New pond owner needs help

We bought a house with a pond in central Texas. The pond is about13 feet by 7 feet and about 18 inches deep. We have a bunch of shubunkins - about 30 of various sizes. My question is how to keep enough oxygen in the water during the summer where temperatures can be in the 100s for many days. Do I use a pump, plants or ...? If a pump, what is the best inexpensive solar pump and how big a pump do I need? Our pond is a good distance from an electrical outlet and although, using an electric cord is not out of the question, I think we would prefer a solar pump. Any and all advice is welcomed. We just want the fish to be happy!

Thanks,

Joanie




JGOverbeck

In article <01dd01c76829$19bd1b40$6401a8c0@jgoverbeck>,
"JGOverbeck" <> wrote:

> We bought a house with a pond in central Texas. The pond is about13 feet by
> 7 feet and about 18 inches deep. We have a bunch of shubunkins - about 30 of
> various sizes. My question is how to keep enough oxygen in the water during
> the summer where temperatures can be in the 100s for many days. Do I use a
> pump, plants or ...? If a pump, what is the best inexpensive solar pump and
> how big a pump do I need? Our pond is a good distance from an electrical
> outlet and although, using an electric cord is not out of the question, I
> think we would prefer a solar pump. Any and all advice is welcomed. We just
> want the fish to be happy!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joanie

My pond's a tad smaller with about the same amount of fish. Plants are
important. Protects the fish from hot sun and competition keeps algae in
check. Water Hyacinth are very good since roots help filter water.
I'd look into doing a veggie filter for filtration. Google this. Don't
know how much you feed your fish, but they can poop a lot. 30 quite a
few.
I have a 1250 GPH in mine. Given my messy fish, I'm considering bumping
it up. I've got a bio-filter in my pond, I also have an external filter
(not great).

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In article <01dd01c76829$19bd1b40$6401a8c0@jgoverbeck>,
"JGOverbeck" <> wrote:

> We bought a house with a pond in central Texas. The pond is about13 feet by
> 7 feet and about 18 inches deep. We have a bunch of shubunkins - about 30 of
> various sizes. My question is how to keep enough oxygen in the water during
> the summer where temperatures can be in the 100s for many days. Do I use a
> pump, plants or ...? If a pump, what is the best inexpensive solar pump and
> how big a pump do I need? Our pond is a good distance from an electrical
> outlet and although, using an electric cord is not out of the question, I
> think we would prefer a solar pump. Any and all advice is welcomed. We just
> want the fish to be happy!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joanie

Actually, I would spend some time going through posts in this group.
Lots of good information.
As to your solar solution,
Not having any direct experience, I think you'd just need to find one
that can power your pump and store enough power to keep it going at
night and cloudy days. You can always run a line underground through PVC
to an outlet onsite.
This is what I do.

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"JGOverbeck" <> wrote:

> We bought a house with a pond in central Texas. The pond is about13 feet by
> 7 feet and about 18 inches deep. We have a bunch of shubunkins - about 30 of
> various sizes. My question is how to keep enough oxygen in the water during
> the summer where temperatures can be in the 100s for many days. Do I use a
> pump, plants or ...? If a pump, what is the best inexpensive solar pump and
> how big a pump do I need? Our pond is a good distance from an electrical
> outlet and although, using an electric cord is not out of the question, I
> think we would prefer a solar pump. Any and all advice is welcomed. We just
> want the fish to be happy!

You are right in your concerns. Warm water dosn't hold as much oxygen as
cold water. Some fish can't live in warm water for that reason. The
most efficient ways to add oxygen are underwater green oxygenator plants
and an oxygenation system with an air pump. I have a huge air pump and
it only draws 40 watts. You will be able to find a smaller pump that
could be fun from solar power. Fortunately the more sun there is the
more oxygen you need and the more power you will have. The aerator
heads should be of a shower head design and placed in the deepest part
of the pond. Air stones tend to clog up when used too long. They are
OK if you can monitor them. I like my aeration heads because they are
trouble free. I bubble the air through barley straw to keep algae down.
Since you apparently don't have a water pump, you will need lots of
marginal plants as well as the submerged oxygenator plants.
--
Pardon my spam deterrent; send email to
18,000 gallon (17'x 47'x 2-4') lily pond garden in Zone 6
Cheers, Steve Henning in Reading, PA USA

