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I had my pond evaluated and I've got a lot of weed clean up left to be done as well as other things but aeration was advised to help with the pond's overall health.

It is a 35 acre lake. I've attached two images below. One shows the farm house that has power but due to the size of the pond the hose length would be extensive to cover the pond. I'm really just looking at bang for the bucket. I'm intending to put the aerator near the house and pond Dam due to that's the deepest spots in the pond and would give me the best overall churn. We don't typically have fish kills due to the fact the pond has low fertility due to the watershields and fragrant water lilies. I'm spraying those to try to kill them down and somewhat worried about a fish kill due to trying to reduce them.

Any thoughts or suggestions? The pond does have a lot of trees around its banks but due to the sides it still gets good surface movement.

Thanks

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

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I can run the numbers but you will need a lot of air for that. The system that we did for an 18 ac HOA lake was 4 compressors each 3/4 hp. You can run air a long ways under ground and then transition to the expensive underwater self sinking tubing at the edge of the pond.

You will have to move roughly 68.5 million gallons of water per day to aerate it.

PM me the address if you want me to run the numbers for you.


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esshup (and others),

On a lake that size do you need to aerate the whole thing?

If you create some oxygenated water refuges, would that be sufficient for good fish health and growth rates normally, and sufficient to pass the fish through any crisis times of depleted oxygen?

Or would that just be wasting some portion of the "productivity" of the lake?

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35 acres is a lot of water to try and aerate on a normal budget. IMO we should look at a cost benefit analysis.
What are your main goals for the pond?
What comprises the fishery species?
What is the fish harvest per year?
Do you feed the fish?

Since you have water shield and water lilies they can help sequester nutrients and promote "clearish" water. I would not kill all of them and best IMO to maintain about 30-50 shoreline coverage. What is the water clarity? To best determine that with a relatively accurate number create or build a Secchi disk. Simplest is use a white Kool-Whip lid attach it to a cord so it hangs horizontal or even more simple tie a cord to a all white coffee cup. Lower the device into the water until it disappears take the measurement of that depth. Report back here with answers.


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Originally Posted by Bill Cody
35 acres is a lot of water to try and aerate on a normal budget. IMO we should look at a cost benefit analysis.
What are your main goals for the pond?
What comprises the fishery species?
What is the fish harvest per year?
Do you feed the fish?

Since you have water shield and water lilies they can help sequester nutrients and promote "clearish" water. I would not kill all of them and best IMO to maintain about 30-50 shoreline coverage. What is the water clarity? To best determine that with a relatively accurate number create or build a Secchi disk. Simplest is use a white Kool-Whip lid attach it to a cord so it hangs horizontal or even more simple tie a cord to a all white coffee cup. Lower the device into the water until it disappears take the measurement of that depth. Report back here with answers.

My thought was to aerate the deepest part near the pond damn, the area at the bottom of the lake in the image

The pond is exclusively for fishing, just family and some close friends.
Bass, bluegill are the primary focus species but it also has crappie and warmouth perch as well.
Early on fish harvest is low as I'm trying to build it back up after years of neglect. We will harvest the crappie heavily to cull their population.
I do feed the fish at this time due to the low fertility in the pond. Mostly due to it being heavily covered by vegetation. The heat map above was done for this spring, it shows the vegetation coverage.

visibility in the spring was 46 inches with a hardness of 19ppm if that helps.

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Hello and welcome!

Warmouth and perch are 2 different species. Which one do you have?

If you do not have Yellow Perch (elongated yellow green body with dark vertical bands in the walleye family) please do your best to get some. They are extremely versatile, hardy in all temperature water, that a northern lake could see readily pellet train, eat up any unwanted crayfish or snails, and are one of the best tasting panfish there is. highly recommended!

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Originally Posted by canyoncreek
Hello and welcome!

Warmouth and perch are 2 different species. Which one do you have?

If you do not have Yellow Perch (elongated yellow green body with dark vertical bands in the walleye family) please do your best to get some. They are extremely versatile, hardy in all temperature water, that a northern lake could see readily pellet train, eat up any unwanted crayfish or snails, and are one of the best tasting panfish there is. highly recommended!

Sorry its the southern in me. They're warmouth sunfish.

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Got it, nice option for panfish.

Most of us with YP are glad we have them. You may consider adding them. My kids love that our YP are aggressive, hungry, ready to bite anything on the hook at any time of day or night. Of course they are also pellet trained and always hungry.

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Originally Posted by canyoncreek
Got it, nice option for panfish.

Most of us with YP are glad we have them. You may consider adding them. My kids love that our YP are aggressive, hungry, ready to bite anything on the hook at any time of day or night. Of course they are also pellet trained and always hungry.

The crappie generally have filled that role well. I'd rather have YP instead as I've got a massive explosion of crappie population wise compared to all other species. A lot of years of neglect to fix in this pond and it won't be an overnight change. When the kids are old enough the bass will be in good shape though.

