By far, air diffuser systems circulate water more efficiently and require less maintenance. Diffuser systems are a lot like airstones in an aquarium. They use an air compressor to pump air into the pond. The diffuser breaks the air into tiny bubbles which expand as they rise. The rising of the bubbles pushes water up (often used inside a floating tube called an airlift pump) and forms a current that lifts bottom water up to the surface resulting in more surface renewal aeration. Unlike the air starved, stagnant, laminar flows developed by axial flow pumps, fountains, and splashers.
Only diffused air with its bubble driven turbulence mixes the entire water column with oxygen laden air while preventing stratification in the pond.
Why Do I Need to Aerate my Pond this Year?
Natural diffusion of oxygen into water from simple wind action determines the health of most ponds.
Not nearly enough! In healthy ponds studies of oxygen consumption of the pond bottom sediment itself is 1-3 g/m2/day. Except on very windy days, this leaves little or no oxygen available in the pond. Adding just a coffee can of fish food, a little fertilizer runoff, and a few fresh grass clippings on a summer day and your pond is in serious oxygen trouble.
Air bubbles (Ippan, Adenay, Spuler and Schaab quoted by Haney, 1954)
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20-25
2.8-28.
Unfortunately, as ponds age, based on sediment/nutrient build-up, high pH levels and large oxygen starved areas can develop in a pond quickly. Any amount of aeration can tip the scales to change the biology in the pond increasing respiration and reducing photosynthesis (algae) while improving your ponds water quality. Adding pH or algae control chemicals is only a short term emergency response and will not cure the nutrient problem They only delay it, allowing the problem to come back with a vengence after the chemicals dissapate.
Even a tiny amount of mixing energy that promotes surface renewal can double the oxygen intake of natural diffusion. Even in intensive aquaculture operations, maintaining a high dissolved oxygen concentration everywhere in the pond has simply not been shown to be economically justifiable. Instead, fish farming professionals and state agenciesaerate only to provide highly oxygenated aeration zones or "fish safe" zones to prevent fish kills, control algae, strip toxic gases, stabilize CO2 levels, destratify pond thermal layers, and control mosquito breeding. Using just one of our EKBS-10 fish zone aerators for up to 50 lbs of fish (1/4 surface acre max.) and/or one of our larger EKBS-15 units for up to 100 lbs of actively feeding fish (1/4 to 1/2 surface acre) is a simple green solution. If you use atmospheric air to aerate water, no matter how many bubbles you see, or how much splashing/mixing you do, you can only get around 8 lbs of oxygen to dissolve in a million gallons of water. For example, sewer plant treated water by US law needs to have a dissolved oxygen demand no greater than 2 lbs/day per million gallons of water. So if you have a solar powered zone aerator that can put 2 lbs/day of oxygen in a million gallons of water (even our smallest EKBS-10 solar aerator provides 1 lb/day), you are good-to-go from an aeration standpoint for odor control, non-intensive fish farming, and mosquito abatement. The other most often asked question is "how much mixing" energy do you need to disperse the oxygen rich aerated water. Well, from an oxygen dispersion standpoint there is no such thing as a mixing limited pond design when using conventional diffused air. The oxygen will gradually disperse throughout the entire pond. However, if you have water flowing through a pond place the air diffuser as far away from the pond discharge or overflow as possible, otherwise simply locate it near to the spot where you want the big fish to hang out. Clemson University studies, USDA fish hatchery studies, et al., have demonstrated that 1 cfm of air flow is adequate to maintain high oxygen transfer and mixing for a 1 acre fish pond. DO NOT apply more than 350-746 watts ( 1/2 to 1 HP) per surface acre for recreational ponds because you will partially suspend solids that can cause other major problems. High energy aeration levels increase turbidity problems and can kill fish (EPA studies do support these higher energy levels for sewage treatment). When using our lowest cost of ownership approach, PEC solar bubbler aerators, can properly mix and aerate ponds, with up to 50 watts per surface acre if you are not actively feeding fish and up to 350 watts/acre if you are actively feeding up to 1000 lbs of fish each day.
Solar Powered Diffused Aeration Costs?
