Experimenting with the depth of the diffusers may come into play next year if the water continues to clear. They started at 18 inches off the bottom and were moved up to 3' to help with clearing the water. That did not have the effect I was hoping for. Removing crawdads seemed to be the ticket, so the diffusers may go back deeper.
With that said, I do not get a thermocline or stratification with my setup even with the diffusers set to high. I believe, equal temperature readings from top to bottom prove that. After the aeration has run, the temps are within 1 degree which indicates thorough turning of the pond. After the aeration has been off for 10 hours, the only sizable temp difference is at the upper foot of water which can be 10 degrees during the heat of the summer.
Maybe if I could run the aeration 24/7 there would be improvements, but Midwest summers dictate nighttime runs in my small pond. This has me scratching my head regarding the DO readings that I get. With cooler weather approaching I hope to get the aeration system up to near 24/7 and look forward to the resulting DO checks.
My fear is...with the air system on full time, it thwarts the benefits from the O2 producing algae blooms by turning them to the depths of the pond where they can't get good sunlight. Of course, I have no scientific proof that there are algae blooms present other than the green color of the water where it used to be more brown from crawdad mud stirring.
