The best time to start your sub surface aeration system is when the pond water is around 50-55 degrees. Yes it wouldn’t hurt to pull out a thermometer to check the temperature and be sure your are running a steady temp at 50-55 degrees, we are looking at the surface temperature.
Why start up at this temperature? It’s spring and we are looking at the water getting warmer each week and each day. Colder water holds more dissolved oxygen than warm water does so as the water warms up we are losing dissolved oxygen.
Second reason is that the beneficial bacteria’s come to life around 55 degrees or at least become more active and even more active as the water gets warmer.
Third is if we start to early and the water is too cold there is a chance of cooling the pond which could harm the fish, bringing their core temp too low.
One way I figure we are close to the right temperature is my walk around the pond and finding perch eggs. Exciting ? Yes, Life is beginning at the pond, not only are we seeing perch eggs but the occasional frog and last year’s pollywogs scooting away from shore. Perch usually lay their eggs in the 50-55 degree water.
What about surface aeration like the fountain? These can go in almost any time or as soon as the ice get’s off the pond. If we are talking about his year who knows when the ice might leave but you get the picture. Running the surface aerator won’t hurt the fish since we are only moving the upper 2-3′ feet of water and can be beneficial to getting quick oxygen in the pond. The picture shows the water very blue coming out of the fountain but that was on purpose. I set the fountain, dumped in the dye and paddled like crazy before the little woman turned the fountain on. Yes she was giggling when she did it.
This was actually the first nice weekend we had so far this year and could even wear shorts. Not only did we put our fountain in but did another fountain install as well, stopped in for a pond consultation to work out a design and quote for sub surface aeration system. What a foggy morning but cleared up by late morning for an awesome day.
How is your pond doing? The ponds themselves are getting busy and so are we, if you need help feel free to use the contact form or learn more about the ponds in a our free eduction section.
