Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Diffusers

Should I run rhem 24-7 during the winter or should I cut them back some?

It depends on what the winter snow and ice cover is and how long the water water temperature is below 48F.

Someone familiar with the Winters near Lampasas could give a more definitive answer, but Bill has laid out the ground rules. If I may attempt to expand, below 48deg dissolved O2 is high and fish metabolism is low, therefore aeration is not (nearly as) warranted. But if you get dirty ice/snow cover that blocks sunlight from penetrating into the pond, plants produce no O2 and the plants and fish are both consuming it. Under these conditions you want to do SOME aeration (enough to blow a hole through the ice, not so much that you cause supercooling).

My bad - I am in Texas - very little snow or ice - typically an overall mild winter

timK Whenever the water is at or below 50F and the pond does not have lots of dead muck bottom layer I would not run the aeration. At 50F the wind can pretty well mix the pond. If you want to be on the safe side you could run the aerator in winter 1 hr per day. Plus as Theo said the water at 50F holds a lot more DO. At 50F DO consumption by bacteria, phytoplankton (nite) and other life forms is a lot slower and less per day compared to water above 65F-70F.

Thank you - good information

anyone know of a good thermostat to be able to record the temperature in my pond - I assume the temp near the bank in shallow water is way different from the temp in deeper water??

I just use an inexpensive swimming pool thermometer on a marked string so I can also get measurements at depth.

I doubt it is perfectly accurate, but for my purposes, I just need it to be "repeatable" to provide useful data.

thank you Sir for the info - I will try the pool thermometer

Amazon has a great "Boiler Thermometer" with a probe on a 33 ft wire for $16. I really like mine. It's amazing how much temperature difference there is in 2 ft of water compared to 16 ft.

Use search words on Amazon
Digital Thermometer High-Temperature Industrial Boiler Electronic Thermometers 10M Wire with Probe Temperature Sensor

question on runnig air in winter to keep hole open-how small of a pump can you go to? would a pump for say a 2000 gallon tank be enough to keep a hole in say 2 feet of water? 3 feet? Looking for next season so as not to run my full time summer pump.

The only way you are going to know for sure is to try it. I use a 1/4 hp rotary vane compressor.

Also the benefit provided will depend on the quality, type, and style of diffuser used. Not all diffusers are equal. A coarse bubble diffuser might work best for your winter open water application. Experimentation may be needed to select the best diffuser for the compressor and air volume used.

A definite possibility. The shallow water diffusers I use to blow holes through ice are a membrane diffuser (pond 1) and an old airstone (pond 2 - not used at all in warm weather). The airstone, producing large bubbles, will make a hole in much less time than the membrane diffuser.

There are also coarse bubble membrane diffusers. esshup used one this winter from Zoro.

Correct. IIRC 5" diameter diffuser. 5' below water surface. 1/4 hp Gast rotary vane pump. It opened and kept open an area that was about 50'-70' diameter and the other side of the pond had 8"-12" ice on it. I'd run it for a few days, then shut it off for a few days. If we were supposed to get snow, I'd fire it up and leave it run until the snow was over with. I didn't mind if the area froze over as long as it was clean, non-snow covered ice.