Need help on pond aeration

[PineRidge]

Need to add some aeration to our pond. I'm not talking about a decorative fountain but rather a bubbler type arrangement.

Are the diffuser stones or the new membrane diffusers more practical for pond use and why?

What sort of life should we expect to see on these products running 24/7 in the spring/summer/fall months only. We will not be aerating in the winter unless we have an extreme snow build up on top of the ice.

 

[ronjhall]

My pond is not as large as yours. But I use this place for help with my garden pond. Pond Guy

 

[PineRidge]

Thanks Ron I'll see if those guys can give some advice.

 

[EddieWalker]

Mike,

I have a small 3/4 acre pond and I'm building a 5 acre one. Neither have aeration, nor was I planning on it, but this may be a mistake on my part.

How do you know you need to aerate your pond?

It's not done in nature, and for hundred, if not thousands of years, people have raised fish in ponds, tanks and resevoirs without aeraiting.

Is it one of those things like feeding catfish? You do it because they will grow bigger allot faster. Do you aerate so you can have more fish in a certain sized pond?

When I had a few goldfish ponds, the experts said that if the goldfish were coming to the surface for air, than your water lacked enough oxygen for the number of fish in the pond.

Thank you,
Eddie

 

[sendero]

Most people aerate to reduce the algae growth in the water.

But there are other ways /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[caylor]

Mike,

I saw an ad in Progressive Farmer for a windmill driven bubble difusser aeration system. Here is the link:

Windmills

Seems like a nice idea for areas where power availability is limited. I think the site says that the system is good for ponds up to two acres depending on depth. The complete system starts around $1,100 bucks for 12' windmill.

 

[SPIKER]

ome friends bought one similar to the windmill ones, work well and so far it seems to run constantly with a breeze, (though when windy the natural movement of the waves airiate the water. most ponds of large size don't need air, it is when you add LOTS of fish to a small pond that it really becomes needed. over stocking is bad for the fish anyway due to health & waste problems ect. controlling algie is often done using blue/green water collerations...

mark M

 

[PineRidge]

Eddie that's a fair question.

For the past 2 years we have been plagued with watermeal. I manually pull it out of the pond using a super-fine net and it's not unusual to fill a 55 gallon container once a month with the way this crud multiplies. It is bright green, no visible root system, floats on top, and feels like grit between your fingers. YUCK!

I believe that the watermeal is flourishing because of nutrient rich water. My garden is on high ground and it gets lots of horse manure so I'm betting rain runoff is adding to my algae headache.

I have heard that with proper aeration the nutrient level in the pond will be reduced. Watermeal also needs still water to multiply at rapid rates. And since my pond rarely tops the overflow I'm thinking a little more water movement can't be all that bad for the fish either.

As a last resort I'll nuke the watermeal with a chemical called Sonar which as I understand should easily knock it out without a fish kill, but it comes at a steep, steep price of roughly $1600.00 a gallon. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Caylor my next door neighbor has a brand new windmill for his pond, unfortunately it only runs about 20% of the time at best. It wouldn't even pump enough to keep the ice open this past winter. Guess we don't see as much wind as we might need to power one correctly. I have a rebuilt antique Aeromotor windmill with an 8' wheel and that's the only thing thats kept me from erecting it on the lot.

Spiker we use Aquashade on a regular basis and it seems to have little effect on this type of algae. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[lhfarm]

Check out Pond Boss and their forum. There is a whole section on aeration. Lots of good pond information.

 

[Egon]

There is an area in Alberta where there is no ground water. Most people use dugouts for domestic water. Most of the dugouts have Windmill Aerators on them.

Egon /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ShaleniFarm]

Mike,
Just bite the bullet and get the sonar...... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
We tried everything and just wasted money. Put the Avast (sonar) in and it is gone. We have about a 2 acre pond. Now, just some Aquashade to keep it looking good.

My neighbor's pond is a little smaller, but already has the watermeal. We have none.

It was a tough feeling pouring that much $$$ out of a bottle, but at least it worked.

Have a good one,
Neil.

 

[PineRidge]

Neil was your watermeal kill immediate or did it take weeks, and how long now has your pond been watermeal free? Where did you purchase your Avast, and did you use the liquid or the granular?

I'm heading in your direction......

