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Tried to keep snow of in strips like I usually do vs. a diffuser in shallow water and this year I'm worried. Went out to blow some snow off again today and took a D.O. reading. Just sitting there in the water below the ice the reading was below 2 ppm. \:o However I was able to get it up to 3+ ppm by swishing the sensor back and forth which is what you're supposed to do. Since I don't alway trust my meter, I did a manual test with test kit and got 4.75 ppm in a hole that had been open for about an hour. Not sure if D.O. would diffuse back into it due to the differential and the reading is a little high. Last week readings were about 1 ppm higher.

So to play it safe I cut a big hole in the ice and set my 1/2 hp aerator into it. It's not really pulling up deeper water but I'm hoping it creates a massive hole in the ice. I've got it tied to the dock so I can pull it in any time.

Anyone else up north having concerns? We've had quite a snowy winter up here and I wasn't able to remove any for at least a couple of weeks due to thin ice and slush under the snow. I also had a lot of massive blooms of filamentous algae before ice up.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/06/09 10:37 PM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Yeah, I'm worried.


"Live like you'll die tomorrow, but manage your grass like you'll live forever."
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 Originally Posted By: Theo Gallus
Yeah, I'm worried.


Theo,

Are you removing snow or running a diffuser to keep some water open?


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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I'm expecting the worst, but hoping the trout will survive.
Pond has dropped 31 inches, but the aerator is keeping a 2x10 ft. hole in the ice, running nonstop now.
There's 39 inches of snow on the ground and it was below zero a total of 18 days in january, but winter's almost over.



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Sorry to hear that guys. I'm hoping for the best for you all.


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Old pond has it's windmill aerator set in 3-4' of water for the Winter, Cecil. I'm not really worryied about O2 in it (just bad weather supercooling events like we had Feb-March last year).

I keep telling myself the new pond has a very light load of fish in it and very little accumulated organic sediment. The last look I had at the ice, before we got more snow, showed it to be pretty milky (i.e. I don't think clearing would get any light through). I'm keeping my fingers crossed; which is about all I have time for given some family health issues right now.

We have several above freezing days with rain forecast at the end of the week. It'll be lousy weather for everything else, but could be good for the ponds.

Last edited by Theo Gallus; 02/02/09 11:10 AM.

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I've done my best too but the concern is growing. Ponds froze over mid-November. Haven't had any open water since then. We've have had record amounts of snow.

I've shoveled and shoveled and been out there with the snowblower. I just came in from clearing off some more windows in the ice.

Two of the three ponds are 20-25 feet deep and only 3 years old so I'm hoping for the best. I've already lost a bunch of fish in the third pond. It is only about 7 feet deep and needs to be renovated. I only use it to toss extra fish in and it was probably over stocked so I'm not that upset about that one.

I just hope the 2 larger main ponds don't totally crash on me. Hopefully the thaw we are supposed to get this coming weekend won't be too late!!

Chuck


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Cecil, I have been monitoring D.O. amongst other things on a weekly basis this winter. Saturday (the 31st of January) the ice was 24 inches with a few inches of melted and then re-frozen snow on top. The ice is pretty much clear.

D.O. averages 10.5 ppm from 1 ft down to 13 feet. At 14 feet drops it drops to 7.6 ppm. The fish are quite active below the ice (video checking). My current assumption is that the relatively high D.O. keeps them active even though we are a long ways into this winter.


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 Originally Posted By: Dwight
Cecil, I have been monitoring D.O. amongst other things on a weekly basis this winter. Saturday (the 31st of January) the ice was 24 inches with a few inches of melted and then re-frozen snow on top. The ice is pretty much clear.

D.O. averages 10.5 ppm from 1 ft down to 13 feet. At 14 feet drops it drops to 7.6 ppm. The fish are quite active below the ice (video checking). My current assumption is that the relatively high D.O. keeps them active even though we are a long ways into this winter.


Good for you Dwight. Looks like the diffuser really pays of for you. After this winter I will be using one again along with keeping the snow off. Whenever I think I'm smart enough to control things the Good Lord pounds me into reality. LOL


Hoping the best for the rest of you. My surface aerator cut a hole in my pond about 20 by 30 feet. I'm going to move it to another part of the pond and make another one.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/06/09 10:40 PM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Chuck have you checked your larger ponds with a DO meter? I have the same problem as Cecil, we got a foot of snow when there was only an inch of ice on the pond so there was no way to clear it off, and that was two months ago. The ice is very cloudy for the first eight inches. Total ice on my pond is about 14 inches.

I now have over half the pond cleared off and I have been hoping the last few sunny dayd have been helping. My pond is only a year and a half old and no where near full capacity, so I am hoping things are ok. I caught a 7 inch bluegill the other day but fishing was slow. Gonna try again this weekend with real bait (waxworms) and if things dont pick up I will be real worried.


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I am getting phone calls and reports of lots of fish dying this winter already. It has been the most ice and snow that I can ever remember.


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I'm not too terribly worried. I've only had 6-10 inches of ice with maybe 1-2 inches of scattered snow. The fish have been active, so I think we're OK. Warm weather forecast for most of the rest of the week.

My DO readings are about 10 right under the surface and never get lower than 6 down deep.


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 Originally Posted By: Bruce Condello
I'm not too terribly worried. I've only had 6-10 inches of ice with maybe 1-2 inches of scattered snow. The fish have been active, so I think we're OK. Warm weather forecast for most of the rest of the week.

