Pond Boss Forums GENERAL QUESTIONS Help Friend has algae bloom going too much aeration?

I was at a buddies house today. He has a 1/4 AC pond that is about 8’ deep. He runs an aerator and fountain all the time. At least it seems like they are in all the time.
I noticed his pond had a lot of algae floating on top. I’ll try to post a pic or two. He says he really fights it.
My non-aerated pond 90 miles north has some algae a few weeks ago, but is clean now.
Is it possible the full time aeration and fountain are putting too much oxygen in the water, and that contributes to the algae?
Just curious. I’d like to help him if I could.

I don't think so.

The algae only utilize oxygen at night. It does most of its growth during the day using sunlight, water, CO2, and nutrients. Some plants do "grow" a little bit at night and consume oxygen from the air or water, depending on whether they are terrestrial or aquatic plants. Even without the aeration, there should be far more oxygen in the water column due to the plants oxygen production during the day, relative to their modest needs at night. The exception is when some outside force causes a significant low oxygen event in the pond.

The only contribution I could see from the aeration, is if it is stirring up bottom water and getting some of the organic muck into the water column. As that muck decomposes, it would be contributing some usable nutrients back into the plant life cycle in the pond. Even if it does make his algal bloom a little bit heavier, I would think it would still be a net positive. You want the organic muck to break down, rather than accumulate on the bottom of the pond.

Too much dissolved oxygen in the water does not contribute to over abundant algae. Over abundant algae is caused by too many unused nutrients (fertilizers) in the water.
One small correction. Plants and algae respire 24 hours a day. During the day oxygen (respiration) is needed / used for photosynthesis, however during the day much more oxygen is produced than consumed. At night there is no photosynthesis and plants basically just consume oxygen. At night the high or excessive amounts of living plant materials with all the added bacterial action can absorb all the available dissolved oxygen (DO) that is available in the water.

I didn't aerate this summer, and it was very hot for most of the summer, I had next to no algae bloom, the summer before I used the aerator all summer and I had a big bloom and it wasnt nearly as hot...I just let my lake do it's thing and all the trout survived with surface temps of 80 degrees at the turnover...they must have found a cold spot.

Mizzoo ain't Ontario.

Thanks all. I thought one of the benefits of aeration was reduced algae. But my buddy might have too much aeration, and that would cause algae.
I have zero history on this pond. I don’t know the fish population, or density. I did see a dozen or so geese on the bank, that’s probably the cause.
Obviously there’s a lot about ponds I’m still in the dark about.
Thanks again

As Fishinrod says bottom aeration usually keeps DO on the bottom and can increase decomposition of organic materials that release nutrients that could help stimulate more plant growth. Canada geese are flying toilets that produce lots of manure. OSU did a research study that showed 10 geese make the equivalent manure of 1 cow. One cow pooping in a 1/4 acre pond is a LOT of organic fertilizer. I am pretty sure that algae likes organic fertilizer.

Bill (and others),

Sometimes I find internet articles (usually sales related) that say adding aeration can clear the algal blooms from a pond.

I have never read a good discussion on Pond Boss claiming that to be true and explaining the mechanism of change.

Are there certain pond circumstances where adding aeration can clear the algal blooms?

Question was - "Are there certain pond circumstances where adding aeration can clear the algal blooms?"
It all depends. There probably are certain pond situations with certain types of algae were aeration either surface and/or bottom could cause an algae bloom to subside. When this happened the naive observer can wrongly conclude that aeration is a cure for too much algae. I have seen this happen with people who think ALL algae is the same. NOT! What was not known by the casual observer is there are many, many DIFFERENT species of algae, literally many thousands, with each type usually requiring different conditions to produce a good amount of growth or bloom. This is just one of the things that makes them different. For one example, I am sure that there are some algae that does not like moving water whereas some algae like moving water. Some algae species like cool or cold water as a narrow temp range (stenotherms) and some that like warm water or a range of temperatures (eurytherm). Most problematic algae grow best during warm water conditions.

Aeration does change the conditions and chemistry of the water. That is a fact. If the new conditions are unfavorable for the current algae, it will decrease in density. Whereas the new chemistry conditions will very likely favor another specie of algae. I always tell pond owners. No matter what you do to the pond, nature in its vast wide diversity of species will have something sooner or later that will grow in about every pond,,,, probably every pond. There are algae that grow in the snow fields of the Artic and algae that grows in the hot springs of Arkansas. Each has different growth requirements. The main stimuli of algae growth are nitrogen and phosphorus. It is very hard to eliminate those from a pond habitat. The nutrient concentrations in the water and on the bottom are constantly in a state of changing. The end nutrient chemicals of decomposition of organic materials are nitrogen and phosphorus plus all the macro and micro nutrients. Decomposition of organic stuff in the pond occurs all the time releasing nutrients. It is just slower in water with lower temperatures.

Thanks Bill.

That was an excellent write-up!