Again, I greatly appreciate the input gentlemen!
The more research I've done, the Gast 0323 seems to provide the best capability for price, but the issue I'm running into is one of power consumption. At 7PSI, that pump is going to pull in the vicinity of 500 watts and nearly 600w @ 10PSI per Quarter Acre's post using his pump and Fluke meter. Power for any aeration system is going to come from my barn's small small solar system which currently is 600W PV, soon to be 1200W.
It appears that aerating overnight in summer is the best way to go, but that will mean all draw for any aerator will come from my battery bank which currently consists of four 6V GC2 golf cart batteries in 24V configuration. Assuming a full battery bank when PV generation ceases, I only have 2500 watts to use down to 50% depth of discharge. In practical application, I'd only get at most three hours of aeration with a pump pulling 600W.
Short of scrapping my current <1YO battery bank and doubling it with new batteries at the cost of $1000, this is a hard/fast limitation on any potential aeration system.
PUBLIC MATH TIME!
With two 9" Vertex diffusers @ 10' depth, I figure I'd be near 7PSI between atmospheric and diffuser/line pressure, which with a Gast 0323 equates to roughly 3.8 CFM.
Vertex 9" disc diffusers are rated 0.5-1.25 CFM, and a single Vertex 9" diffuser will lift 1600GPM @ 10' depth and 1CFM.
Matala 12" disc diffuser is rated 25-160lpm which equates to 0.9-5.65CFM and "only adds less than 6 inches of water depth back pressure". Matala does not publish lift rates, but a 12" disc has 77% more surface area than a 9" disc and therefore two 12" discs have the same surface area as three-and-a-half 9" discs.
Currently thinking a Gast 0323 and two Matala 12" disc diffusers (or two dual 9" Vertex diffusers), set at 10' depth with 1/2" or 5/8" weighted hose and eventually running a maximum of overnight 3 hours, will be my plan. Whenever down the road I have to recapitalize my battery bank, I'll go to eight batteries 4S/2P and double my storage minimizing that run time limitation as my pond matures.
But enough about aeration for now, this subforum is about fish stocking!
I'm planning to get a lot more pallet habitat for FHMs installed in the coming weeks, and at this point pretty set on stocking them in late March/early April of next year. I'm the typical impatient as F new pond owner, so right now I'll probably reevaluate when to stock the gamefish; I may do some of the panfish (say 100 RES and 100 HBG) two months after stocking the FHM to help some grow and better establish the ecosystem, but wait until fall to stock the remaining 100 HBG/100 BG and the 20 HSB, 20 LMB and 10 CC.
I plan to daily supplemental feed with Optimal Junior as soon as any panfish are in the water, likely via hanging deer feeder.
Are the 20 HSB/20 LMB/10 CC a reasonable mix of predator fish for 400 total panfish, so do I need less bass or more gills? I've read CC are replacements for bass in an ecosystem, but my kids want to catch catfish so they're in the mix regardless.
Last edited by Paul FNG; 08/10/19 08:58 AM.
