Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Winter aeration

Be very very careful walking toward that hole if you're going to make it bigger. Make sure you check with your spud!

Derek, just try to have your winter diffuser holes close enough to shore that if anything goes swimming that it/they can get to shallow enough water to get back out. I almost lost 2 Springer Spaniels that way. I now have the diffuser closer to shore.

I use my personal pond for testing. That way if a test fails I don't have customers that aren't happy with me.

Oh man Cecil, I recall someone on a tread here talk about weenies! I have no ideal what i would be,been here on property for 17 years and have never been on the ice not even 1 time.took more chances than most when i was younger but after many many many,not so good outcomes have become super weenie! Yes Esshup my diffuser is about 5 foot from the shore.Think i just have the air bleeding off to much have never ran it this low.

Ok I getting concerned about my pond right now. Been running the shallow water aerator (3' deep) all winter when the temp is below 35, which most of the winter has been. For most of the winter the hole keep open was about 40' by 40' all the way to the shoreline. Since last weeks snow storm and the cold since the hole has gotten smaller and smaller and now it is only 2' in diameter. Is it by chance I have cooled the water in the pond to the point where my fish are in danger? Hoping the coming warming trend helps things out.

Lassig,

I think many of us are in the same boat. We are just doing what we can and hoping for the best. I blew snow off my big pond in strips the other day. I'd like to blow it all off but it's such an undertaking I'd probably be out there all day. Just can't get myself to be out there all day, nor do I have the time.

My take is if you had that much water open and your decrease to 2 feet hasn't been that long, your D.O. shouldn't be an issue. And like Cody said here recently, it's preferable to have some superchilling vs. low D.O.

IMO our fish will tolerate super cooled water a lot better than water without DO. As the pond water gets cooler it may result in a smaller aerator opening due to the water is not as warm (39F) and the melting at the opening is not as 'intensive'. I would still run your aerator as previous. If you are not applying all the air of the compressor then divert some extra air to the diffuser and the opening will become larger. A weather warming is coming the end of this week and next week. Then the diffuser boil opening will increase in size. If you want to know the current temperature of the pond water take a small thermometer and place it in a container that has a handle. Tie a cord to it, fill it with cold water and toss in into the boil area. Let is sit submerged for several hours. Retrieve the container and read the thermometer. Report your findings here.

Agreed! You should be fine!

Thanks everyone. Bill let me see if I can find something around and take the water temp. If I can find something I will report back

Derek,

There's a fine line between being brazen and being stupid. Sounds like you're being smart to me!

OK container in the pond with thermometer. Will check it later this afternoon. Here is what the hole looks like right now. It is a little bigger than this morning

I'm beginning to wonder if winter diffusers should be constructed differently than summer diffusers?

The goal in the summer is to move as many GPM to the surface as possible. Fine bubbles accomplish that more effeciently than coarse bubbles.

In the winter, its the wurface disruption and consequent moving water (waves/ripples) that keep the ice open.

Should we be using a coarser bubble diffuser in the winter to make more of a surface distrubance, therefore keeping the open water hole larger?

I have a cheap membrane diffuser in the winter diffuser location. I pump a LOT of air into it, and the diffuesr boil looks like it's 3" or so tall. There is a lot of water movement in the hole, and I've not seen a small open area in my pond this year. Other ponds that I've seen wtih little airflow and fine bubbles, have completely iced over in the coldest weather.

Cecil thanks for the encouragement,my mom always told every body I was accedent prown, wife just thinks Im crazy! But anyway like bill suggested think I wll go back to the pond and takes some temps.have a digital temp gauge with 8' cord,of course ill do it with a long pole from the shore.

One can always drill a hole in the ice and take the water temp about 5-8ft deep where winter water temps with and without aeration are pretty uniform at 4ft to the bottom unless someone proves me wrong.

The Pondmaster pump I bought comes with what they call a diffuser. It has a big hose barb to connect large 3/4" tubing from the pump and the other end is a plastic piece with a bunch of hose barbs that regular small aquarium hose can be attached to. The manual says this device can be used inside to run multiple small hoses to different aquarium tanks, or weighted and put directly in a pond to act as a diffuser. I would think it might work for clearing ice as the holes coming out of the 16 barbs are may be 1/16" diameter (not where I can measure it handily). Another way might be to use a piece of PVC pipe and drill 12-16 1/16" holes in it. A person could check the back pressure and keep drilling holes till it suited him.

I could not find a picture of the one that came with my AP100. It had twin rows of barbs 16 total. This one has 12 in a single row but will give the idea.
cheap style diffuser Note: not promoting this place or this product. Just using the picture as an example.

Just a thought from someone who does not use a diffuser for ice (yet).

I don't know Scott but I like your idea of suspending a diffuser. I may try that next year.

Bill Went out back to the pond,fixed me up a weigted temp gauge and turned the air off the diffuser,and for about and hour with it on the bottom at 3-4 feet it only got to about (34.8F).THink ill have to go out on the dock,into deep water and drill some holes and check from the bottom up.I was measuring only 5 foot from shore. don't no if this was good or bad temp.

PS! I did pull up the first green plant life ive seen all winter

Derek's aeration "my diffuser is about 5 foot from the shore. Think i just have the air bleeding off to much have never ran it this low." You may not find a lot warmer water than 34.8. A second measurement in a little deeper water will provide better information. I suspect that the mixing is spreading out quite a distance from the diffuser. I'm learning that cold water seems to mix differently than when the water is 50F-60F+. More measurements by you and others will be informative.

Just retrieved the thermometer. Reads roughly 35 degrees.

Good sign!

It took me 25 minutes to make a hole in 15 inches of ice due to dull blades on my auger. So suffice to say I only was in the mood to make one hole.

Highest temp I could find about 100 feet from the diffuser was 34.5 F. in 9 feet of water the deepest spot in the pond. D.O. was between 12 and 13 ppm from 0 to 5 feet and between 11 and 12 ppm between 5 and 8 feet.

I blew more snow off the pond today but I think my life saver is my diffuser that is keeping water open. In fact judging by the low temps (below 39 F.) I'm thinking water is circulating from the diffuser throughout the pond evidenced by the low temps.

Do you concur Bill? Bill I actually dialed down the air about a week ago.

I'd like higher temps in the deep water but if it's a trade off I'll take the higher D.O. levels.

I hope this helps our understanding of what goes on in a hard winter with deep snow, thick ice, and the use of a diffuser.

Just got a report from an ice fisherman that in the large pond he fishes, the fish are just below the ice and concentrated near an inflow. Sounds like a winter kill is imminent there

Cecil, I'll go out on my pond tomorrow and see if I can get a temp measurement in the deepest hole. I'll post time from start to finish on the augering part too....

I used my ice spud to chip a hole through 12" of ice. After 4"-5" I hit a water layer and had to chip out the remaining hole in watery slush. It took 2.5 minutes.

From the temperature data so far, it appears diffusers, even in shallow near shore water, will mix and circulate super cooled water for long distances and into deep water of the pond basin.

I think CB1 is correct. Fish near the ice cover mid to late winter is a sign the DO is absent in the deep water. DO is lost first at the bottom and is then consumed toward the surface, thus forcing fish higher and higher toward the top to find acceptable oxygen concentrations. Without light getting through the ice the water directly below the ice soon also looses it's DO and winterkill occurs.

I'm going to dig out the vexilar and see if I can mark fish. On second thought no I'm not. I'd have to spent another 25 minutes boring a hole!

OTOH I suppose I could reopen the hole I made today with my spud!