Ok so I have been running one aeration station to keep the pond open for the winter and the opening had been getting much smaller with the cold weather. One night it went from 25 feet to only 8 feet across.
Question I have is we had -34 to -40C over night with 24"s of snow and the opening in the ice is now drifted over with snow. The opening in the ice is really covered with snow. Should I be worried about opening up the snow bank?
I don't think you need to worry ~ cold water holds more oxygen and everyone's metabolism is VERY slow so unless it is covered for an extended period of time you should be fine. It's a tough winter for keeping ice open!
Thanks folks for the quick reply's. This type of snow is going to flash freeze over night. I really do not think the hole will open up this snow. If in a day or so it is still closed I should open it up with a long pole then eh? This is damp snow that is drifting and will freeze to where you can walk on it and not fall through.
Even after a couple of days I wouldn't worry about it. I'd go poke the bear in a week if it hasn't opened up on its own, being VERY careful not to go swimming.
Even after a couple of days I wouldn't worry about it. I'd go poke the bear in a week if it hasn't opened up on its own, being VERY careful not to go swimming.
Yes I moved the air station over to the dock that we left in. I can reach it with a 12 foot pole. What I am creeped out about is my dog poking around down there.
I am wondering now if I had have left the two in the shallows running and not the one by the dock. Just should have let the dock freeze in and had the open water in the shallows. Next year I guess. Attached is a picture the green shows the 5 foot deep shoal in the pond. I have two air stations near shore on each side of the shoal. The two small light blue circles. The two dark blue are the deep air stations if you look close you can see the bubbles from space.
If something goes in, can it get out of the water by the dock? If not, and it could get out of the shallow water area then I'd switch. If yes to both, then I don't know if there would be a big difference.
Where it is running by the dock it is 14 feet deep and 12 feet deep right off the dock. If I was to go in I would still need to get onto the ice before the dock. I have been in water like this before and would never want to be again. It is just about impossible with out help to get up on the ice. If the dog went in she would be a goner for sure.
Just remember if you ever do go in again roll out on your back onto the ice. Lifting youself up on the ice doesn't always work well. It really does work as I did it the last time I went through the ice.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 01/07/1409:46 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
Where it is running by the dock it is 14 feet deep and 12 feet deep right off the dock. If I was to go in I would still need to get onto the ice before the dock. I have been in water like this before and would never want to be again. It is just about impossible with out help to get up on the ice. If the dog went in she would be a goner for sure.
Donno, that's why I moved mine close to shore. I about lost 2 of my dogs a few years ago because they couldn't get back up on the ice.
The diffuser(s) should be placed at 1/3 to 1/4 the total pond depth for the winter.
My airstation hasn't been able to keep the ice open for more than a day or two at a time during warmer weather this winter. I thought I needed a higher volume (linear) pump but after installing one still have the same issue.
I suspect it's because I moved the station to shallower water this year and the water being brought from the bottom is cooler than when it was placed in deeper water?
Just about every weekend I don a lifejacket and using an axe or power auger bust through the past week's developed ice. Just a small blow-hole forms after this...not sure if this is sufficient to maintain the rainbow trout I have in there or not? Past years a smaller surface boil kept a decent sized opening in the ice.
Hi Essup. Yes I am using the Vertex 2 disk diffuser station and I went from an Ecoplus 5 to a higher volume 7 about a month ago thinking I may not have sufficient boil to keep the ice open. Despite a much stonger surface boil the open water freezes up in short order. No problems with the airline freezing so far.
The Ecoplus 5 was able to keep the ice open in past winters even through extreme cold spells so I don't think it's necessarily an issue with the weather.
When I open up the ice above the diffusers a good amount of air is released...not sure if I am getting much of an oxygen exchange from this pocket of air underneath the ice? I suspect the escape of air through the small vent that naturally forms in the ice doesn't keep up with the air being released from the diffusers?
I'm not sure how to read the performance chart. How many cubic feet of air is the output at 3 psi? Did you put an airline adapter on the pump and immediately jump to 1/2" or 5/8" ID airline from the pump to the pond? Or are you running the 3/16" line to the pond?
Well ours worked its way through with out having to give it a poke. The odd thing is that there was some foam that is building up around the edge of the hole right after it broke through. The rain we had help open up the hole. 15"s of good ice on the pond and its open again. It is in 12 feet of water and only one air disk.
I was thinking that the foam could be from the dirt in the snow. I know from my hobby fish experience foam is 99% of the time protein in the water.
My aeration always has a foam ring frozen around the edge of the open water. I am only running 1( 5cfm or so )compressor this winter and feeding 1 (5 disc) air station in 10 feet of water. It seems to run well and even when it gets -35c the hole is still 10feet diameter. Last winter running both compressors and 4( 5 disc ) in -35 the holes would freeze to 1ft diameter and make big foam piles on the ice. My trout have survived through both scenarios so far.
I would give up on the life jacket program and just leave it run. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
I'm not sure how to read the performance chart. How many cubic feet of air is the output at 3 psi? Did you put an airline adapter on the pump and immediately jump to 1/2" or 5/8" ID airline from the pump to the pond? Or are you running the 3/16" line to the pond?
I immediately converted to 1/2" at the pump and run about 120' to the diffuser, just as I had done with the Ecoplus 5. The output of the 7 is 7cfm @5.1 psi, which I think is twice what the 5 put out. It's above freezing here today and no open water above the diffusers.
The diffusers are having no problem keeping water open on my larger pond but this one is set up in about 10' of water.
My aeration always has a foam ring frozen around the edge of the open water. I am only running 1( 5cfm or so )compressor this winter and feeding 1 (5 disc) air station in 10 feet of water. It seems to run well and even when it gets -35c the hole is still 10feet diameter. Last winter running both compressors and 4( 5 disc ) in -35 the holes would freeze to 1ft diameter and make big foam piles on the ice. My trout have survived through both scenarios so far.
I would give up on the life jacket program and just leave it run. Sounds like an accident waiting to happen.
Hi Blair. Do you see a difference in partial winterkill by just running 1 airstation versus 4 or do you think the trout are adept at seeking out the higher oxygen levels near the single station? I am just running 1 station on my 6 acre pond this year as an experiment.
Well ours worked its way through with out having to give it a poke. The odd thing is that there was some foam that is building up around the edge of the hole right after it broke through. The rain we had help open up the hole. 15"s of good ice on the pond and its open again. It is in 12 feet of water and only one air disk.
I was thinking that the foam could be from the dirt in the snow. I know from my hobby fish experience foam is 99% of the time protein in the water.
Cheers Don.
That's a niced size hole that formed! I see much more foam initially and then it tapers off with time.
Well ours worked its way through with out having to give it a poke. The odd thing is that there was some foam that is building up around the edge of the hole right after it broke through. The rain we had help open up the hole. 15"s of good ice on the pond and its open again. It is in 12 feet of water and only one air disk.
I was thinking that the foam could be from the dirt in the snow. I know from my hobby fish experience foam is 99% of the time protein in the water.
Cheers Don.
That's a niced size hole that formed! I see much more foam initially and then it tapers off with time.
I guess I should have worded it differently. It may have been taken that the air station was just fired up. The hole did not cut through 15"s of ice. This air station has been running 24 hours a day 7 days a week since the summer. I do have 15"s of good ice on the other end of the pond, but had the open water drift over then the drift flash froze. Very hard snow over the open water that was still moving under the snow from the air station. We did get some rain that opened up the opening that was covered by the snow. I have about an 8 foot open hole in the ice now.
The foam has disappeared after about two days of the snow being gone from over the open water.
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