Jeff,

To be honest with you this is the first I've seen your post.

If you need winter aeration it depends on how much snow you get on the ice(Is Seneca County in the snowbelt?), and how long your ice lasts. Also the fertility of your pond, age of the pond, and how much weed growth you have.

For years I used to get by with just removing strips of snow. However two winters ago I got heavy show early, but the ice was so thin I could not get out on the ice to remove it. Additionally the weight of the snow caused cracks in the thin ice, water perculated up, and the subsequent slush froze to an unmanagible frozen mesh.

When I was finally able to get onto the ice and monitor the D.O., I was flabbergasted by the plummeting D.O. although it wasn't lethal yet. That year I cut a big hole in the ice and set in a surface aerator to hold me over until ice out which was only two weeks away.

Since then I run a diffuser off of a small diaphragm pump (smaller than my summer rotary vane) into just a few feet of water to keep some ice open. It gives me piece of mind as I sell fish out of the biggest pond and don't want to lose that income.

Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 03/22/14 06:46 PM.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.