A couple observations on aeration:
* Aerators come in a variety of body designs and prices.
* Any aerator system is better than nothing. In most fishing ponds, the Field Advisory Staff recommends the bottom-diffuser style.
* The late Elmer Hedlund, who helped design and distribute his own aerator system, once ran some figures for me. . . I'll do my best to recollect here.
. . . A one-third horsepower motor, in a one-acre pond, with a max depth of 10 feet will keep a sizable area totally ice-free during a Wisconsin winter.
. . . In the summer, it will help your pond use nature's cleansing agents -- sunlight and oxygen -- to break up the nutrients that otherwise would accumulate in the pond basin as "muck."
. . . If memory serves, Hedlund's unit, running 24/7, year-round, would cost $18 a month to operate.
Anybody have more recent figures?
Mark McDonald
Editor, Pond Boss
