Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Aerate for BOTH cold and warmer water fish?

Bill Cody post "....The thermal mixing characteristics of ice covered ponds during harsh extended winters have not been well studied and the effects are not well documented despite what has been posted on this Forum. Cold water mixing behavior is not the same as warm water mixing & circulation mainly because the density and properties of water change as temperature increases or decreases. This dramatically affects how water mixes during warm and cold periods. My experiences show the differences are dramatic. Most of the available winter mixing informational statements on this forum are just ideas and theories not proven facts. I have only collected limited unpublished data about winter aeration of ice covered ponds"

Never a truer statement than the one you posted Bill. Last winter we invested in some nice data collection tools and wow were we surprised what we were seeing.

Our neatest discovery last season came about by complete accident. While monitoring the DO in a small body of water, I thought the YSI Optical DO meter wasn't working. Overnight my readings shot up to 18ppm. How could that be? Physically impossible. Can't be. DO meter must not be working. I was pretty upset because, as you know, they are kind of expensive. The meter cheked out and runnning properly. As it turns out, when we shut off the aerator and the pond froze back over. And with very clear ice, not a huge bio-load, the DO produced from photo had no way of reaching equilibrium with the atmosphere. We actually produced a stressful situation for the fish with the creation of too much DO.