Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions Aerator Iced and Snowed Over

Commander:

Chill (pun intended).

1. You don't really need to run aeration in the Winter once the water temp gets below 50 deg F or so if the pond is open. Water holds a heck of a lot of O2 at low temps, and fish metabolism has slowed way down (hence their O2 demand is low). E.G., large mouth bass metabolism drops by 50% with every 8 deg F that the water temp drops - other species have a great metabolism drop with lower temps too;.

2. If the pond gets covered with snowy ice (so no sunlight penetrates), you start counting how long it's been. Since you have a pretty new pond, I estimate you have at least 2 weeks before you need to worry about low O2. Cody, who knows more about ponds that I ever will, says you've got longer than that. With my 22 year old pond that has been heavily fed its entire life (and is therefore full of organic material to decay and consume O2 under snowy ice cover), I go a week before worrying about having low O2 (successfully).

3. I am surprised that your aerator 6 feet down hasn't melted a hole through the ice already. But when you have counted snow cover long enough to worry, then turn on the aeration and let it A) add O2 under the ice and draw bad decomp gases off as they exit the (presumably) edges of the pond with all the excess air you're adding and B) eventually melt a hole through the ice. FWIW the shallow aeration sources in my two ponds that I use for icehole opening are at roughly 4 ft and 6 ft.

4. Excessive Winter aeration when unneeded carries the risk of super cooling the pond water to the possible detriment of warm water species (which, with no RES, you don't really have). This occurs since the warmest water in a frozen over pond is down on the bottom at 39 deg F (which is the temp at which water is the densest) is carried up to the surface by aeration where it cools to 32 deg. With your aeration at only 6 feet down, you still have a warm (well, 39 deg F) refuge in the deeper parts of the pond that your fish can use if they choose to. I doubt your constant Winter aeration actually poses much of a super cooling threat (due to 6 ft aeration placement and cool water species), but its most likely not needed and wastes electricity while putting run hours on your compressor.

So, chill.