Two Effective Tools for Pond Management and a Healthy Pond

Reader Contribution by Darrell Rhoades

Aeration is the biggest key to a healthy pond and fish and the first tool to invest in, it is an investment similar to building the pond, but now we want to keep the pond alive, even reverse the aging process. When an aeration system is properly calculated and designed for your pond we are able to turn over the entire volume of water once a day which will supply the pond’s oxygen demand. Here’s what happens when the pond is aerated properly with a bottom diffused aeration system. Take for example a one acre pond 12’ deep in the center and the bottom floor is shaped like a bowl.

Sitting at the shoreline is a ¼ hp rocking piston air compressor, from the compressor the air travel down weighted rubber tubing to the bottom diffuser. Once the air reaches the diffuser it emits tiny air bubbles. (These are rubber membrane diffusers, not stones) These tiny air bubbles race to the surface of the pond, as the race to the surface they are each pushing, pulling and en-training water along with them.

After these bubbles reach the surface of the pond they simply pop and the water carried with them creates a “boil” of water, so to speak. This boil is all the water these tiny bubbles have pushed up. In addition to moving water they also push out the toxic gasses from the bottom of the pond which contains carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide and ammonia. The result of these tiny bubbles racing up from 12’ deep water is approx 3800 gallon per minute of water movement, with a ¼ horse rocking piston compressor. The continued movement de-stratifies  the water tension allowing oxygen to be absorbed and pushes water out to the shoreline, essentially stacking the pond with oxygen.

With the pond now having the oxygen demand met a few new actions can take place. Fish can now use the entire depth of the pond, essentially making more room for more fish and the pond more inhabitable from top to bottom. With oxygen, good bacteria known as aerobic bacteria can thrive at the bottom of the pond, their job is to consume muck and debris built up each year making the pond shallower and over time would fill in the pond.

Beneficial bacteria’s will now be able to reach the depths of the pond due to the oxygen at the bottom. These are aerobic bacteria’s and thrive in oxygen rich water to consume nutrients left from decaying weeds, leaves, fish waste and everything else that falls into the pond. When the pond does not have adequate aeration those toxic gasses build up and could very well end up with a fish kill.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368