Tennesse Turfgrass – The Turf Zone interviews Bo Burns, Market Development Manager at SOLitude Lake Management
The Turf Zone: Welcome to the Turf Zone. In this episode we’re speaking with Bo Burns, Market Development Manager at SOLitude Lake Management. He specializes in research and development of new technologies using more than 30 years of industry experience along with a Masters of Environmental Management degree in Resource and Wetland Ecology from Duke University. Welcome, Bo.
Bo Burns: Good morning! It’s a pleasure to be here. 
TTZ: So we’re going to jump right in to discussing nanobubble aeration. First of all, why is aeration important in lakes and ponds? 
BB: Well, I think it’s pretty well established that aeration has proven to be a real important part to lake and pond management. There’s several really important things that it helps to do. Number one, it helps to provide a mixing of the water, so you don’t have stagnant water. And I think most of us can understand and we all can believe that every time that we can put more oxygen into the system, it provides a lot of benefits. Not only for the aquatic life, but also for some indirect benefits. For example, we like to believe that there’s beneficial bacteria that works in our behavior. And when you have a well-oxygenated waterbody, you’re promoting those beneficial bacteria to help break down a lot of the nutrients that we have in lakes and ponds. There’s a lot of benefits – not only from aesthetic reasons, but for health reasons.
TTZ: So how do your turfgrass managers who are also managing waterbodies know which aeration solution is right for their specific waterbody?
BB: That’s a great question, and I think the easiest answer to that is to utilize some of the experts that are out there. SOLitude lake management is one of many. We have a slew of market development specialists that have a lot of experience with this and our technicians are well-versed in not only installing, but in helping to justify or quantify which system is best for your situation. Every situation is a little bit different, so you really need to take a look at it and determine, based on your size, your depth of the waterbody, what that waterbody is used for, whether it’s just for irrigation, or is it just for helping filter water out – all those different reasons for evaluating can be done with the right person. So my suggestion is reaching out to qualified people to get their help and get their advice and I’m sure that they can develop the best system for your need.
TTZ: How is nanobubble aeration different from traditional submersed aeration or floating fountains? 
BB: Nanobubbles are different in the sense that most traditional aeration systems provide bubbles that are large and help provide mixing of your waterbody. Those bubbles will rise from the bottom and a lot of that will go to the top and they burst and the oxygen is actually released into the atmosphere, whereas it does provide additional aeration to your waterbody, sometimes we have small or shallow waterbodies, traditional aeration doesn’t allow for as much oxygen in the water as we really would like it to be or need it to be. So nanobubbles are produced, they’re really really tiny bubbles, they’re dense and they don’t float—they don’t go to the top, they don’t move from the bottom to the top and don’t release into the atmosphere. Nanobubbles will actually accumulate. When they’re produced, they have a negative charge to them, so they’ll attach themselves to positively charged items like organic matter or nutrients that are found in the waterbody and as those bubbles kind of form a carpet, they go along the bottom and that’s really important because the bottom is where it’s listed as anoxic, most people say that there’s no oxygen at the bottom. Most of your oxygen accumulates more in the upper levels of the waterbody, so if you can have bubbles that are produces that kind of ...