Blog
Outdoor Water Solutions Expands Line of Electric Aerators
Electric Aerators Outdoor Water Solutions, a pond and lake product manufacturing company based out of Springdale, AR, has announced its new AerMaster Pro TM extended line of electric aerators for the 2012 season. John Redd, President, states, “Outdoor Water Solutions is the leading manufacturer in the Wind Driven Aeration category, which is still a growing market. Many of our dealers and customers have asked when we would be introducing electric aerators that combine with our wind systems to offer 24-hour aeration by utilizing both wind energy and supplemental electricity. The two systems are regulated with a control box that turns on the electric units when the wind isn’t blowing and turns them back off when the wind starts.” The new expanded line of electric aerators ranges from a ¼ HP rocking piston compressor, producing 3.5 CFM, to a ¾ HP rocking piston compressor, producing 7.2 CFM. Each of these rocking piston designs comes in an attractive powder coated steel cabinet that can be mounted to a post, to a wall or on the ground with the included adjustable feet. They also come with a lock for enhanced security and include either one or two recirculating fans. All systems come with a 2-year warranty and are designed to operate free of maintenance. Key Features of the new AerMaster Pro TM line include: Maximum pressure up to 50 PSI, allowing aeration of 10, 20, 30 or 40 foot deep ponds or lakes Oil-less piston and cylinder for limited maintenance Permanently lubricated and sealed bearings Die cast aluminum components and hard coated cylinder for less wear Powder coated cabinets for long life One or two high-velocity CFM fans, a 115 V plug-in, and mounting hardware Pressure relief valve and a liquid filled pressure gauge Some models include multiple lengths of weighted airline and several low-PSI diffusers “Our goal was to produce a high quality product at an affordable price,” says Redd. Customers can view the complete AerMaster Pro TM line online at www.Outdoorwatersolutions.com, and can also request one of our color catalogs to look at the complete line of pond products. About Outdoor Water Solutions Outdoor Water Solutions offers high quality pond windmills, fish feeders, fountains, all natural pond care products and customizable powder coated windmill aeration systems. You can find out more about Outdoor Water Solutions on our website, www.outdoorwatersolutions.com.
Read moreBlog
Diffuser Placement for Pond Aeration
Diffuser Placement One of the most common questions asked is, “Where to place diffusers when considering pond aeration?” Some “experts” claim that aeration is best when diffusers are placed in the shallower parts of a pond, others the deeper parts, and some say it is best when placed somewhere in between. The truth is that diffusers typically operate best in the deepest part of the pond. For example, if your pond is 12 feet deep at its deepest point, then you should try to set at least one diffuser in that 12-foot area. The most important reason to place your diffuser in the deepest part of your pond is to get the water circulating. Water in the deepest part of the pond should rise to the surface, come in contact with both sunlight and wind, and get an injection of much needed oxygen. This water then circulates back down to the bottom of the pond where it is full of life-giving oxygen for both fish and aerobic bacteria. Without oxygenating your deeper water, you could have 2-4 feet of unhealthy stagnate water resting at the bottom of your pond. This water stays cold and remains anaerobic (without oxygen), doing little to aid in the decomposition of organic matter, or “muck,” on the floor of the pond. Most fish find this area unusable for any length of time due to the lack of oxygen. Well-aerated ponds and lakes support a larger number of fish by offering them a greater area of living space. As water circulates, it also provides a more uniform temperature and oxygen concentration, thus eliminating thermal stratification. Pond aeration can be achieved through the use of windmill aerators, solar aerators, or electric aerators. All three options are effective and supply oxygen necessary for the digestion of algae, ammonia, and nitrites. Pond and lake aeration is proven to increase the number of aerobic bacteria that assist in the decomposition of fish waste, leaves, and other organic matter. This not only helps reduce the amount of “muck” or “sludge” on the bottom, but also helps eliminate pond odors. There is one possible exception to this rule. Species of fish that dwell in cold water, such as trout, walleye, northern pike, and muskie, need colder water to survive, so placing your diffusers 2-3 feet from the deeper holes is preferred. You do not need to “suspend” your diffusers; instead, set them in an area of the pond that is slightly shallower than the deepest hole. In summary, deep-bottom diffuser aeration of a pond or lake is probably the single best investment you can make regarding the sustenance of your pond. Once you have your diffusers, placing them in the correct location will ensure that water is circulated from the deeper parts of the pond to the surface, providing valuable oxygen to your pond life in the process.
