I am trying to determine if my pond is better with aeration running at max levels (summer temp driven) or if leaving the water to stratify, stay clear in the upper water column and maintain a consistent algae bloom is better.
Basic questions that keep running through my mind is...Is it better to have good DO levels in the upper few feet OR weak DO levels throughout the water column? What more, if anything, can be done to help DO levels in my BOW?
This morning's DO checks proved that the upper 3 feet of water was at 4.3ppm throughout the range (Temp and PH was also very consistent from top to bottom). I have to assume that the entire water column is at that 4.3 level due to the air running all night. This evening, I expect to see higher DO levels at the upper few feet.
I was hoping that I would see better DO reading this morning as I have bumped the air run-time from 5 hours to 12 hours over the course of the week, but the 4.3 reading is where the AM readings have been (roughly) for the last 2-1/2 months. The one time it was considerably better (5.6ppm) was during 24/7 air run times following a surface scum outbreak.
