I dug a 2 acre pond in the north east last year. It’s mostly 20 feet deep and is cut out of blue clay that goes all the way down. There is an island in the middle so it is a bit of a donut shape.
I installed a 5 air station Vertex system and finally got it turned on in August. The water went from 9’ of visibility (not great for fish production, but great for swimming, which is the primary purpose of the pond) to 1.5’ of visibility and “chalky” looking water. No doubt the aeration equipment has stirred up the clay, which is now suspended.
I was running the system intermittently but am now running it 24/7 on the advice of the supplier to try to get the clay particles to settle outside of the diffuser locations. The goal was to be able to go back to 8 hours a day of operation, done at night to maintain a natural look during daylight hours.
Interestingly I was talking to someone I consider a pond pro and he suggested that maybe I should simply leave the aeration off. He said it was a new pond so there wouldn’t be much need to turn the water.
I’m wondering what you all think of that. Should I keep the aeration going until it (hopefully) clears, or should I leave the aeration off for the foreseeable future and monitor DO for when to turn it on? As a potential third option maybe I leave it on but apply a flocculant to try to get the clay to settle out faster.
What do you all think? Any thoughts are appreciated.