Winterize Your Pond: Aeration
Winterize Your Pond: Aeration Well, it’s that time of year when fall is soon upon us, then the short cold days of winter. If you own or manage a pond or lake, then you’re probably not thinking too much about “winterizing” it. Nature will take just take its course until spring arrives. However there are a few things that you can do proactively if you want to get a head start on next year. 1) Keep aeration in place thru the winter months. Bottom diffused aeration helps to keep the water circulating eliminating fall turnover and fish kills. It can also help to prevent fish from dying under the ice if you live in areas where you have complete freeze over. Lastly aeration will give you a head start on algae control next spring by circulating oxygen rich water thru the whole pond which will increase the amount of beneficial aerobic bacteria present. 2) Use a pond dye or colorant – even over the winter months. Most algae can grow on the bottom of a pond year around. Come February or March, it can really take off. Using a pond dye adds a nice color but also filters the sunlight, keeping it off of the bottom where most algae live and grow. 3) Continue using beneficial aerobic bacteria until the water temperature drops to 50 degrees. In some parts of the country, you might use supplemental bacteria year around. In the Northern climates, it might be from April through October/November. The biggest benefit of adding supplemental bacteria is in breaking down the organic matter on the bottom and in reducing the amount of nutrients available to feed bacteria and aquatic vegetation. They are much more effective than anaerobic bacteria and really go to work if you have supplemental aeration.
Winterize Your Ponds: Falling Leaves
Winterize Your Ponds: Falling Leaves When the leaves start falling and the air turns crisp, it's time to prepare your ponds and outdoor water features for winter. A few steps this fall will save you time and money next spring. Continue to keep the pond free of leaves and plant debris. Loose vegetation left in the pond will break down over the winter causing a spike in harmful ammonia levels. To help with this cover your pond with netting before the leaves start falling and keep the area around the pond raked. Once all the leaves have dropped and the trees are bare you can take off the leaf netting. Now it's time to install the pond cover to prevent things from blowing in during the winter and damaging the pond liner or hurting the fish. The cover will actually act like a mini-greenhouse and raise the temperature underneath by a few degrees. Check out our selection of rakes and weed cutters.
Aeration and Algae
Aeration and Algae Question: I bought a 24 foot windmill from you in 2010 and installed it midsummer 2011. I have algae on my pond my the time I installed it so it did not take care of the algae this summer. I am wondering if it will take care of algae next summer. My pond is a 1/4 acre and 10' deep or will I also need to get a fountain? Answer: Eliminating algae is dependent on several factors. Nutrient runoff is probably the most important. Aeration can help eliminate existing nutrients in the water by adding oxygen and therefore beneficial aerobic bacteria which consume excess organic matter, nitrogen and some phosphorous. It may take a little time for this to work, espeically if there is more than 2-3" of organic matter on the bottom. If your pond continues to get nutrients thru fertilizer runoff (from farmer's fields, livestock in the water shed, or from another source), then completely eliminating algae can be a challenge as there are always nutrients available. Algae is a plant and needs three things to grow (food, water and sunlight). A great alternative that we use a lot is to filter the sunlight to keep it off of the bottom, where most algae starts to grow before rising to the surface. We have several pond dyes that can accomplish this. You can also combine aeration with a pond dye for sunlight filtration with some additional beneficial bacteria. All work together to help reduce the amount of algae and vegetation in your pond. A fountain in a pond 10' deep would be great for aesthetics, and will add some additional oxygen, but probably won't stop algae from growing. For 2012, I would try aeration, some pond dye (keep it in year around - even over winter), and some beneficial bacteria once the water temp. gets back up above 50 degrees. The fountain could be added anytime, but is more for looks than actual algae control unless your pond is 4-6’ deep. Hope this helps!
