Dalton Lake is a 6+ acre lake located in Queensland that was suffering from a host of water quality issues (outlined below). The lake is in a semi-industrial area, surrounded by residential homes, commercial estate and heavily used motorways. Leon Rowlands from Switchback Consulting was contracted to improve the water quality. He got in contact with us for advice on an appropriate aerator for the lake.
Water samples taken from various locations showed Dalton Lake was suffering from a multitude of water issues, including odour, algae, low oxygen, overabundance of nutrients etc.
The main cause of these issues was stratification of the waterbody with the bottom waters and top waters rarely mixing. This caused low dissolved oxygen and an overabundance of nutrients, particularly in the bottom waters. Odours and algal blooms were also a common occurrence, particularly following turnover events, i.e. when the stratified layers were mixed or flipped, often due to severe weather.
In order to turn things around, the water needed to be destratified slowly by increasing dissolved oxygen levels throughout the water column. This required a key focus on bottom waters that had a lot less oxygen, and a lot higher nutrient levels, than the top waters.
We supplied a Vertex Large Lake Aerator system with 5 x quad disc air stations, and with the help of local contractors, our team installed the system.
Water samples were taken from two different locations in April 2023, prior to the aerator being installed, and again in July 2023, after the aerator had been running for 3 months. At both locations, bottom water and surface water samples were taken and sent to a lab for testing.
[Below] are the nutrient level results for bottom water samples taken 3 months after the Vertex aerator was installed.
Nutrient levels dropped enormously after 3 months, particularly in the bottom layer, because the water was more healthily mixed and oxygenated by the aerator.
Dissolved oxygen and temperature was also greatly increased across the full water column, bringing the bottom waters more in line with the surface waters. This eliminated stratification and the threat of turnover events, which can cause mass fish kills.
