turn off aerator whilst feeding?

[Neil]

Hello everyone from sunny Scotland, complete newbie here, I inherited a small when I moved into my new house just over a year ago

And over the last 2 months I finally got round to cleaning it out as it had been a stagnant mess for 6 years, anyway I put the graft in and got it cleaned out , I also inherited a bioforce uv filter, which still worked.
I bought a new pump for it which pumps it through the filter and returns to the pond via a small waterfall, put plants in and around it and finally introduced 2 small shubunkins and 2 small goldies around 4 weeks ago, last week I put a small koi and a very small ghostie in (I will donate them to my neighbour who has an huge set up when they get too big)

I decided to put a small aerator in it last night as I read the fish will benefit from it(it also looks great on) even though there is a small waterfall.
So after that long winded intro my question is ,Should I be switching the aerator off whilst feeding ,because when I drop the food in the current pushes it to the side, under plants etc. ?

 

[Nepen]

I would say yes if the food would get blown away like that. I like to watch my fish eat, that's why

 

[Lisak1]

I would say the same - the fish won't care where the food ends up (as long as it's in the water!) but it's more fun for you if the food stays where you can watch them eat.

 

[Craig58]

Yeah. but make it easy to turn on or off. Add an easily accessible outdoor switch to it or if the outlet is in a waterproof area like a shed or sprinkler box, add a clapper. Clap on, Clap off.

 

[Tula]

I turn everything off, with one switch, for feeding. I like to watch them and otherwise it gets sucked into the skimmer and pushed to the sides of the pond.

I think areators are a very good thing

 

[dieselplower]

The fish will find the food sooner or later so there is no need to turn the aerator off other than your own personal enjoyment.

 

[RobAmy]

If you turn it off like that make sure you have a check valve or the pump is higher than the water level so water does not back up into the pump. You most likely already have it like this but better safe then sorry.

 

[mtpond]

I shut my pumps off when I feed, if I don't the food gets sucked into the skimmer.

 

[Dave 54]

If your feeding pelleted food dont bother to switch anything off

Dave

 

[Neil]

Thanks so much everyone , turns out they are taking it either way, so happy days

 

[DoDad]

I would say no. Both of my ponds are aerated. With the air of food gets into my skimmers.
With the air on I toss the food to the opposite side of the pond from the skimmer. This keeps my skimmer empty of food and it all get eaten by the Koi and Wakins.