The short answer:

Not hard.

But since that answer doesn’t seem quite sufficient, I’ll expand a bit.

Long(er, but not too long) answer:

What causes most machines to break? That’s easy—something inside the machine malfunctions. For whatever reason, one part of the machine simply ceases working. A crank stops cranking, a wheel stops spinning, or a gear stops turning. This one part, regardless of its size or placement, can put the kibosh on the entire system. Before you know it, your pond is once again covered in a gelatinous green glop, mosquitoes are breeding like rabbits, and an inhumane stench is practically visible as it rises off the surface of the water.

Here’s an example of this very problem. A fountain (not that you should have one for aeration purposes—click here if you have questions about that) usually incorporates the use of a motor, which powers a rotating impeller. Now, if practically any part of the motor or impeller decides to go on the fritz, a kink is thrown into the whole operation. Think about a motor. It is constructed of rotors, axles, magnets, rings, and a slew of other parts that can all get knocked out of place. Add the fact that these motors are surrounded by water, and the equation becomes even more dangerous.

The same is unfortunately true for surface aerators as with fountain motors. If just one of the aforementioned factors goes out of whack, the motor stops working. And so does your fountain or surface aerator. What happens next? The water looks terrible (even though it probably didn’t look that good in the first place with these products). Sadness and despair reign supreme about your pond. You are forced to either endure the pains of an unattractive, unhealthy pond, or shell out the cash for maintenance.

Or are you?

Enter the MARS Aerator. (cue triumphant music)

Following a fairly simple installation, the MARS Aerator merely rests at the base of the pond. Unlike with fountains and surface aerators, the MARS is solely constructed of polyvinyl chloride, stainless steel hardware, and diffusers. As such, there is nothing to stop functioning on the MARS itself. No cranks, wheels, gears, rotors, or axles. Air simply runs from the shore, through the hose, and to the MARS Aerator. From there, it travels out the diffusers, and into the water. This being the case, there are only two things actually moving in the surrounding area: air and water.

So, what does this all mean? It means that the MARS Aerator is much less likely to break, in large part because there is very little to actually break. When nothing breaks, maintenance all of a sudden becomes a much easier task.

The real gist of the situation is that with no moving parts the MARS Aeration unit itself should easily last for years without a problem. In order to keep things running this smoothly, it is recommended that the MARS diffusers be cleaned every two-three years. This is obviously a bit of routine maintenance that may be a hassle, but it’s much better than having to replace units or parts every couple months or so.

Also, the on-shore compressor runs constantly, day and night. It will unavoidably take on some wear and tear, but at least it isn’t surrounded by water. Fortunately, issues with the compressor are usually elementary enough that a simple part replacement will have your MARS back up and running before any of the bad guys in your pond have a chance to take hold again. For example, it is recommended that the compressor filter be changed out for a new one approximately every six months. However, if something tragic were to happen to the compressor, the MARS Aerator (the more important and expensive part) is left unscathed, anxious to get to work again once air is pumped through the hose.

But I digress…

The Bottom Line:

Due to an absence in moving parts the MARS Aerator causes very few problems, and most of the problems that might occur are a quick and easy fix. An example of one of these problems might be the on-shore compressor that pumps air through the hose and to the aerator. After 2-3 years you may find slight problems with the compressor, but repairs are simple and will hardly ever exceed $100. Just one more reason that the MARS Aerator rocks the socks of other pond aerators.

You’ve got algae on your pond—or maybe you have nasty pond odors wafting into your house and mosquitos taking over your yard—and the solution you keep running into time and time again in your research is something called aeration.

But what is aeration? What does it do for your pond? How do you aerate a pond? These are all good questions, the answers to which escape most pond owners.

In order to help the average pond owner understand aeration a little bit better, we’ve put together a crash course:

What is pond aeration?

Pond aeration is a process by which oxygen is added to water, effectively raising the level of dissolved oxygen.  This dissolved oxygen is what fish use to breathe, and what other organisms use to keep your pond clean.

Two things are crucial in this process: aeration efficiency & mixing action.

High efficiency ensures that you’re imparting the most water at the lowest energy cost (basically getting the most bang for your buck), and the mixing action make certain that this highly oxygenated water is spread throughout your entire pond.

What does aeration do for my pond?

Aeration is integral to maintaining the appearance and aquatic health of your pond. The Mixing and Aerating actions perform four key roles:

1.  Reduce algae and clarify water by providing oxygen for beneficial bacteria to breathe—when these bacteria thrive, they rapidly consume the nutrient material in your pond that would otherwise fuel algae blooms and cloudy water.

Algae is also reduced through mixing. The mixing action both creates a turbulence that disrupts the algae habitat and circulates oxygen throughout the entire water column, allowing the safe bacteria to outcompete algae for food pond-wide.

2.  Get rid of pond odors by facilitating oxygen breathing, or aerobic, bacteria growth. When bacteria break down nutrients without oxygen, they release horrible pond odors!

Aerobic bacteria actually breakdown nasty pond odors before they reach the surface, keeping your pond smelling fresh.

3.  Provide fish the ideal habitat with aeration by ensuring that they have ample oxygen throughout the pond to breathe.

Fish health is also improved by the mixing action, as this destratifies the water column and avoids pond turnover (a twice-a-year phenomenon that sometimes causes the death of all your fish!)

4.  Limit mosquito breeding by mixing up the stagnant water they thrive in. What’s more, the oxygenating abilities of good aerators expand the fish habitat, allowing them to travel into shallow water and eat up the nuisance mosquito larvae.

What types of Pond Aerators are there?

On- Surface Aerators

Fountains: Pond fountains claim to aerate by launching water into the air. While this may look nice, it is relatively poor at adding oxygen to the water and costs a huge amount of money in electricity costs.

At the same time, fountains are unable to adequately mix lower levels of the pond. Between its poor aerating ability, its inefficient operation, and sub-standard mixing, fountains are a bad aeration choice.

Surface  Aerators: Surface aerators work in a fashion similar to that of fountains, except for they don’t offer a visually appealing spray pattern. So, not only is a surface aerator a bad, inefficient aerator—it looks ugly to boot!

Subsurface Aerators

Standard Diffused Aerator: Standard diffused aerators sit at the bottom of your pond, and are powered by a compressor onshore.

They release fine (tiny) bubbles at the bottom of the pond, which is fantastic at adding oxygen to your pond, but lacking in mixing—this is because the microbubbles rise too slowly to create a sufficient mixing action.

Windmill Diffused Aerator: Windmill aeration works exactly like standard diffused aeration except for one part—it uses a windmill instead of a compressor to push air.

Not only is the performance of this unpredictable because of the inconsistency of the wind, it also produces very small quantities of air (not nearly enough to oxygenate your entire pond!).

MARS Double Bubble™ Aerators: The MARS works just like a standard diffused aerator with a compressor onshore and a fine bubble diffuser on the bottom—gaining excellent oxygen transfer.

The advantage of the MARS is in its Double Bubble™ Technology, which combines both fine bubble efficiency with a component designed specifically for superior mixing ability: the coarse bubble static tube aerator.

This patented, synergistic combination allows the MARS to Mix & Aerate your entire pond, making it the most effective and efficient aerator on the market today.

For more information on the MARS Aeration system, visit our home page and watch the video on Eco-Friendly Aeration.