Thank you for all for your thoughts and ideas. Jpsdad that’s my thought, to use aeration in a conduit to move water. My research suggests that a 1.3 hp regenerative blower pumping 3 cfm of air 40” deep into each of twenty seven 4” pvc pipes will move the most water per watt, over 100k gph when added together. These pipes will go through a concrete wall, forcing the water to circulate through the steam and back around the pond. I’m tentatively calling it “the bubble wall”. This should allow me to efficiently pull water into the stream, where it will then circulate around.
I dug a test pond 4 years ago, a circular pond about 80 feet across with 2:1 sides down to 15 feet. It was relatively algae free last year but this year has quite a bit of algae that has broken off and is floating around. I assume that’s a result of the build up of nutrients over time.
Part of my thinking is that the stream will act like a big skimmer, where I can pull in any floating algae or other organic debris and easily remove it. Part of my thinking is around what else I can do to remove nutrients. The stream and pond will have plants, but the water in the stream should be fairly fast flowing, perhaps 0.3 to 0.4 FPS. Perhaps supplemental bacteria can help? I’m going to try that in my test pond and see how effective it is.
Re: Aaron I did a quick search but couldn’t find any posts yet. I will keep looking. If anyone has any links that would be appreciated. Sounds like a similar thought process and design.