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Quote
visibility in the spring was 46 inches with a hardness of 19ppm if that helps.
Water clarity is usually clearest of the year in early spring before water is 50F. Can you provide the current water clarity measurement? Average water clarity for the open water season is important for determining the need for aeration especially for the deeper water areas.


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Originally Posted by Bill Cody
Quote
visibility in the spring was 46 inches with a hardness of 19ppm if that helps.
Water clarity is usually clearest of the year in early spring before water is 50F. Can you provide the current water clarity measurement? Average water clarity for the open water season is important for determining the need for aeration especially for the deeper water areas.

I'm heading back the 26th, I can get a measurement then as well as pictures. I'll be spraying the pond then to try to kill down some of the lily pads in the pond.

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I agree with Bill, and if you kill some of the plants, I'd kill them in "blocks" allowing clear water to the shore. That will provide more edges for the fish to utilize. I mapped the pond, and came up with 38 surface acres.

I'd concentrate on aerating the deeper water like you said, meaning anything 10 feet and deeper. Tomorrow I will try and overlay the depth contours over the sat image so I can figure out how much of an area (and gallons of water) those deep areas cover.


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Originally Posted by esshup
I agree with Bill, and if you kill some of the plants, I'd kill them in "blocks" allowing clear water to the shore. That will provide more edges for the fish to utilize. I mapped the pond, and came up with 38 surface acres.

I'd concentrate on aerating the deeper water like you said, meaning anything 10 feet and deeper. Tomorrow I will try and overlay the depth contours over the sat image so I can figure out how much of an area (and gallons of water) those deep areas cover.

Thank you for all of the help. Does the diffuser style matter heavily?

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IMO Diffuser style has several implications for: volume water moved, cfm flow requirements, maintenance, ease of lifting and cleaning, type of construction materials, durability, reliability, replaceable diffuser surface (bubble creation) options, water clarity and water quality implications for clogging, cost, etc. If you are spending good money on a diffuser, spend it wisely after doing some homework. ALL diffusers require hand cleaning despite what sales people and promotions tell you. All diffusers have pros and cons, some more that others.

Last edited by Bill Cody; 08/04/22 11:12 AM.

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Any recommendations on sites to read about the different types of diffusers? Much of what I see will state basic specs and then marketing about how amazing it is. I know you have fine and course bubble size which will impact oxygen transfer to the water as well as moving the water and decreasing stratification but not much beyond that really.

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I FOUND THE CONVERSATION I NEED DESPARTELY !! Hi. I am imposing myself here..... I have only a 1 acre pond. It is shallow 5' deep or so at most in the middle. I am in process of getting electricity moved to the shoreline so I can add aeration. The more people I speak to the more confused I get. I have only been dealing w my home/pond since 2017, my husband died a year ago and I have to figure this out. Diffusers, I should only need 3 or 4. Some say a Fountainaire would be enough to move in some oxygen for my pond. My pond is not deep so do the diffuser plate type make sense for me?

I think I need a system w 3 diffusers; what brand? AIRMAX, OTTOBINE ,AEROLATOR AIRMASTER, KASCO? Thanks so much~ Peggy B

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Originally Posted by PBODE
I FOUND THE CONVERSATION I NEED DESPARTELY !! Hi. I am imposing myself here..... I have only a 1 acre pond. It is shallow 5' deep or so at most in the middle. I am in process of getting electricity moved to the shoreline so I can add aeration. The more people I speak to the more confused I get. I have only been dealing w my home/pond since 2017, my husband died a year ago and I have to figure this out. Diffusers, I should only need 3 or 4. Some say a Fountainaire would be enough to move in some oxygen for my pond. My pond is not deep so do the diffuser plate type make sense for me?

I think I need a system w 3 diffusers; what brand? AIRMAX, OTTOBINE ,AEROLATOR AIRMASTER, KASCO? Thanks so much~ Peggy B
Sorry to hear of your husband's passing.

I've done a lot of research but there are some in this thread that do this for a living. The smaller the pond the more it will need aeration from what I've found. Basically the wind can't push the water effectively. If the pond has a lot of trees around it blocking the wind it makes the problem worse. During the summer the sun will warm the water at the top of the pond but the water at the bottom close to the bottom will be cooler, this causes stratification where oxygen is depleted from the bottom section of water that doesn't mix with the top at all. Kind of like two layers in a cake but the frosting between keeps the oxygen in the top layer from getting to the bottom layer of water.

As far as what's the best system I've no clue. Basically anything is better than nothing and I suspect most of the major companies are doing the same thing it comes down to marketing and salesmanship.

