In order to study the performance of surge aerator, aerobic performance test was carried out on 13 prototypes with the standard method, the results were statistically analyzed, and the water lifting performance and wave performance were tested in the culture pond. The results showed that the absolute aeration capacity of the surge aerator was similar to that of paddlewheel aerator of the same power, and the average aeration capacity QS and power efficiency ES in the standard pool test were up to the standard of SC/T6017-1999 Paddlewheel Aerator. Besides, the lifting performance of the 1.5 kW surge aerator could reach 3 006.05 m3/h, and the lifting power efficiency was 1 869.4 m3/kW·h. In theory, a 1.5 kW surge aerator could exchange the bottom water and upper water of a standard culture pond of 100 m×50 m in one hour. The surge aerator could form waves with  amplitude of 80 mm at a distance of 30 m from a fixed position. The study shows that, in actual use, the aeration efficiency of the surge aerator is better than that of the paddlewheel aerator, and the number of surge aerators with the same power used in the culture pond of the same area is less than that of the impeller aerators.