Know your Pond Life - Pond Maintenance and Care Tips
Pond Maintenance and Care It never fails. I’ll get a call, or an e-mail from someone wishing to stock bass into their pond. A quick quiz into their program often tells the tale. Had a call today..“I need to stock my new two acre pond with bass. How much are they?” My immediate response, “Have you stocked forage fish, yet?” Answer, “Yea, my neighbor gave me some bluegill from his pond. We stocked more than 100.” Question, “Are you positive they were bluegill?” Answer..“Yes..well I think so.” Red flags… Sunfish species..coats of many colors, fish of many hats, and more than a handful of names. Bream, chinquapins, perch, sac-a-lait, slicks, brim, gills….a handful of regional colloquial names for saucer shaped fish we collectively know as “sunfish.” To know different species of sunfish is to understand them. Understanding leads to better decisions how to use these colorful fish. Understand this..there are a minimum of 15 species of sunfish commonly found in and around ponds across this great nation. But, more importantly, only three or four are useful in pond management. That’s not to say other species can exist, and do no harm. They can. But, if you pick the wrong sunfish for the wrong application, your pond may not tell you about it for years. Bluegill are head and shoulders above the choice of pond managers. Bluegill are the backbone of largemouth bass populations, all over the country. Goals to raise largemouth bass? (largemouth bass are members of the sunfish family, by the way) Then you need bluegill. Bluegill reproduce more often than other species of sunfish, especially in the south. In northern states, bluegill may only spawn once, maybe twice during their short growing season. Bluegill are colony nesters, and aren’t real picky about what to eat. An 8 inch bluegill has a mouth barely big enough to fit a pencil eraser. So, they don’t directly compete with game fish. Some strains of bluegill grow larger than a pound and a half. Redear sunfish, also called “shellcracker” in the southeastern states, or “chinquapin perch” in Louisiana, and heavily utilized in southern and southwestern states, and up into warmer regions along the eastern seaboard and Midwest. Redear eat macroinvertebrates, especially snails. They live in a different niche than their bluegill cousins. Single spawners each year, redear are an “insurance” policy as a forage. Like bluegill, redear have tiny mouths, limiting their ability to compete with game fish. Plus, where redear grow, they thrive, some as large as 14 inches, pushing a pound and a half. They don’t like cold water, or ice. Green Sunfish are found in most native watersheds in the nation. To not have green sunfish around you is the exception, not the rule. Green sunfish, called “slicks” in Arkansas, “yellow bellied perch” in other areas of the country, are iridescent green, with orange trim around their fins. With a big mouth, green sunfish are considerably more predatory than bluegill or redear. They compete directly with young game fish. Since they spawn once yearly, green sunfish aren’t preferred. Plus, they don’t grow much larger than your hand, so use as a game fish is limited. We have all seen the advertisements for fish trucks coming to the local feed store. Hybrid bluegill are their choice most of the time, because hybrid sunfish live on a truck forever. Don’t fall into the hybrid bluegill trap if your goals are to grow largemouth bass. Hybrid sunfish are that…hybrids. Hatcheries take female green sunfish, and cross them with male bluegill. The offspring are mules of the fish business. They are aggressive, grow quickly, and will push a pound to a pound and a half. But, don’t expect them to reproduce. While some of the females have some viable eggs, 95% of hybrid sunfish are males. So, stocking these fish to provide a forage base is a mistake. If you use this fish, use it for its own merit, as a stand alone fish, maybe stocked in small ponds with channel catfish for diversity. Next up, we have pumpkinseed sunfish. Often a staple native fish in the north, pumpkinseeds are a novelty in the Midwest and southern states. Pumpkinseeds can grow to 6-8 inches, maybe half a pound, but that’s about it. They do little harm in ponds, and can’t possibly out compete bluegill. Longear sunfish are another native species