 

[Bill_in_MI]

I have been bubbling my pond (small....100 ft diameter) for about 15 years now. I use a small diaphram pump and the diffuser stones sunk in the middle. I run mine continusously year round because we do freeze in the winter and I have fish. I have replaced one diaphram and one complete pump over this time...pretty good I think. I find that the aeration helps a great deal with the odor and appearance of the water and or couse helps with the fish. I do have to treat for alge blooms and "duckweed" from time to time. I use liquid cutrine plus for the former and Sonar/Avast for the later. Nothing seemed to work on the duckweed except the later and I have tried it all...including net harvesting. My pond is "closed" to inflow/outflow. I find that one Sonar treatment can last a couple of years. I also use aquashade. The kill with Sonar takes a few to several days. If you have rooted plants, it will take them out too but it takes a couple of weeks. I find that they will not grow back that season. Fire away if I can help with any other questions. I was reluctant to use the chemicals at first...cost and otherwise. But using these has made the pond a landscape centerpiece where it used to be an eyesore of a stink hole. Now the grandkids have a great time catching fish as well.

 

[Bill_in_MI]

Meant to give you this url

http://www.stoneycreekequip.com/

I use their stuff and find their recommendations to be good.

 

[sonofczechgun]

I use a fountain from:

http://sugarcreekfountains.com/

for my catfish - since my wife wanted something pretty

But I remember reading a paper recommending to pump air to the bottom of the pond - just like room fish tanks use. Do a search on google for pond aeration paper and you will find it.

From what I recollect, the idea was to use a plastic pipe with many small holes in it on the bottom of the pond - connected to oilless air compressor. The fountain works only with the top foot or so of water and it is better to oxygenate from the bottom.

My $0.02 only

 

[SPIKER]

pineridge:

I forgot to tell you that what my ole boss uses is an old used up sump pump, it has a 10' hunk of PVC pipe on it, with a cap on top,. we took the cap, drilled about 10 1/16 holes in it in a flower/ patern around the top of the cap, this is set up in about 8~9' of water it sprays water up and out in a ring and runs almost 100% of the time, uses a bit more energy but sure makes a nice looking spray and creats lots of airiation along with stiring up the water, as it sets on the bottom, attached to a old cast iron grittle type plate we had laying around. (bolted fast to the pump, which sets flat on the bottom then, pumps the water up & sprays out pretty nice. & was a used one which the float stopped working on so we wired it to run directly off an outlet/plug (GFI even) we then also had a 24 hr timer, (used for watering lawns, and have that now running the pump so that it is ON daylight and off late at night, so that the water is warmed faster ion spring time it sprays up in warm temps, and shuts it off when it gets cooler. left it in the pond several winters even running it some /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

mark M

 

[PineRidge]

Thanks guys, lots of good information here. Pond Boss hasen't got anything over you guys... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[ShaleniFarm]

Mike,
(Sorry for the delay...)
1. It was fairly fast acting, < 3 weeks
2. Over 1 year watermeal free. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
3. Bought online, midwest aquacare. Would not recommend.
4. Used liquid. 1 gallon.

Pond doesn't overflow, so I think the concentration is still good.

HTH.

Have a good one,
Neil.

 

[fishman]

Pineridge,

I'll hit the high points.

If you are aerating just to get rid of watermeal, I think your money would be better spent on Sonar. Stone vs. membrane diffusers is just a matter of preference, imho. I've used both and all of them are working just fine to the best of my knowledge.

Sonar, in the appropriate concentrations, will take about 6 weeks to really get duckweed/watermeal. It will work faster at higher concentrations, but if somebody's getting a kill measured in days with Sonar, they are exceeding the maximum allowable concentration by a large margin. Since the chemical is expensive, using only just enough makes a lot of sense.

You need to know the volume of your pond in acre feet, which can be estimated by measuring pond area and getting your average depth. You need to be reasonably sure you won't experience overflow during the treatment period. Also, clay vs. muck bottom has some influence on Sonar concentrations.

Sonar photodegrades, so it will be gone after several months, no matter what you do.

If you're concerned about how much to put in, SePro (who manufactures Sonar) has a test to determine concentration in your pond. Just put in a known amount of Sonar, take the sample, send it overnight ($40), and you'll get the results back in 2 days ($100). If you're treating a moderate sized pond, you could easily save that much in chemical costs because it will tell you exactly how much to put in to reach your desired concentration.

You can see from the favorable responses here that Sonar works very well.

If anybody wants to pm me re: Sonar questions, that is fine.

 

[JJT]

Eddie, A good rain storm pounds lots of air into the water. I have a fountain I use if it hasn't rained in a week. If time allows I'll be building a waterfall for our 1/4 acre pond this summer.