Although I do not have a pond, my cottage is in a shallow bay with no inlet and a very small outlet. The water pretty much stays there.So you could call it a pond. This is our first winter with running water from the bay. As soon as the bay froze over the water in our cottage turned dark and smelled like septic water. I did the research and found out it is caused by anearobic bacteria. I purchased a 3.7 cu ft per minute aerator, made a hole in the ice, tossed in the membrane bubbler and bingo, over night the water turned much more clear and the smell was mostly gone. This is a bay with 20 inches of mush on the bottom. This is a very shallow bay. I am considering getting other cottagers together to put a system in place to aerate the whole bay. Sorry this has taken so many words but here is my question. Electrical power is on smart meter in Ontario. From 7 pm to 7 am the power is half price. I am thinking of running the system only during those hours. If I did that, would the lack of oxigen in the off hours kill the aerobic bacteria that I am trying to cultivate to eat the sludge? Thanks in advance. I have been lurking for a while on this sight and have already found it to be very helpful.