of sunfish which winds up in ponds from time to time. Colorful during spawns, longear sunfish may grow to five inches. They don’t hurt anything, but don’t contribute much, either. Warmouth, also called “goggle-eye” and “rock bass” in some states, are another story. Thick across the back, soft flesh, dark color with speckles, warmouth compete directly as a predator. An 8 inch warmouth is a trophy, and it’s mouth is larger than a quarter. Consequently, these fish can eat young fish, any species. Aggressive, fun to catch, some pond owners like warmouth. But, not many hatcheries sell them. They spawn once yearly, and survival rates of young are usually dim. Believe it or not, both species of crappie are sunfish. Black crappie spawn less and grow larger than their white crappie cousins. But, neither fish is one of choice in small ponds. Crappie need big, deep water, with big, structure. They run together in schools, and feed just above the bottom of the food chain, consuming volumes of young fish. Crappie can eat so many young fish, the entire food chain can quickly come to a screeching halt. As tempting as it may be, resist the urge to catch a bream, slick, sunfish…whatever…from your friendly neighbor’s pond to toss into yours. Learn the different species, identify them, and based on your goals, decide which species to use. When you’re educated about different sunfish, and make wise choices, go for it. But, if you don’t know the fish, don’t be surprised to learn the hard way, several years from now. POND BOSS Magazine is the world’s leading resource for fish, pond and fisheries management information including discussions on muddy water, raising trophy fish, fish feeding, building a pond, algae control and more. Check us out at www.pondboss.com or contact Bob Lusk, the Pond Boss himself, at 903-564-5372. His books, Basic Pond Management, Raising Trophy Bass and Perfect Pond, Want One, may be purchased by calling 800-687-6075 or ordering online at www.pondboss.com
Silt, Nature’s Pond Pudding
Silt and Your Pond Silt. Soft, gooey, mucky black pond bottom stuff oozing between toes, staining shoes past ankles. Decaying organic contents of silt smell like rotten eggs. Wade the edge of your pond, and take a look. Nature gives us silt, naturally. It is as normal as fallen leaves, grass clippings and fish poop. As a matter of fact, fallen leaves, grass clipping and fish stuff become ingredients of silt on pond bottoms all over the world. To know silt is to understand silt. Merriam Webster’s collegiate dictionary defines silt as “loose sedimentary material with rock particles usually 1/20 millimeter or less in diameter.” I know that’s true because Otto looked it up two issues ago. The loosest of all soils, silt collects on top of more solid, clay based pond bottom soils. From there, water currents and wave action send silt into convenient areas for deposit. Take a look where water enters your pond. That’s the most likely spot to find new deposits of silt, washed there by recent rains. If truth be known, most silt into a new pond comes from freshly disturbed soils of construction. As the pond fills, neighboring loose dirt washes downward, eroding shorelines, and pitching fine particles into silt bars and banks, deposited near inflow areas. Don’t step in it. There is a difference between silt and Shinola. As a pond ages, less dirt comes in, but more organic matter collects. Water composts leaves, twigs, clippings and fish waste, and plops these new deposits on top of older ones. As time goes, silt layers become deeper. Finally, we perceive silt to be a problem. How do we know? Ponds lose depth. If you think about it, a pond or lake is built, and then begins to age. Part of this process is accumulation of soils. Loose soils, silt, become home to cattails, reeds and rushes, usually in the upper parts of a pond…where water flows in. As silt mounts, cattails and reed families spread. Over time, a pond is covered with tall plants. With more years of age under your pond’s belt, soils collect and peek above the waterline, and terrestrial plants become dominant, The pond becomes land, again, as the shore moves inward. New Orleans was built on soils deposited from Iowa, Indiana, Missouri and states robbed of dirt by the Mississippi River drainage basin. Want to minimize siltation of your pond? Keep it out, from the