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  • Results 1 to 9 of 9

    Thread: Mud pond airlift - circulator and aerator

    1. #1
      BWG is offline Senior Member
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      Mud pond airlift - circulator and aerator

      These are photos of a mud pond aerator that uses airlifts. It replaced a $1300 Great Lakes system that was extremely energy inefficient and had problems icing up in cold weather. This system including a 40 liter air pump cost under $150 to build and it circulates the water better using 75% less energy. This is the third one of these I have built. In identical ponds side by side last summer one of these was tested against the Great Lakes unit and circulated blue dye to a uniform color twice as fast. It is made in a sled design so it can be pulled into the water and back out without a boat. The air pump is underground in the blue barrel. A snorkel provides the air and the air line is buried below the frost line. I still need to make an insulated lid cover. So far passed -11 with no problems.
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      Cecil is offline Senior Member
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      Interesting. I use diffusers and compressors to keep some water open in my mud ponds in the summer, but i downsize to much smaller compressors and use a diffuser close to shore vs, the summer to keep too much mixing of rhe water column down. I find i stress my fish if i disrupt my deeper relativey warmer waters in the winter.

      I think it's a travesty how much some of these companies are charging for so called "systems," which are nothing more than a compressor, weighted airlines and diffusers. For what you paid for that Great Lakes System you could have put together for a third of the cost if you bought the components seperately and at rhe right place. Of course most don't know that.

      I know folks that have precluded using an aeration system in their mud ponds due to the cost. Seems like the retailers are shooting themselves in the foot IMHO.
      Last edited by Cecil; 02-18-2017 at 09:56 PM.
      The risk I took was calculated, but man am I bad at math!

    3. #3
      mtsklar is offline Senior Member
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      nice work BWG,,, any idea what your pond temp is?

    4. #4
      BWG is offline Senior Member
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      Here is a photo of the inside of the barrel. A 2 inch conduit is connected to the barrel and goes into the pond under the water level to slide the air line through. It is difficult to see from the photo angle of the previous photos but the base of the barrel underground is actually above high water level on the rising pond bank. The conduit is also water tight and has a sweep 90 to raise the position of the pump. The pump in on an elevated PVC stand in the barrel.

      This setup is more for providing a safe area for the geese to keep away from coyotes than for the health of the pond. The setup is in the shallow end of the pond and is set at 6.5 feet. It is also designed to not suck directly off of the pond bottom. Others I have built only used a 20 liter pump with good results but I had a spare 40 pump and used it. Using medium bubbles keeps the back pressure low and eliminates maintenance. The lower backpressure also prolongs the life of the pump diaphragms.

      I haven't checked mud pond temps. The pond was iced over a few weeks ago and then we got all of the rain. This pond came up 13 inches and was over the overflow drain for 3 days.

      This airlift is using a short section of pipe connected to a 90 inside the airlift tubes that is drilled with holes. A compression chamber was used on another and the first has large Sweetwater ceramic diffusers in it and has access panels in the sides of lift to service. I don't like cleaning the diffusers and will convert this lift. I am looking at no maintenance vs additional efficiency.
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      Sub-Zero Update

      After several straight days of freezing and some sub-zero temperatures there have been no condensation freeze ups and everything is pumping fine. Also went through 2 power outages and restarts with zero problems.

    6. #6
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      Do you have any pictures of how you did the riser tubes? Drilled pipe with end cap?

    7. #7
      BWG is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by ben5020 View Post
      Do you have any pictures of how you did the riser tubes? Drilled pipe with end cap?
      Yes, for the air just a male/female electrical fitting through the water riser pipe and then a street elbow and short section of PVC pipe with end cap. Twelve 1/8 inch holes are drilled in the pipe for the air diffusers. Make sure all air pipe lengths from the air injection points are the same lengths to get equal flow from the manifold. All 3 air diffuser pipes must have an equal amount of holes drilled to get equal air flow also.

      Smaller bubbles are more efficient but using 1/8" holes makes the unit maintenance free from plugging. I have been using Pondmaster AP 20 and 40 air pumps.
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      Last edited by BWG; 06-25-2014 at 10:56 PM.

    8. #8
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      I know this is an older thread, but I like the design and may apply it to my mud pond. Are you still running this same design?
      Last edited by tinyfisher; 03-14-2016 at 08:11 PM.

    9. #9
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      Quote Originally Posted by tinyfisher View Post
      I know this is an older thread, but I like the design and may apply it to my mud pond. Are you still running this same design?
      Hi
      Im planning for somthing simular in my pond. Have you made one of this?


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