Depth has to do with oxygen reserve. Think of oxygen in a pond under the ice as a money in a piggy bank. The more money in the piggy bank, due to a larger piggy bank, the longer it will take to use up the money if you withdraw a little at a time. It's the same with oxygen under the ice. The more water volume as in deep water the longer it takes to use up the oxygen over the winter.
Depth isn't really an issue if you invest in a small diaphragm pump with a short airline and diffuser in the shallow end of the pond.
Keeping snow off works when you can do it safely as sprkplug says. Unfortunately you can get a heavy snowfall over thin ice and not be able to get on the ice to get it off. Additionally you can have slush underneath it from the water coming up through cracks freeze some of it and makes an opaque ice.
I used to actually snowblow snow off my ponds. I finally realized just running a small pump and diffuser in the shallow ends was less labor intensive and cheaper than burning gas!
Another option is pumping up pond water through a hole in the ice through a sump pump to melt snow. The diaphragm pump and diffuser is still your easiest option.
Last edited by Cecil Baird1; 11/29/12 09:07 AM.