Since this thread is talking about airstones/pumps, I thought I'd add that
one can make a cheap air stone with some of that leaky hose for drip
irrigation. ~ jan
------------
Zone 7a, SE Washington State

In article <pighash->,
Stephen Henning <> wrote:

> "JGOverbeck" <> wrote:
>
> > We bought a house with a pond in central Texas. The pond is about13 feet
> > by
> > 7 feet and about 18 inches deep. We have a bunch of shubunkins - about 30
> > of
> > various sizes. My question is how to keep enough oxygen in the water
> > during
> > the summer where temperatures can be in the 100s for many days. Do I use a
> > pump, plants or ...? If a pump, what is the best inexpensive solar pump and
> > how big a pump do I need? Our pond is a good distance from an electrical
> > outlet and although, using an electric cord is not out of the question, I
> > think we would prefer a solar pump. Any and all advice is welcomed. We
> > just
> > want the fish to be happy!
>
> You are right in your concerns. Warm water dosn't hold as much oxygen as
> cold water. Some fish can't live in warm water for that reason. The
> most efficient ways to add oxygen are underwater green oxygenator plants
> and an oxygenation system with an air pump. I have a huge air pump and
> it only draws 40 watts. You will be able to find a smaller pump that
> could be fun from solar power. Fortunately the more sun there is the
> more oxygen you need and the more power you will have. The aerator
> heads should be of a shower head design and placed in the deepest part
> of the pond. Air stones tend to clog up when used too long. They are
> OK if you can monitor them. I like my aeration heads because they are
> trouble free. I bubble the air through barley straw to keep algae down.
> Since you apparently don't have a water pump, you will need lots of
> marginal plants as well as the submerged oxygenator plants.

Better than airstones are to add a venturi to the pump. I found a guy
online who made these. Bought from him 3 years ago. No longer seems to
be selling or maintaining a website. You can access his web old pages by
going to:

http://web.archive.org/collections/web.html

and then putting in:

http://home.att.net/~oxymax/

Go to 2003 (or any year) archives and see if you can find his pages on
venturi aeration.

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they arent nearly as energy efficient as an air pump for air stones. I like
having the pump and aeration in separate devices so that if one quits the
other is still working. Ingrid

"Kurt" <> wrote in message
news:labolide-...
> Better than airstones are to add a venturi to the pump

In article <46043cfc$0$21941$ >,
"drsolo" <dr-> wrote:

> they arent nearly as energy efficient as an air pump for air stones. I like
> having the pump and aeration in separate devices so that if one quits the
> other is still working. Ingrid
>
Same energy as a pump, except you get both in one.
I have a backup aerator in case of failure (I used it for my "fish
motel"), but my fish would last the time it took me to replace the pump.

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adding a venturi onto the pump decreases the efficiency of the pump by a
greater factor than running a separate air pump. Ingrid


"Kurt" <> wrote in message
news:labolide-...
> In article <46043cfc$0$21941$ >,
> "drsolo" <dr-> wrote:
>
> > they arent nearly as energy efficient as an air pump for air stones. I
like
> > having the pump and aeration in separate devices so that if one quits
the
> > other is still working. Ingrid
> >
> Same energy as a pump, except you get both in one.
> I have a backup aerator in case of failure (I used it for my "fish
> motel"), but my fish would last the time it took me to replace the pump.
>
> --
> To reply by email, remove the word "space"
>

In article <46048282$0$21941$ >,
"drsolo" <dr-> wrote:

> adding a venturi onto the pump decreases the efficiency of the pump by a
> greater factor than running a separate air pump. Ingrid
>
Only because you channel some of the pump's output to the venturi. In my
experience, you don't need to divert much through the venturi to get the
right bubbles. My venturi is adjustable through a valve on top where
surface air is pulled down. I don't notice a huge difference in the
output that goes to my waterfall and the pump is still pulling the same
amount of water through the bio-filter I have attached to it.

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