From what many people seem to say, there's no need for me to install aeration before the pond is filled up, but instead to wait a year or two for the pond to stabilize. Others seem to advise getting straight to it. Once I get fish in the pond, oxygen depletion below the thermocline will happen quickly, correct?
Once you get past the calculations and theory of how aeration works...I drop off to only a couple years of experience with it in my pond, so take my comments as jumping off points for further discussions...just things to think about and hopefully the forums will correct me or add to it where needed.
I started air the first year that I stocked game fish (a month after stocking). The pond had FHM's in it for the year prior and was full of biomass (many many FHM's, new game fish now, and tons of tadpoles). I don't think adding aeration without fish does much at all for a new pond, but it will get you some experience with the system and how it operates and how it affects the BOW (water temp, clarity). For someone with the gumption and the time...it could be cool to set the system up and experiment without worrying about killing fish.
I think the lower waters will be void of DO as soon as the pond fills up enough to have "lower waters", but that's not a big deal if you don't have higher biomass loads. It could help with leaves and such that get to the bottom, but the benefit of air without fish would be minimal compared to the cost of running it.
I was thinking, given that the pond should be done by middle of December and filled by Jan-Feb if I supplement with the well pump, that I would stock FHM in Feb perhaps while filling is ongoing, and then stock BG in mid-late Spring, followed by LMB later in the year or the following year.
I am a big supporter of adding FHM's ONE FULL YEAR before adding the game fish. I know it goes against today's attitudes of wanting it now and not having the patience to wait, but it was worth it to me. I struggled with waiting, but took the year to develop my plans for aeration and a dock. My game fish grew like gang busters with all the forage. Now, with all that said, higher volumes of pellet feeding should be able to take the place of the massive numbers of FHM's, but it would not be as beneficial to the development of the biological system of the pond as giving the pond a year with minnows in it to establish a natural bio cycle. Either way you go will work, so it's not a killer to jump right in with game fish. I wonder if adding the minnows would even be advised or all that helpful...I would think that using the extra months to get the stocked fish use to the pond and pellet feed them would out way the installation of minnows. I doubt the FHM's would even get a spawn off by april...maybe in LA. Just imagine how many the have in a full season! Now, I stocked 3-6"gamefish that were big enough to eat the smaller FHM's. If one stocked very small gamefish, the breeding stock of FHM's would last the year, but few of the FHM offspring would make it to adulthood to spawn themselves. You can see how a full year makes a BIG difference.
You should also consider HSB and HBG rather than the LMB and BG for your small pond. I've just finished my second season with the hybrids and am happy so far.
I'm not sure I understand the relationship between aeration and stocking schedules - will stocking drive the need for aeration or should I wait to aerate regardless?
My thoughts are that aeration comes into play as the pond's capacity starts to be pushed by the pounds of fish in the pond. If you stock moderate numbers of fingerlings...it could take a few years before aeration would become good insurance. The more you stock and the more you feed, the more helpful aeration is. I put it in my pond just so that I was doing the most I could to be successful as I figured I'd stock more fish than the pond would support and I'd feed them up to size quickly.
