Stephen Henning wrote:

"Snooze" wrote:

I wrote:
I have a spring fed, 18,000 gallon, 17'x47' pond that I would like to
add a solar-powered aerator to. Googling found several.

Only 1 problem with a solar powered aerator. They don't work when the sun
goes down, which may seem like a duh! kind of response at first glance.
However consider that plants switch from photosynethsis to regular
respiration in the absense of sunlight, meaning they use oxygen instead
of create oxygen.

They actually do run in the dark. The better ones have a battery that
will keep them operating in snow, at night and with heavy clouds. They
are usually timed so they don't need to run more than 8 hours a day
anyway. They don't need full sun light to run. When the pond is cold,
the oxygen level is up and fish are down and the plants are down so it
really isn't much of a problem then. In the spring is when I seem to be
getting my anaerobic bacteria. There is enough sunlight to keep the
batteries charged up. When the plants are going gangbusters, the
anaerobic bacteria isn't much of a concern.

I wouldn't want to count on that without a pretty big battery. I have no
experience with solar aeration, but my whole home runs on solar power, with
a small wind turbine assist, and it takes a whopping load of batteries to
do the job (1500Amp-hours, for a total electrical load of about 1.5KWh
daily).

Once you get into that sort of technology, you're talking
charge-controllers, batteries and significant wiring, as well as the solar
panels. It's getting expensive...
--
derek