A Pond Owner Reader Submission

Dear Pond Owner Magazine,

I have been reading Pond Owner Magazine since a friend told me about it a few months ago. I’m glad to have found such an informative magazine that covers literally every pond subject from planning to maintenance. Now I send customers to Pond Owner and they all think its great.

The reason I am sending this letter is to clear up a couple of misconceptions that customers have been mentioning more and more often. The first is the comparison of diaphragm type pumps vs. bellows type pumps used in aeration windmills. The second concerns the best depth to install a diffuser in a pond.

On Windmill Water Pumps I sell Superior Windmill and Koenders Windmills products. I chose these manufacturers based on their reputation, service, product quality and the fact that they have been in business for many years. They both offer great products at competitive prices and will be around for a long time to back those products up.

Superior and Koenders both use diaphragm style air pumps on their windmills. There is a good reason why the two leading manufacturers of aeration windmills chose to utilize this type of pump. Much research time and money have been spent developing the pumps used in these mills. Superior and Koenders use pumps of similar construction that differ in details such as valve design, diaphragm size and length of stroke. Both companies have settled on these designs through hard testing and much field experience.

It would be relatively easy to design an air pump to aerate ponds if they all were the same size and depth. In reality no two ponds are the same. Therefore, these companies have designed a pump that works well in the varied sizes, styles and depths of the ponds found throughout the world.

The two most critical specifications in the aeration business are Volume ( cfm ) and Pressure ( psi ). While it would be straight foreword to build a pump that performs each task well, building a pump that excels at both gets a lot more complex. Now add the fact that this pump has to be able to perform in light as well as strong wind conditions, extreme changes in temperature, twenty four hours a day, year after year, then you begin to realize just how complicated this task is.

The amount of pressure that an air pump produces is directly related to how deep the diffuser can be installed in the water. One pound of pressure is required for every two feet of water depth that the diffuser is submerged in. The pumps on the Superior and Koenders windmills are capable of aerating to the depth of 40 feet without volume reduction. When the diffuser is submersed in 40 feet of water these pumps still produce the advertised volume of air. Also, both companies advertise volume figures conservatively at 9 mph wind speed.

One manufacturer is overstating the benefits of a bellows pump and spreading erroneous information concerning the correct depth to install a diffuser in a pond. The Canadian Department of Agriculture,CDA and Agri-Food Canada have done enormous research on the aeration of ponds. According to the CDA studies, the best location for the diffuser is on the bottom of the pond. This research is backed up by years of field experience as well. This is not to say the diffuser needs to be installed in the mucky bottom. The diffuser should be installed in a protective bucket to prevent the stirring up of sediment. Placing the diffuser on the bottom not only aids in the release of contaminant build up but also prevents pond stratification.

Of equal importance is the introduction of oxygen to the pond bottom promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria (aerobic bacteria) which competes with anaerobic bacteria (bad bacteria) for the food source. The aerobic bacteria eat nutrients 30 to 40 times faster than anaerobic bacteria. This simply starves the anaerobic bacteria to death without any harmful side effects when the diffuser is placed at the bottom.

When a diffuser is installed at 2/3 the depth of the pond, as is advised by one windmill manufacturer, the benefits from aeration never take place near the bottom of the pond .Although the top layer of the pond may look healthier, the problems at the bottom are allowed to continue along with harmful consequences.

Bellows style pumps used by some manufacturers are incapable of pumping the required volume of air at normal average pond depths. The capabilities of this style pump are drastically reduced with every additional foot of water depth resulting in favorable results only in shallow water. This is why one manufacturer selling a bellows style pumps recommends placing the diffuser 2/3 the depth of the pond.

In my opinion Koenders and Superior Windmills are the two best wind driven aerators in the world. When someone builds a better product at a competitive price, you will find it on my website because I will be selling it. Thank you for your time.

Have a windy day,
Terry Miller
www.windmillwaterpumps.com

© 2006, Pond Owner Magazine.
www.pondowner.com

Questions and Answers for Pond Owners

We get a lot of questions from both pond and lake owners on how to keep their water healthy and clean. Over the last decade more and more larger bodies of water are experiencing similar problems with their water as with smaller ponds.

