Azure
It is all about the Biological Oxygen Demand. That is EVERYTHING in the lake that is consuming oxygen. From the bacteria to the fish and everything in between. As soon as enough snow covers the ice and no sunlight gets in the plants start consuming oxygen. USUALLY, the shallower the lake you have, the more plants, algae, etc you have and the higher your BOD is and the sooner your fish will run out of oxygen. Every lake is different and for guys like us every Winter is different.
I will say this. Our cold water is a huge advantage!! Bill C has given me a ton of information over the last couple years and one thing he talked about is how much easier/farther colder water mixes. I was able to fully aerate 7 acres with a small fraction of the system guys originally thought I was going to need. I can't say what size system you will need as I am still learning myself. I'm just going to guess it will be less than you think you need.
Last Winter we did not have much snow cover on the lake at all and our ice got really thick. I know for a fact it was 24" the last time it was measured and it was not clear ice at all. The surface of the ice kind of looked like snow. I don't know what causes that kind of ice, but I would guess clearing the snow off of ice like that isn't going to help as much.
Last edited by wbuffetjr; 09/04/18 04:12 PM.