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PBODE - Why do you think you need pond aeration? What do you think it will do for the pond? What is your main pond problem??. The shallower that ponds are,, the more plant life they want to grow. It is all about sunlight penetration and pond fertility. The shallower they are the more they move toward full plant growth in and on the entire pond bottom to push the pond into becoming a wetland. Wetlands can be very beneficial. When you are back at the pond try to get close-up clear pictures of the plants. Get a picture of the lily flower and leaf shape. Often for good pictures one needs to harvest the plant, place it in a shallow water pan so the leaves lay in a natural shape. Be careful at buying aeration - do lots of DEPENDABLE non-biased homework. Many aeration people will tell you stuff to sell product and get profit. Very rarely will they guarantee what they tell you will actually work in your situation. IMO this especially applies to a 4-5ft deep large 1 ac pond that is technically IMO a glorified wetland and should be treated and managed as such.

On last question how clear is the water? How deep can you see an all white coffee cup in the water?

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Thank you for your feedback here~ I think you're right, anything better than nothing, I just get confused with bottom plate diffusers but the columns of aeration would be minimal becuase so shallow...and a fountain type just to splash water around does nothing for the muck. : / Peggy B

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Hi Bill Cody- THANK YOU as well for your attention and reply.

Right now just fighting a bad case of algae that got away from me and some duck weed. The muck is building up. there is no other plant growth issue the water is normal pond green/brown, clear from the shoreline out to about 6' maybe? . When I had hired guy who came out to spray, to prevent the algae last year, it responded and stayed in control. Then i had a guy come to me to convince me that the spraying of algae was just killing it and sinking to the bottom. I needed aeration in addition to the treatment ,in addition to bacteria to attack the muck. He worked up a bid of over $7,000 to install Airmax w 3 diffusers in addition to him buying chemicals to deliver for ME to treat.

I start to research on my own, and I have landed on the fact that, while he was shady and greedy, I don't think he was wrong. I want a healthier pond for the fish and the turtles. Peggy B Stilwell, KS

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PBODE - I and nature agree with the pond consultant that Killing plants in the pond pond does produce dead, sinking plants that end up on the bottom and hopefully if your are lucky they decay and recycle the nutrients - earth to earth dust to dust. Killing in-pond plants does nothing to remove the nutrient fertility that caused the plants to grow. Aeration of any kind in my experience very rarely results in less plant growth. I see and visit lots of aerated ponds that grow lots of varying types of plants to excess including all types of algae to nuisance levels / amounts. Good aeration can improve organic muck decomposition in deep anoxic (no oxygen) bottom areas which can cause better nutrient recycling that can and usually does then stimulate some form of plant growth although it may be a different type of plants that were present during pre-aeration activity.

IMO your excessive plant problem is mainly due to the age of the pond and during its life so far has collected lots of incoming nutrients that are now abundant and feeding the abundant plants. An additional plant growing cause in your pond is it's overall shallow water at a maximum of around 5 feet deep in one acre of water. This large area and shallow water depth allow sunlight to likely all the entire bottom areas where sunlight, water and nutrients stimulate plant growth. It is nature's way of doing things. Then when nutrients are high some sort of plant growth is almost always high.

Normally in a 5 ft deep pond with some wind exposure the warm summer water with wind action will circulate water down to 6 ft deep. Temperature and dissolved oxygen testing will / would verify this. So your pond water is IMO usually with wind action is regularly circulating oxygenated surface water down to the bottom about all the time. If this it true in your pond what is the benefit of aeration artificial circulation?? If wave action is the purpose of the aeration to inhibit plants then get yourself a small motor boat or jet ski and use it at least weekly.

Bacterial additions can be helpful for sediment decomposition especially when and after chemical treatments are used to kill plants. Those chemicals depending on composition and chemical structure not only kill targeted plants by they also usually kill or damage lots and lots of bacteria. Thus reseeding the treated pond with bacteria can be beneficial. Normally in a healthy pond a famous, nationally renowned professor emeritus Dr Claude Boyd in School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences at Auburn Univ Alabama says that his testing showed that ponds that are not chemically compromised have all the needed and necessary bacteria to decompose the muck and organics. His testing used standard microbial pond enhancements. Give the normal naturally occurring pond bacteria dissolved oxygen and they will do great things for organic decomposition. IMO commercial pond bacteria blends are made of bacterial cultures that are already present in most all natural pond systems. I don't know if it is legal for companies to create new strains of bacteria that do not already exist for public resale. Provide me a email address in a PM and I will send you a copy of Dr. Boyd's bacterial article from Pond Boss magazine.

Whenever someone wants to sell me pond bacteria I ask them "What species of bacteria are in this product that are not already present in my pond". They will never know or give a good answer or at least the correct answer because commercial pond bacterial products never reveal or tell the species of bacteria that are in their products - they call it priority information. IMO they don't tell because their bacterial species are all the same species that are common naturally occurring decomposer species that have been cultured for resale. Municipal sewage plants use these bacterial products all the time to enhance processing of sewage.

Did you do the water clarity test that I requested? " ...how clear is the water? How deep can you see an all white coffee cup in the water?"


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PBODE, listen to what Bill is saying. You may not know the back story of people on here but Bill has a Doctorate in Algal Taxonomy and part of his business is helping ID algae and bacteria for sewage treatment plants so they can better chew up the nutrients that are generated from all the humans.


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