TOOLS, CONSTRUCTION, ALTERNATIVE ENERGY > What are you building?

Pond Aeration system

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Flyin6:
My pond is now full all the way to running over

Many of you watched the pond being dug and built, and over the winter it filled all the way up and has been running over the top for some time now.

You may recall I released bass, bluegill, catfish, minnows, Crappie, and grass carp in it in the fall.

Now that the spring is solidly in the crosshairs, it is time to get an aeration system going to keep it healthy and free of algae and pond scum.

After viewing many setups, I elected (Like always) to build my own

The system will be solar powered which will power a linear septic air pump then transfer that air to a diffuser that is mounted to the bottom of the pond.

Flyin6:
The Air Pump I have selected is a Blue Diamond ET-100 which moves around 3.5 CU/ft of air a minute.

It can handle 8 feet of depth at full volume and slightly less at 10 feet. I believe I set the sump in the pond at around 9ish feet.

You see with an air pump going the real thing it does is move the less oxygenated water at the lower levels up to the surface through the creation of a constant current. This eliminates any thermocline and allows the fish to use the totality of the pond and not just the top 3-4 feet.

These air pumps are designed to pump air for years into septic systems to keep them cleaner and are very favored by farmers who aerate their ponds

Flyin6:
The air passes from the pump via a pond specific 3/8" Weighted hose that is kind of spendy but will not float and lives forever in the pond environment.

The air is broadcast into the water via a diffuser which creates a bubbling fountain of air that can move 4,000-5,000 gallons of water every hour.

Flyin6:
Powering the thing will be a 200W solar panel with power routed to a charge controller, then to a couple of 6-volt AGM batteries. I will attach a 300 watt inverter to those batteries and plug the pump into the sine wave inverter.

The pump only draws 80W so this should work out fine

Flyin6:
I plan to mount the solar panel onto a 6X6 post which I will set into the edge of the pond somewhere and secure that with bag of concrete. The panel will mount to that post in a manner that allows me to tilt it for the winter to summer orientation.

I'll build/pour a small concrete pad to place a box on which will house the mechanicals

Everything is ordered and here's the cool part. Without batteries and crete, I have about $750 into this so far. I just got back my annual Discover card credit of $500 so just that will pay for a bit more than half of what it costs before I get done. Those batteries will not be cheap, and I'll have to buy some big plastic box to place everything into, so those costs are yet to come

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