beginning. Vegetate bare dirt, quickly. Compact shorelines. Minimize grades…shoot for 3 to 1 slopes. Where ground falls fast, consider silt fences. It’s easier to shovel silt from behind a silt fence or screen than to dig it out of a pond, underwater. Have an old pond, with lots of silt? Careful, here. Removing muck is costly. It has to be dug out, pushed up, then spread out. Or, dug up, loaded onto a truck, and hauled away. Bottom line? Silt must be moved two or three times before disposal. More often than not, it’s cheaper to move to another site and build a new pond than to clean out an old one, Silt for the garden? After all, it’s been years fermenting and composting at the bottom of a pond. Forget it. Silt has no nutritional benefit to terrestrial plants. Besides, when silt dries, it shrinks and cracks. Then, when wet, it expands…like pudding. Don’t add to gardens. Small ponds seem to magnify siltation. Smaller areas can be redefined by siltation from one rainfall event. So, if you have a mini-pond, give much thought during the planning stages, before the contractor ever turns a spade of dirt. Ten years from now, your pond will thank you. By Bob Lusk, reprinted from Pond Boss Magazine POND BOSS Magazine is the world’s leading resource for fish, pond and fisheries management information including discussions on muddy water, raising trophy fish, fish feeding, building a pond, algae control and more. Check us out at www.pondboss.com or contact Bob Lusk, the Pond Boss himself, at 903-564-5372. His books, Basic Pond Management, Raising Trophy Bass and Perfect Pond, Want One, may be purchased by calling 800-687-6075 or ordering online at www.pondboss.com
Affordable Electric Aerators – Check These Out!
Affordable Electric Aerators Outdoor Water Solutions, a pond and lake product manufacturing company based out of Springdale, AR, has announced its new AerMaster Pro TM extended line of electric aerators for the 2012 season. John Redd, President, states, “Outdoor Water Solutions is the leading manufacturer in the Wind Driven Aeration category, which is still a growing market. Many of our dealers and customers have asked when we would be introducing electric aerators that combine with our wind systems to offer 24-hour aeration by utilizing both wind energy and supplemental electricity. The two systems are regulated with a control box that turns on the electric units when the wind isn’t blowing and turns them back off when the wind starts.” The new expanded line of electric aerators ranges from a ¼ HP rocking piston compressor, producing 3.5 CFM, to a ¾ HP rocking piston compressor, producing 7.2 CFM. Each of these rocking piston designs comes in an attractive powder coated steel cabinet that can be mounted to a post, to a wall or on the ground with the included adjustable feet. They also come with a lock for enhanced security and include either one or two recirculating fans. All systems come with a 2-year warranty and are designed to operate free of maintenance. Key Features of the new AerMaster Pro TM line include: Maximum pressure up to 50 PSI, allowing aeration of 10, 20, 30 or 40 foot deep ponds or lakes Oil-less piston and cylinder for limited maintenance Permanently lubricated and sealed bearings Die cast aluminum components and hard coated cylinder for less wear Powder coated cabinets for long life One or two high-velocity CFM fans, a 115 V plug-in, and mounting hardware Pressure relief valve and a liquid filled pressure gauge Some models include multiple lengths of weighted airline and several low-PSI diffusers “Our goal was to produce a high quality product at an affordable price,” says Redd. Customers can view the complete AerMaster Pro TM line online at www.Outdoorwatersolutions.com, and can also request one of our color catalogs to look at the complete line of pond products. About Outdoor Water Solutions Outdoor Water Solutions offers high quality pond windmills, fish feeders, fountains, all natural pond care products and customizable powder coated windmill aeration systems. You can find out more about Outdoor Water Solutions on our website, www.outdoorwatersolutions.com.
OWS Holiday Specials
Holiday Specials We're running some specials right now for those of you looking for Holiday gifts. Check out our Specials tab to see what's available at a great price and all of our Holiday Specials.