I am reviving this thread from last year as I am still concerned with the DO in my pond. I am still finding that the DO levels from 6" at the surface to 36" down after the aeration stops in the am to be low (3 to 4ppm). The evening readings are...
________Surface (@6")____24" down______36" down
DO______ 6.2____________3.5____________2.3
PH______ 8.1____________7.8____________7.7
Temp_____82 F___________71____________69
I have calibrated my DO meter with 7.0 PH buffer solution and it calibrates the DO level off of the outside air oxygen content...so it should be working correctly. Last year I cross checked the meter with a vial-type DO test kit and it matches. I believe my readings to be good, but I am going to do some research on the instrument and double check my methods of calibration.
My well water reads...DO = 3.9, and PH = 7.7. My fish might be better off in my well. LOL
The massive amounts of bullfrog tadpoles are visibly absent in the am, but swarm the surface gulping at the surface in the evening. I never see fish piping at the surface. I threw a 7-8' net yesterday for 40 minutes off the dock and removed over 400 tadpoles (into the creek - my wife asked if I counted...of course I did). I averaged 20 TP's per throw with a max catch of 40 in one throw. Right, wrong, or indifferent...I think that removing biomass will help. I will remove more TP's today along with trapping out more crawdads to help improve water clarity. I caught only a few 2" HBG young during the netting process BTW.
I only run the air at night to avoid heating the pond and have thought about running it 24/7 to help with DO, but 3-4ppm readings after it shuts off does not encourage me much.
Anyone out there have DO readings to compare with respect to air run times and such?
Anybody have any advise to offer?
Last edited by Quarter Acre; 06/02/20 11:11 AM.
