Jones has a branch in Indianapolis, but they don't hold fish there. Very likely it is just a pond treatment office - site. As with their other remote sited they probably bring fish to that location once or twice a year. I know Jones buys some of their fish from Shelby FF. IMO fish from Shelby will be fresher, less preliminary handling, likely larger, better quality, better trained to eat pellets and cheaper... If any of those items are important to you and if you put high value in your initial stocker fish, it would be well worth your effort to make a day trip to Anna OH. Shelbyville to Anna 2.5hr - 146 mi. Anna is 1.5 hr for me. I have driven 3 hrs one way lots of times to get good quality fish. Show up and they bag them with oxygen for the trip home. As usually the case, the initial stocker fish will be the best and largest fish grown in the life history of the pond. This is because the initial fish do not have any existing competition and almost always grow the biggest and fastest of all later generations. .
Solar. How far is a power source from the pond?? . You can push air through airline to about 1 mile away With a pond of your small size in central IN and in my extensive experience, a good quality dependable low maintenance 1/4 hp compressor and best sized membrane diffuser would be able to easily turn over your 0.2 ac pond once a day in two hours operation. I have some guys running in mid summer the compressor in small yellow perch ponds 1 hr per day. Running a 1/4 hp compressor 2hr per day @ around 5 hrs per KW May-Oct is cheap electricity run time. 1KW per 2.5days. Do the math. Plus this type of system would / could be close to 3X cheaper than a solar aerator system. Most solar aerators today do not make the same amount of air volume (cfm) as a 1/4 hp rotary vane compressor. For your homework find out how much is involved in rebuilding the compressor. The longer a compressor runs the more it needs to be rebuilt or replaced.
My rotary vane has run 23 yrs operating 5 membrane heads on its initial set of vanes and its motor bearings should be good for 2 or 3 rebuilds. There is a significant difference between frequency of solar rocking piston rebuilds and rotary vane rebuilds.
Last edited by Bill Cody; 11/25/22 10:18 AM.