My DO readings are about 10 right under the surface and never get lower than 6 down deep.


About time you got a break Bruce! Good for you.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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 Originally Posted By: n8ly
I am getting phone calls and reports of lots of fish dying this winter already. It has been the most ice and snow that I can ever remember.


How much snow have you had on the ice? Max I've had is about 4 inches.


If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Max snow we have had at one time is 4 inches, but since early December the cycle we have had is a couple inches of snow, melt a little, freeze, snow, melt a little, freeze, snow, melt, snow, freeze, melt, freeze, snow, etc.

We would have tons more ice if it wasnt for the snow, but the ice would be much clearer!


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I went ice fishing on Friday at a pond. (not Bremer Pond) The water clarity was only about three feet, minnows very lethargic on the hook, one perch the hole day. From all this talk of DO, I am wondering if it is low in that pond, and the fish are very inactive. Usually a good place to ice fish. Ice about 20 inches thick, with not much snow on top.


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Rex - I probably should get the meter out to either confirm or deny my concerns. Even though they are deep, they are only about 2/3 and 1/3 acre each. I've got upwards of 10+ inches of ice so I'll have to break out my little 1" spade bit to get thru. I think I can get the probe down thru a small hole. If not I'll break out a mattock. No ice auger here.

Since the ponds are 3 years old I was gonna start some serious culling this year. I don't believe they are over populated but I could tell last fall the native BG had lived up to their reputation of high fecundity.

Hopefully nature hasn't done the culling for me already!!

Chuck


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 Originally Posted By: ChuckC
Rex - I probably should get the meter out to either confirm or deny my concerns. Even though they are deep, they are only about 2/3 and 1/3 acre each. I've got upwards of 10+ inches of ice so I'll have to break out my little 1" spade bit to get thru. I think I can get the probe down thru a small hole. If not I'll break out a mattock. No ice auger here.

Since the ponds are 3 years old I was gonna start some serious culling this year. I don't believe they are over populated but I could tell last fall the native BG had lived up to their reputation of high fecundity.

Hopefully nature hasn't done the culling for me already!!

Chuck


Chuck,

Make sure you move your probe back and forth as per directions or you will get a lower reading than it really is. I believe you are supposed to swish the probe back and forth 1 foot per second?

I'm cautiously optimistic. I was finally able to get the lid lifted off of a cage I have large bluegills in. I saw no morts and no fungus and they look good. All my caged fish are alive except for one perch and that may be one I netted out of the cage a month ago and put back. My logic is if the caged fish are alive, even if D.O levels got dangerously low in deeper water, the free swimming fish would have come up in the water column to higher D.O. levels. I have my fingers crossed!

I may have lucked out by the skin of my teeth on this one and caught it before I would have lost fish. Next year diffusers in all the ponds running on the shallow ends of the pond in conjunction with removal of snow!


Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/03/09 01:22 PM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Cecil,
 Quote:
Good for you Dwight. Looks like the diffuser really pays of for you.


I don't have any aeration going in the pond, just the circulator that keeps a small area around the Barge open. The open area is less then one percent of the pond surface area.

Are your efforts with the diffuser opeinng areas helping with your D.O. issues? I hope so!








Last edited by Dwight; 02/03/09 10:06 PM. Reason: Tan helping me type

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 Originally Posted By: Dwight
Cecil, I don't have any aeration going in the pond, just the circulator that keeps a small area around the Barge open. The open area is less then one percent of the pond surface area.


Same effect really don't you think? IMHO A shallow water diffuser is not a big oxygen producer but a circulator that keeps some water open during winter.

Additionally you have some good deep water in your pond vs. mine which probably helps. I get the impression your pond is not as eutrophic as mine either. I've had a lot of fish in that pond far above a normal recreation pond. At one time I had 400 largemouth up to almost 6 lbs. in this 3/4 acre pond. That's a lot of poop! Mine has a muck layer and can get a lot of Chara going up to three feet thick on the bottom. This stuff dies off every year and creates quite a bit of decomposed biomass.

I've noticed a lot of people call the diffuser systems we use aerators. To me aeration is small part of what they do, and in reality they are more of a pond mixer than anything else don't you think? And in winter set in shallow water they pretty much just keep water open.

 Originally Posted By: Dwight
Are your efforts with the diffuser opeining areas helping with your D.O. issues? I hope so!


My Kasco 1/2 hp surface aerator (the one that shoots water up vigorously with a propeller) is now worth it's weight in gold. The $800.00 price tag last summer smarted but I'm glad I got it this year. My former perch supplier said you never know when it could come in handy. He was right!







Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 02/04/09 10:36 AM.

If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.






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Cecil, do you think a bubble hose might do a better job transferring O2 than a diffuser in addition to keeping an opening in the ice.
I had read that it does, thats why I'm using one, but I'm not sure it's true.



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Given the same volume of air being putting out, smaller bubbles means more oxygen transferred into the water. It's all about surface area.

Based on my experiences in small troughs, smaller bubbles also circulate water better than the same amount of air in big bubbles.

Last edited by Theo Gallus; 02/04/09 09:55 AM.

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Thanks for the info Theo, their gonna need all the O2 they can get this winter!



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If I didn't know better, I'd be questioning the existenance of global warming.


Hey Moe, I'm trying to think but nuthin's happening!
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Be careful Jersey, that sounds like heresy.
The thought police may come after you. \:o



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