With two
mature lakes covering roughly four acres and home to hundreds of fish, Millets
Farm Fly Fishing Club takes its water quality incredibly seriously.
So, it’s no surprise
it’s turned to Otterbine to help achieve the best water quality possible.
Having
installed an Otterbine Fractional aerator last year in one of its lakes and
seen vast improvements, the club has now opted to install a second Otterbine
aerator which is vital to keeps its waters and fish healthy. Head Squared
Aquatics chief executive Giles Head, who recommended and installed the
Otterbine aerators for the club, explains.
“In the
lakes at Millets Farm there’s a high level of anaerobic digestion, whereby
bacteria break down organic and biological waste into carbon dioxide, ammonia
and methane and this severely reduces the dissolved oxygen in the water. Plus,
the lakes were suffering from thermal stratification, which is where the
temperature changes at different depths in the lake which trout in particular
are very sensitive to. It’s therefore vital to maintain high levels of
dissolved oxygen to ensure the waters stay healthy, an even temperature
throughout and suitable for aquatic life.”
And never
has this been more evident to Giles than when one of the Otterbine aerators was
damaged by fishing wire and had to be removed.
“Within
just four days the oxygen levels dropped dramatically. Luckily for the fishing
club they were loaned a replacement motor unit by Otterbine’s distributor
Reesink Turfcare, so they could get the oxygen levels back to where they needed
to be while their aerator was being repaired. But it just goes to show how
delicate the water balance is and how quickly it can be disrupted.”
And with
the poor results the fishing club were seeing with its last aerators, Otterbine
has brought a welcome change, says Giles: “The club’s old aerators were only
resulting in dissolved oxygen levels of between four and six percent. With the
Otterbine Fractional aerators in place, the lakes are up to saturation point,
getting the full amount possible.
“That’s
why I recommend Otterbine systems,” he says. “I’ve been in the industry for a
long time and seen that for every pound spent on an aerator, you’ll get twice
as much dissolved oxygen in the water from an Otterbine than anything else.
Plus, the customer service from Otterbine and Reesink is second to none.”
With the
larger of two lakes at the club now benefitting from two Otterbine aerators,
there are plans to potentially install another two in the other lake. Although
smaller and served by a spring, and therefore not suffering as much and
requiring the same urgent attention as the larger lake, ensuring water quality
is the best it can be is very important to the club.
Eric
Evans, fishery manager at the club concludes: “After speaking to Giles about
the issues we were having, he supplied and fitted an Otterbine aerator after
only three days, and within the week dissolved oxygen levels had reached super
saturation and completely transformed the lake.
“We are
thrilled with the service from Head Squared Aquatic and Reesink Turfcare,
particularly with their loan of a replacement unit while ours was damaged, and
we thank them both for their continued support.”
