Since last week's testing, the aeration run time was only increased from 13 hours to 14 hours, but has been there all week. Whereas the week prior extended run times where at 5 hours to begin with and gradually moved to 13. Being at 13-14 hours all last week has shown some good improvement in DO, and clarity has improved by a few inches. I contribute the increase in DO to the longer air time and lower water temps, but feel the clarity improvement too insignificant to judge at this time (likely due to the lack of inflow).
Adding this last weekends readings...
Latest readings from Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (air from 8pm to 10am):
Friday evening's DO readings (6pm) -
8.2 ppm at the surface,
7.4 ppm 1 foot down,
6.3 ppm 2 foot down,
5.8 ppm 3 foot down.
Saturday's readings (Cloudy all day with periodic showers)-
Time - 8am in BOLD , 1pm in RED, 4:30 pm in GREEN
Ambient Temps - 73 F, 78 F, 82 F
Secchi Disk Reading - 25" all day long.
Water temps - Top to Bottom 73 F, Bottom 71 F - Top 76 F, Bottom 71 F - Top 78
DO - 6 ppm from surface down to 3', 7.2 ppm @ surface, 6.7 ppm - 12" down, 6.4 ppm - 24" down, 6.2 ppm - 3' down, 8.6 ppm @ surface, 6.7 ppm - 12" down. 6.6 ppm - 24" down, 6.3 ppm - 3' down
TDS - 50 ppm, Skipped, Skipped all taken at 12" deep.
pH - 7.1 @ surface, 6.9 - 12" down, 6.8 - 24" down, 6.8 ppm - 3' down, 6.8 @ surface, 6.6 - 12" down, 6.4 - 24" down, 6.2 ppm - 3' down, 7.0 @ surface, 6.5 - 12" down, 6.4 - 24", 6.1 ppm - 3' down
Ammonia, Nitrates, & Phosphates - all zeros throughout the day.
Sunday's DO readings -
2" Rain over night and sunny this morning continuing throughout the day.
7:30am - 6 ppm from surface down to 3' (aeration now running 7:30 pm to 1:30pm)
5pm -
6.2 ppm at the surface,
6.4 ppm 1 foot down,
6.3 ppm 2 foot down,
6.1 ppm 3 foot down.
At this point, I have to suggest that clearing the water from 12" to 24" (by removing some crawdads) and increasing air time from 5 hours to over 12 hour has improved the DO levels. Other possible factors are cooler air/water temps and the occasional showers and breezes keeping the water surface clear of pollen/dust-like floaties. I will consider increasing air time up to 24/7 operation for as long as fall temps permit, but have not committed to it just yet.
Fishing, or should I say catching, has increased significantly over the last few weeks. Anybody need any ~1/2 pound HBG for their pond?...I am collecting some in a cage to remove and aid in the DO levels, about 12 so far.
