Aeration & Fountains

Fountains are a great way to add visual appeal and motion to the pond environment. In addition to their aesthetic qualities, fountains also add some oxygen to the pond as the tiny droplets make contact with the air and fall back into the pond. But pond water fountains alone usually don't provide enough aeration. Determining if a fountain is right for your pond will depend on its depth, shape, and size.

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Healthy ponds (and the fish swimming in them) need oxygen. If your pond is more than 6 feet deep, or larger than a half-acre, a single fountain will not provide enough oxygen. Why? Proper pond aeration is achieved when the entire body of water is circulated in a short amount of time. Fountains draw water only from the top layer of the pond, so the water that is deeper than the 6-foot mark remains untouched and oxygen-deprived. 

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Subsurface aeration systems are recommended for deeper ponds to provide complete circulation. For these units, the air is pushed from a pump on the bank, down through diffuser plates positioned strategically at the bottom of the pond. As the air bubbles rise, oxygenated water from the surface moves to the bottom, creating a circulating, healthy pond ecosystem. An aerated pond will be clearer, cleaner, and have less bottom muck than a pond without aeration.

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Beneficial microbes need oxygen to breathe and do their important cleaning work in ponds. Without oxygen and water-cleaning organisms on the pond bottom, any sediment, debris, and nutrients that enter the system fall to the bottom and accumulate.  This layer on the bottom is what many refer to as "muck". Having an unwanted pile of muck as well as a toxic lower-layer in your pond will quickly cause major headaches including algae blooms, rampant weed growth, and possibly even fish kills. 

Aeration partially resolves those problems over time.

 

Other remedies, like algaecides, herbicides, grass carp, or pond dyes are often used in combination with aeration and fountains to create a healthy and attractive pond environment. Pond-ology can create a personalized prescription for your pond, and we consult free of charge.