# Best method/ equipmept to aerate (small) garden pond?



## Nick_593 (14 Mar 2014)

Hi guys could someone recommend the best way to aerate a small garden pond, and what equipment will be best on a budget? Pond volume roughly 2500l.

Thanks


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## Edvet (14 Mar 2014)

Aerate? why?, Any small pump which ripples the surface will increase the amount of oxygen. Especialy if you make a small waterfall-like structure


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## Nick_593 (14 Mar 2014)

Edvet said:


> Aerate? why?, Any small pump which ripples the surface will increase the amount of oxygen. Especialy if you make a small waterfall-like structure



Aeration is necessary if stocking a pond with fish, especially in the summer. O2 levels plummet between 2am and 5am due to plant respiration at night and anaerobic respiration from bacteria in fish waste and food, especially during a hot summer.

I lost some gold fish last year because of it, and now I'm looking to put some koi in there I don't want the same thing to happen again. The pond has never been over stocked, and I wont over stock it with koi, I had 6 small gold fish in it last year. but I want to create the best environment I can if a few bigger fish are going in. We have a small waterfall from the filter but this isn't sufficient..

I was advised by my LFS to use an aerator (or I could add another water feature I suppose) if were going to put some bigger fish in. Not sure what to get though.


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## Edvet (14 Mar 2014)

Which aerator did they advise?
An airstone only helps to stirr up the surface, the bubbles don't contribute to the oxygen content. Just a circulating pump on the surface helps by aiding in the diffusion in to the water (by replacing saturated water with less saturated)


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## Nick_593 (14 Mar 2014)

TBH I'm not really sure what they recommened, they just mentioned I'd likely need some more aeration in the pond- they were pretty busy when I was there with new fish stock and I get the gist of it.. I was thinking a new water feature but I'm not sure of the best road to go down to increase the aeration in the pond?.


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## JOHN250 (14 Mar 2014)

My advice would be to add a Pond Air Pump. Not only will it provide adequate aeration but it will also increase water movement which will reduce ' dead spots '
Not sure how much you'd want to invest in a water feature but the Superfish Koi Flow 30  which I use is probably around £80.00. For best results position air stones in ' dead spots' ( where there is little water movement )
Dependent on the size of your pond the Koi Flow is available in 3 sizes. My Koi pond is 1500 gallons which is modest but the 30litre/min is adequate .
Hope this helps ?


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## Jafooli (14 Mar 2014)

I use a hailea v20 air pump on my pond, which was about 450 Gallons, but I increased my pond to about 1000 Gallons or more last year, and I still use it, not in the winter months though.

I use it mainly because I don't have a fountain, and my outlets don't ripple the water all across the pond, and I use 4 huge circle air stones, the bubbles provide a nice surface movement across most the pond, I keep mine in one place as the bubbles are so dense its like a jacuzzi lol, and I leave the pump on all summer, and its quiet, weatherproof obviously, and does a good job, and you can get a good warranty from some places just encase damp did enter or something.


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## martin-green (14 Mar 2014)

Nick_593 said:


> I'm looking to put some koi in there I don't want the same thing to happen again. The pond has never been over stocked, and I wont over stock it with koi,



Sorry, but didn't you just say



Nick_593 said:


> I know growth is dependent on the size of the pond,



Putting this politely, you seem to have no real understanding of ponds. The "thing" about Koi is that you can't really "just add them to an existing pond because they look nice" (Which is what you seem to want to do)
Koi take a great deal of looking after and can, and do grow very fast. Koi produce their own body weight of "waste" every day, for this reason you need a lot of filtration to cope with it. Did you also know that a well looked after koi can live for 30+ years
You do seem to want to take care of your fish, so I suggest you read up more about koi, and then join the BKKS (You can go and look at other peoples koi ponds for free,  and learn a lot)


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## Nick_593 (14 Mar 2014)

martin-green said:


> Sorry, but didn't you just say
> 
> Putting this politely, you seem to have no real understanding of ponds. The "thing" about Koi is that you can't really "just add them to an existing pond because they look nice" (Which is what you seem to want to do)
> Koi take a great deal of looking after and can, and do grow very fast. Koi produce their own body weight of "waste" every day, for this reason you need a lot of filtration to cope with it. Did you also know that a well looked after koi can live for 30+ years
> You do seem to want to take care of your fish, so I suggest you read up more about koi, and then join the BKKS (You can go and look at other peoples koi ponds for free,  and learn a lot)



Thanks Marting that pretty much sums up all I need to know about koi for the moment. A guy locally is selling some on on gum tree so the idea of adding them to the pond came up today. I think I'll stick to comets atm as I like them. The idea of a 12" koi for a 10er seemed a nice idea for a minute.


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