Listed below is a typical inquiry from a cottager on a lake.

“I live on a 55 acre lake and am on the lake Cottager’s Association. We have been researching ways to address a real bad lake problem we have with algae and weeds growing and forming along the banks of our lake. This usually occurs at the edges and does not extend more than 40 ft from the sides of the lake, We are very interested in windmill aeration as a means to prevent this algae from returning and also preventing it from happening again this year.

Sure there are pond chemicals that can get rid of this problem – but its thousands of dollars per/yr and it really does not address the issue long term.

How far into the lake will the aeration reach and can it help a lake this size? We realize that we would need more than 5 of these windmill aeration units but what number would work for the whole lake?

How many air diffusers can be installed off a single Windmill aerator?

Any information that you have for us would be appreciated?”

Dear Cottager,

Ponds are just like lakes in many ways – especially when you look at what they need to stay healthy and fresh – oxygen being the most important ingredient. Lakes usually get more oxygen than ponds do because they are bigger bodies of water and wind tends to stir up surface of the water making waves. Waves then mix with oxygen to help in many aspects of a lakes health.

We are seeing more and more lakes installing multiple windmill aeration systems to help increase the levels of oxygen in the lake. Windmill Aeration helps filter out excess nutrients that flow into a lake and cause algae and weed growth. There are many types of electrical aeration systems that can also be used but windmills seem to be the most cost effective aeration solution with very low maintenance requirements and extremely reliable performance. In addition, there is no costs of operation for the windmills are powered by the wind so no monthly costs for lake owners and the associated administration of costs. Simply a one time investment and everyone can sit back and let the lake stay healthy.

Thank you for your inquiry.

© 2006, Pond Owner Magazine.
www.pondowner.com

Beware of Certain Solutions

It always strikes me as funny when you can search on the internet under pond problems and all you get is web sites that talk about pond treatments. Granted some of these treatments are environmentally friendly and Pond Owner Magazine is all for that.

However simply treating your pond with environmentally friendly pond conditioners or even pond chemicals is not going to make your pond healthy and clean unless you have installed an aeration system.

Ponds need an aeration system to stay healthy and clean so install one early in your pond’s life – even while your water is filling up in the pond. Don’t wait until your pond is overgrown with green water, pond algae or weeds. Do it now!

Green water, pond algae and pond weeds are caused by excess nutrients in the pond’s water sourced caused by enriched soil run off, decaying fish or rotting leaves and vegetation.

To avoid this you need to provide increased levels of dissolved oxygen into your pond. This process is called pond aeration and it will help speed up the decomposition process of these rotting debris and filter out of the water excess nutrients that algae and other unwanted aquatic vegetation thrive on.

Pond care prevention is the best long term way to maintain a healthy and clean pond.

© 2006, Pond Owner Magazine.
www.pondowner.com

Ponds that are Chemical Free

When you start to look at the world and the scarcity of fresh drinking water that remains, then you realize how important the topic of chemical free ponds are.

Only 1% of the world’s water supply is drinkable and a portion of that drinkable water is derived from ponds. Yet over 70% of pond owners still use pond chemicals to maintain the look of their ponds in order to avoid the growth of unwanted aquatic vegetation from springing up in their water supply.

There are many benefits of keeping your ponds healthy and clean by using environmentally friendly methods. It is healthy for your pond, you, your livestock, the wildlife and the ecosystem that relies on it for survival.

As more pond owners are educated on this serious issue many are turning to healthy alternatives to keeping their ponds clean. Here are the main two alternatives that pond owners are choosing to keep their ponds clean without the use of pond chemicals.

1) Using Pond Conditioners to treat the water rather than pond chemicals is a major step forward. Pond conditioners are non-toxic, environmentally friendly ingredients that when added to your pond will help maintain a healthy environment so that algae cannot thrive.

2) Pond Aeration equipment can dramatically improve the health of your pond. Simply increase the levels of oxygen in your pond water to prevent the growth of unwanted aquatic vegetation. For ideal alternative energy aeration solutions look at various windmill aeration equipment. Companies like Koenders Windmills and Superior Windmills manufacture the world’s top aeration systems.

© 2006, Pond Owner Magazine.
www.pondowner.com