Aeration or aerating ponds and lakes or adding oxygen can and will benefit the body of water but only if it is properly sized for the depth and volume of water. Over the years we sort of experimented as most do since that was all you would hear about to fix a pond “add oxygen” and it will help the pond.
Of course we started out way too small but the next year we got a bigger pump and yes both of the units did at least keep a hole in the ice over winter to allow the toxic gasses out of the pond and added bubbles to the water all summer long. The problem was these pumps were way too small and created more damage than good.
The ideal goal in adding oxygen or aerating a pond is to turn over the complete volume of water once a day, 24 hour period. Doing this keeps water from being stagnant but more importantly bottom diffused aeration will purge the pond of the toxic gasses that can kill our fish and replace with needed oxygen for our fish health, water quality and beneficial bacteria’s that can consume nutrients in the water column and the mucky bottom of the pond which can reverse the aging process.
So the answer is yes, aeration does work. Let’s see if this sounds like familiar story. The pond filled during winter and the chocolate colored water finally settled out leaving a crystal clear pond that coming spring. The first year wasn’t too bad the water stayed clear and on occasion there would be little areas where string algae would show up. The following year spring came and we still had clear water but once the pond warmed up we saw the pond turn green, it almost matched the color of grass around the pond. That was our first algae bloom, good for all living creatures but who wants green water?
Later that year the string algae just blossomed and the raking started, sometimes every day we were raking it out, tossing the rake out as far as we could. That is when we learned that aeration is a process and using the correct size system for the pond was important. You see being too small in an aeration system can harm the pond by only pushing these gasses up into the water column but not getting it out of the pond, basically just keeping things stirred up so those gasses just spread throughout the pond and the nutrients just suspended in the water column for algae and weeds to consume and grow.
Ok back to the story. The green water we fixed by using Pond Dye to color the water but more importantly is to shade the pond from the sunlight and slow the photosynthesis from the sun which in turn slows the algae blooms, algae and weed growth. Installing the proper sized aeration system in the pond and adding beneficial bacteria’s. After the second year doing it the right way we did not need to rake algae out of the pond. Yes it still grew but only about 6” from shore in a few areas which is fine since we do need some algae to keep ecosystem alive with all the beneficial creatures in the food chain from the microscopic to our prize fish.
BENEFITS OF AERATION:
Improve Water Quality and Water Clarity
Improve Dissolved Oxygen
Increase Fish & Aquatic Life Abundance
Reduce Bottom Sludge
Remove Offensive Odors
Deice
There is a science behind aeration, simply creating bubbles in a pond could do more harm than good. If you are ready to save your pond and want a system designed and calculated for your specific pond or lake use the contact page and let us know the address to the pond and depth.
We have more information about pond dye, articles and videos which you might as well start with the funniest one first Pond Dye Packets, below the video are links the other pages.
To learn more about aeration and pond management tips check out our Consumer Aeration Report.
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