0.75 psi as a calc number).
The deepest diffuser at 9 feet deep would need another 3.9 psi to pump down that far under water...
That's over 10 psi that the pump will want be operating at.
10 psi is the max for that pump and taxes the pump at that operating level. You can do better and extend the life of the pump.
Using 5/8" for the 60 foot run and 5/8" for the remainder yields a pressure requirement of 6.3 psi...MUCH BETTER. This will produce 4 CFM at this pressure which is 1.3 CFM per diffuser so long as they are valve controlled individually. This is a good approach.
Using 1" for the 60 foot run and 5/8" for the remainder yields a pressure requirement of 5.9 psi...Not Much better, but you can see what increasing the line size does for improving pressure drop.
All that said...heed Bill's comments about aeration not being the key tool for solving a DW problem.
Would I be wrong to use 3/8" line for the system outlined below?
The line coming from the barn will be 60 feet. After the initial run, it will be diverted into 2 separate runs with valves for each leg. The first will be 90 feet and the second will be about 200 feet with a diffuser at 100 feet and at 200 feet.
Like Bill said above, the short answer is yes. Long answer is the 3/8" line will freeze up a LOT quicker in winter, will cause higher back pressure in the system which will wear on the pump faster (which creates heat which increases the likelihood of the line freezing in the winter), and will provide a smaller volume of air to the pond than the larger airline.
I intend to increase the air line coming from the barn from 3/8 to 1in. 3/8 is what's already there from the previous system. I plan on keeping the new 3/8" coming from the manifold located on the bank to the diffusers, though.
Where does the line have a greater probability of freezing? The run that's above water? In my case the barn to manifold ?
Run 1" ID larger for the first leg and 5/8 ID for the remaining at a minimum.
If I understand your plan, you will have 3 diffusers, correct?
2, at 9 foot deep, and a third at what depth?
I ask because the 2 diffusers on the one leg would, ideally, need to be at the same depth. Otherwise the more shallow one will get more of the air flow hence reduce the effectiveness of the deeper one. Not a killer, but not ideal...depending. Actually (maybe), if both were at the same depth, the first one in line would get a bit more air flow due to being first in line. This comment is a "maybe" since my fluid dynamics is rusty.
I like to have valve control of each diffuser, but that's just me being controlling...lol. And, spending your money.
The amount of diffusers is something I've been going back and forth on. I decided to go with #2 - 9" Vertex diffusers a@ 9 feet and (depending on opinions here) an old stone diffuser at 3 feet in the winter.
I purchased a valve to control each individual diffuser.
I also purchased enough hose to put each diffuser on it's own line but after looking at your figures above, I dont know how to proceed.
The initial 60 foot run in 3/8" line would consume 3.7 psi of your available pressure from the pump.
The second 200 foot run of 3/8" line would consume another 1.2 psi
Diffusers typically take 1/2 to 1 psi to operate (I'll use 0.75 psi as a calc number).
Plumbing bits and pieces could easily add another 1/2 to 1 psi (I'll use 0.75 psi as a calc number).
The deepest diffuser at 9 feet deep would need another 3.9 psi to pump down that far under water...
That's over 10 psi that the pump will want be operating at.
10 psi is the max for that pump and taxes the pump at that operating level. You can do better and extend the life of the pump.
Using 5/8" for the 60 foot run and 5/8" for the remainder yields a pressure requirement of 6.3 psi...MUCH BETTER. This will produce 4 CFM at this pressure which is 1.3 CFM per diffuser so long as they are valve controlled individually. This is a good approach.
Using 1" for the 60 foot run and 5/8" for the remainder yields a pressure requirement of 5.9 psi...Not Much better, but you can see what increasing the line size does for improving pressure drop.
All that said...heed Bill's comments about aeration not being the key tool for solving a DW problem.
I'm trying my best to wrap my head around pond aeration and the formulas. Does the psi calculation only take into account the longest run? Does it matter if they're on the same or separate lines?
I'm not sure if the math is correct, but it appears for every 100 feet of 3/8 line, it adds .6psi. Now, if I was to do a 150ft run instead that would create .9 psi.
2 diffusers = 2psi
Fittings = 1psi
Diffuser at 9' = 3.9psi
So far on the high side I'm at 7.8 and that doesn't take into account the line coming from the barn.
I said earlier that I had purchased a Gast 0523/582 pump, but the ebay seller sold it out from under me. This whole project was bringing me joy, but it's quickly becoming a headache in one way or another.
Anyway, I'm now in the market for another pump. I really like Gast 0523 series, but I'm having a hard time making heads of what exactly the rest of the model numbers mean. 0523-101Q-G588NDX, 0523-101Q-G582EDX, 0523-V4-SG588DX, etc.
And am I wrong in my thinking that the 0523 is both a compressor and a vacuum pump, depending how its plumbed?
You need to to include each line, there size, & lengths to sum up the line pressure losses. You only need to add in the deepest diffuser for it's head affect on the system and only one diffuser's worth of pressure requirement to operate. Then add the fitting reductions. This should give you a decent operating pressure so long as you assumed the correct operating CFM to begin with.
NOTE: I use the following online calculator to run the numbers...
You have to guess where on the curve the pump will operate and use the CFM and pressure from that point on the curve, then run the calculator to get the pressure losses for each line, then sum in the head loss, fitting losses, diffuser losses and see if it closely matches your original pressure point guess. If it does not, average your initial guess and the calculated operating pressure, take that to the curve and get a new CFM, run all the calcs again. Usually within a few iterations of this you get the initial pressure to closely match the calc'd pressure and your done.
Hope this helped...I'm short on time today and have to get back to it.
![[Linked Image]](http://forums.pondboss.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=download&Number=13316&filename=Gast_0523-v4-SG588DX_1.gif)