Since solar power is free energy, solar aerator cost of ownership comes down to capital costs and maintenance. Both costs are a direct function of how deep you place the air diffusers and the length of the airlines to the diffusers. A one foot increase in diffuser depth can result in a 1% increase in oxygen transfer along with a 1% decrease in airflow. Maintaining higher airflow volumes at greater depths means more energy and greater capital and maintenance costs. Floating diffusers, airlines, and floating draft tube airlift pumps that draw water from the bottom of any depth pond allow you to reduce energy resulting in reduced capital and maintenance costs while maintaining high oxygen transfer and mixing characteristics.
SUSTAINABLE PEC SOLAR POWERED AERATORS MAKE FISH SAFE ZONES ANYWHERE IN THE POND, 24/7. NO "OFF" SWITCH.
UNSUSTAINABLE GRID POWERED UNITS GET TURNED "OFF" TO MAKE "FISH KILL" ZONES THROUGHOUT YOUR POND.
And our new ECO-AERATOR & SUNBUBBLER models for both shoreline and deep water float mounts.
Aeration is necessary to maintain oxygen in pond water to keep ponds healthy and prevent hypoxia. In all non-aerated/non-mixed ponds, stagnant fish cages, and algae blocked ponds, only the first few inches of the pond hold dissolved oxygen and that oxygen content decreases rapidly at night. This is because algae and cyanobacteria which produce excess oxygen and sequester carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere during the day, switch metabolism at night, and quickly use up pond water oxygen. This natural process depletes almost all of the water oxygen supply. In turn the biological balance is destroyed and all pond life could die within hours. Oxygen depletion occurs even more rapidly when ponds are covered in ice or when weather suddenly mixes the non-aerated and aerated water.
Don't be fooled by high power aeration like fountains or splashers that use +$450/mo. in electricity, or low power circulators that provide very low levels of oxygen transfer by surface renewal and require daily "leaf unplugging" maintenance . Don't be mislead by windmills and daylight only timer controlled solar systems. Those systems can only run for a few hours each day (max. 20 hrs if you don't run on weekends), and their "deep water" designs periodically disturb bottom muck. MIXING UP BOTTOM MUCK creates MORE STRESS on fish and water quality than no aeration at all. DO NOT use bottom mounted diffusers in winter in order to prevent super-cooling the warm bottom water and shocking fish. Use our floating draft tube aerators, bottom risers, or shoreline periphery diffusers instead.
Our standardized floating diffuser solar systems perform better than our deep water hybrid systems. One reason is almost all of the oxygen dissolved into the water from an air bubble occurs when the bubble is being formed. Only a *negligible amount of oxygen transfer occurs during the bubbles transit to the surface. However, a large amount of the bubble energy can be utilized after formation, simply by making the bubble do work. Placing the bubble inside a vertical tube causes it to move water from the lower end of the tube and pump it to the surface. In this manner it takes the same amount of energy to aerate and mix water at any pond depth. In contrast, bottom mounted diffusers almost double consumed power for every few feet of pond water depth.
* A 1% increase in oxygen transfer and mixing for every foot of diffuser water depth does not justify the accompanying 100% increase in capital cost for additional solar panels. Especially when dealing with 100% free solar power.
If you are NOT aerating your pond or lake now, then it is stratified. Typically this means the top few inches of water are saturated with oxygen while directly below are many layers of anoxic toxic water. A violent storm can quickly mix these layers causing a serious fish kill.
When you aerate and destratify the pond water you can turn the whole pond into a dissolved oxygen storage zone and eliminate this dangerous scenario.
EKBS-10 SOLAR AERATOR Other independent pond studies at a stagnant Reed Swamp shows a scenario of 30-250 mg/m2/hr of oxygen demand. The EKBS-10 at 0.1 cfm airflow can easily supply more than ten times ***250 mg/m2/hr of the swamps dissolved oxygen demand, with fewer than four EKBS-10 units per surface acre, or one for each 1/8 acre of water.
Name: Solar Aerator EKBS-10 Price: $692.00 QUIET at 20 db Description: 20 WATT POND AERATOR, 1.5FT X 1FT X 1/2FT FOOTPRINT AND 5 WATT REPLACEABLE DIAPHRAM PUMP, 20' OF AIR HOSE, 1 MEDIUM FINE DIFFUSER. Application (typical): One EKBS-10 provides 0.1 cfm. It is suitable for use in up to 50,000 gallons with diffuser float kit and pond depths greater than 3 feet. Diffuser float is included with all units. Add a draft tube for "deep water" ponds at any depth.
