Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Moving diffuser in winter

For those that move your diffuser in the winter, how do you do it? Do you tie a float to it so you can just grab it, pick it up and move it?

I have two diffusers. One in the deepest part of the pond, and one that I suspend under a float at the 5' deep level. That way if the pond goes up or down during the winter, it will stay at the same depth. IIRC, the winter diffuser should be 1/4 to 1/2 the max depth of the pond. I set mine for 1/3 to 1/2 the max depth.

There's a pond that the client wants to feed trout all winter long. I'm going to add two diffusers to the compressor, and have them all on a manifold. I'll shut off the 3 deep diffusers, and turn on the 2 shallow ones. It will keep the water open in front of the feeder, and he can feed the trout all winter long.

I did basically the same thing in my pond 2 years ago and it worked fine. I didn't even have to shut off the diffuser, the trout fed on the pellets with the diffuser on or off with the same intensity.

My pond is fairly shallow with a 4 foot average. If you are putting yours at 5 feet, then mine should be ok on the bottom.

Not really. The purpose of having the diffuser up off of the bottom is to allow the fish to have a warmer refuge (39 degree water) on the bottom. I put mine at 5' because that was the number that was between 1/2 and 1/3 the max depth of the pond.

With a pond that shallow, it will be difficult not to have the pond get too cold during the winter.

A pond that I monitored last winter had the deepest aerator left partially open, (by mistake) and the shallow aerator all the way open. The water temp at the bottom was 36 degrees. I was suprised that there wasn't any dead fish in the Spring. Not even the RES that were in the pond. But, the largest fish in the pond was only 7" that I know of.

So the water will be warmer under the diffuser? I thought the pond would be turning several times throughout the day and the water would be the same temperature or close to it. So if I run my diffusers during the winter it will keep the ice off but possibly make the water too cold? I guess there is a happy medium.....leave the diffuser off in the deep end and run the diffuser on the shallower end, possibly suspended off the bottom? This will keep warmer water in the deeper part of the pond and keep the ice off the other end which will allow sunlight and oxygen in.

I think the older a fish gets the more sensitive it becomes to temperature. Also I think older fish don't have as good of health immunity as they did when they were youngsters. I have never seen any scientific studies on these topics.

Mike:

Now you're getting it! I saw DO levels increase when the thick snow melted due to water coming up thru the ice, which allowed more sunlight to penetrate thru the snow cover on the pond. I think sunlight getting thru the ice to the photoplankton adds more DO to the pond during the winter than the interaction between the open water and the air.