We offer four solar aerator models. Our 20, 45, and 60 watt units utilize top floating draft tubes to aerate with no maximum pond depth. Our 120 watt units utilize bottom mounted diffusers with extended risers for ponds 10-15 ft deep.
All our solar aerator units utilize low profile solar arrays. All our systems require an unobstructed southern exposure to the sun. Our PV panel shoreline mounts require flat, well drained areas.
We also offer wet/dry pre-mounted floating deck solutions with weighted or fixed sliding leg supports for areas prone to intermitent flooding or permanent deep water installs. Site footprints increase in size from 2x2 to 10x10 ft squares for our largest units.
All units install in minutes with simple hand tools!
AIRBUBBLER.COM Quick and easy to fit Safe, low voltage No wiring...No electricity costs Day and Night Operation 30 gpm induced water flow and it aerates a minimum of 10,000 gallons/unit AND IT WORKS AT NIGHT !!! 2 liter per minute, permanently lubricated diaphragm air pump.
The solar panel activates the pump automatically and provides nearly continuous aeration. Our EKBS-10 Solar Bubbler Pump Kits come complete with 0.09 cfm submersible bubbler, anchoring attachments, 20 feet of air tubing and a 0.5 amp, 18 V solar panel. A standard 12 volt car battery (not included) but required for 24/7 operation.. Yes, it works at night! The battery is charged (continuous operation requires 4 hours/day of direct unfiltered sunshine) by the built-in solar panel. All this while allowing the pump to run continuously for up to *2 weeks of cloudy days (rainy days provide more oxygen/mixing than many aerators) and indefinitely through the evenings on sunny days. That's right, our unit is designed to maximize the use of the built-in solar panel to charge your standard 12 volt car battery while operating the bubbler. Other units on the market do not operate at night or require you to buy several additional solar panels and elaborate battery stacks and control systems that cost thousands of dollars to do what we do with every single unit. They just don't get it, you need our aeration that operates 24/7, not theirs that only operates during the daylight hours. Need more aeration? Then buy additional units. You can buy 10 of ours for less than than even one of theirs. A cost comparison in shallow ponds, including installation, power storage, and maintenance, places our unit at one-tenth of the cost of other units in the marketplace. Compare $20-100/month grid power aerator to our our solar unit. Our solar powered aerator for ornanmental ponds has been designed to provide nearly continuous aeration for ornamental fisheries and koi pond applications (unit will run up 3 cloudy days in a row on one freshly charged 12 Volt marine battery). The kit contains one highly efficient compressor that draws a maximum of 0.15 amps @ 6VAC, while delivering up to 0.10 cubic feet per minute, via one efficient air diffuser to your pond. Diffuser flotation/suspension or use of "risers" is required for pond depths over 3 feet deep. By floating the diffuser or suspending it with a riser you can operate in any pond depth. DO NOT allow any diffuser to touch or disturb the bottom muck or sediment layer.
We have never seen any comparable Solar Powered Aeration System. All other systems tested, require daily electrical system resets and are a maintenance nightmare with $350.00 air compressors warrantied for only 90 days. Our Solar Bubbler has no installation costs, half the capital cost and our air pumps are rated to be maintenance free for 20,000 hours of operation. Just squeeze the battery clamps in place, drop the diffuser in water and it aerates. We restore lakes, ponds, water gardens, golf water ponds and aerate thousands of fish daily. One PEC-45 air pump ( model EKBS-10) is recommended for each pound of fish feed applied daily.
* 1 year bumper-to-bumper, 2 year repair/replace pump and 5 year diffuser/PV solar panel electrical warranties. We offer the lowest cost of ownership of any aeration system available today, period. Cost of ownership is the only interpretation of quality we will warranty. Any changes to electrical or system design are not warrantable for any reason.
Sorry, we DO NOT offer solar powered fountains, splashers, or other types of washer agitators that waste energy to spray, cool, or lift water instead of simply aerating it.
HIGHEST QUALITY SYSTEMS AVAILABLE TODAY.
Model **Air Flow SCFH OTE/ft depth Depth/ft *mg/l/hr O2
EKBS-10 4.0 2.3 4 5860
EKBS-15 8.0 2.3 4 11730
EKBS-20 12.0 2.3 4 17480
* Prevents fish kills due to anoxic conditions only, ( lack of oxygen ).
