Pond Boss Forums Thread Like Summary - 8 acre pond at 10,000' - lots of aeration ?s

Hello everyone! Great forum here!

I have looked thru about 30 pages in this aeration section, read until I am cross eyed and cannot find any specific examples that fit my situation so I am starting a new post.

We have a 6 acre lake in the mountains. Like I said it sits right at 10,000 feet. The previous owner used to stock it yearly and the winter kill was just an accepted part of life. I am not ok with that. The lake is amazing and has a ton of "feed" in it. It has what appear to be freshwater shrimp, water dogs, leeches, giant crayfish, fat head minnows and I don't know what else. When trout WERE stocked in the lake each year, they out grew the trout stocked down in neighboring lakes 2 to 1 by the end of the summers every year. Their meat turned pink twice as fast and they just seemed to THRIVE. Until winter and then every bear on the mountain was there eating the carcasses every spring.

To make a long story short, we rebuilt the entire dam this summer due to a breach in the old "dam". There are numerous water sources coming into the lake. One big seep puts out a significant amount of water in one corner, one spring flows in on one long side (same side as the seep) and other spring flows in on one end and the spillway is on the other end. Amount of water flow has never been measured and I can't even guess. The average depth of the lake before the rebuild was an estimated 4-5' and it was basically shaped like a rectangle. The deepest spot was in the corner of the seep and was 17' deep. The rest of the lake had a TON of 6'-12' area. There was a ton of weeds growing in the shallows - not sure what species. With the repaired damn, we restored the lost water level 4.5'. Now I am expecting an average depth of 8-9' and the deepest area 22-23'. I also added a second deep hole at the other corner of the lake. Should be approximately 16-17' deep once full. The max water level will not be reached until the spring runoff in 2015.
I am headed back out there for archery Elk season in September and hope to install an aerator while I am there. I REALLY like the American Eagle units even though reviews are hard to find due to their stance on being rated. Whatever. They look to be the heaviest duty ones out there and that's what I need. This lake is inaccessible, except by snow machine, for about 6-7 months per year. Electricity is about 20 miles away. In the winter all the snow drifts towards the damn. Pretty sure wind will not be a problem during the winter. During the summer there is ample wind, I believe, as well. There always seems to be ripples on the lake. I know one windmill is probably not enough to properly aerate the entire lake, but at this point one or two open spots in the ice should make a huge difference in fish survival right?

I plan on establishing Brook Trout. Then build some spawning boxes that the trout will spawn in. I do not want to have to stock it every year.

I hope I have provided enough info and haven't bored anyone to death. Here's my main questions:

1)Anyone have any reviews on the American Eagle windmills?
2)How many diffusers should I run and how deep should I place them?
3)What type of diffusers would be best for this application?
4) Any other input cause I am a total noob!

WARNING:: readers beware.. long winded post!

Just got back from a very exciting and productive trip to the mountains.

First day there I measured DO levels and saw a huge improvement over past years. I do not understand what caused the improvement, but I am happy for it. Maybe it is due to running aeration for some time now and overall things have improved??

End of Sept 2020 afternoon measurement
DO levels were
1' deep - 5.94ppm 56.6F
5' deep - 5.86ppm 55.3F
15' deep - 4.76ppm 54.5F

Oct 2nd 2021 afternoon measurement
DO levels were
1' deep - 7.50ppm 53.2F
10' deep - 7.15ppm 52.5F

In the Fall of 2020 we installed a pipe vertically in the pond and placed a vertex dual diffuser on the pond bottom next to the pipe. The pipe stood about 18" above the waterline. This pipe was an experiment to see if the pipe could prevent the ice from doming up over my diffusers which had been preventing the diffusers from keeping a hole open. I have five different vertex air station locations in the lake and only one of them had a pipe installed. The ONE air station with the pipe was the ONLY air station to keep a hole open all winter. It was also the ONLY air station to keep a hole open all winter EVER recorded in six years of monitoring this lake. My water temps in winter 2020/21 got very low, actually way too low - 32.5F.

The decision was made this year to install pipes at three of the remaining air stations (to prevent doming) and suspend the diffusers at a shallower depth to try to prevent water temps from going so low. The fourth air station, a vertex quad diffuser station in ~21' of water, got a buoy instead of a pipe. I am hoping to buoy can also disrupt the ice like the pipes do. Time will tell. Here's the setup.... I have two vertex dual diffusers stations located in ~12' of water suspended from the pipe at ~4' to 4.5'. The vertex quad diffuser station is located in 21' of water and is suspended from the buoy at 10'-11' deep. My Koenders windmill runs a single vertex diffuser that was suspended ~12" -18" below the water surface. I will say the meat of this theory comes from MNFish in Minnesota. He believes, for true Northern ponds, a guy should aerate the top layer of the water column and let the DO diffuse its way down into the lower water. DO NOT directly feed O2 to the bottom of the pond by having the diffusers sitting directly on the bottom. He believes this will prevent the muck/bacteria from sucking the DO out of the water when ice covered for months on end. (My lake is under ice for 7 to 8 months out of the year.) So far his measurements and results prove out. This also kept his water temps MUCH warmer than my water even though his Minnesota winters bring much colder temps than I ever see. He regularly deals with -20F and worse for extended amounts of time. His water temps never went below 37F. Last year my water temps hit 32.7F!!

Three days after making the change in the aeration setup there was a noticeable change in DO levels.I recorded the highest DO that has ever been recorded up there. I did not think 10.0ppm was going to be possible at 10,000' elevation.

Oct 5th 2021 afternoon measurement
DO levels were
1' deep - 10.03ppm!!! 53.8F
10' deep - 6.84ppm 51.4F
14' deep - 6.65ppm 51.1F

I was blown away by those readings. That made me think I needed to know a worst case for DO levels and measure first thing in the morning. I still have a lot of vegetation in the water so semi concerned of an over night DO crash.

Oct 6th 2021 sunrise measurement
DO levels were
1' deep - 7.49ppm 50.8F
5' deep - 7.14ppm 51.4F
10' deep - 6.71ppm 51.1F

Still WAY better than 2020!!

Here is a pic of my new setup. Like I said, this dual vertex is set ~4' to 4.5' deep. There is extra rope that allows the diffuser to be lowered down to 10' deep in the spring at ice off. I am DONE placing the diffusers right on the pond bottom. Suspending the diffusers has other multiple advantages. One, less backpressure on my pumps allows me to run for longer periods of time - I am running on 100% solar so any power savings is huge. Two, the plume is much more violent, although I AM moving less water.



Here is a couple videos of the plumes in action. I mention it in the video, but this plume is only from the Thomas 2660 1/2hp pump. Unfortunately I did not get a video of the big daddy 1 HP Gast 1550 running simultaneously with the 2660, which is how it runs the majority of the time. The plume then is down right violent.

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Did anyone wonder "what happened to the fith air station"?? If so, here's your answer..... I also built a spawning box for the brook trout and used the fifth airline to power it. Thanks to an old Pond Boss magazine article by Mark Cornwell I learned about spawning boxes for Brookies. I saw the article was available in an old magazine so I called up PB and ordered a copy. Very informative. I also got Mark C on the phone and he told me he had personally documented 80 Brook Trout using ONE 4' x 8' spawning box!! Reproduction is the last thing missing in my lake. Now, the resident trout could be successfully reproducing and my previously nasty water quality over winter was just killing the fry. I don't know. I just figured the spawning box would be good insurance so I went with it. I should have taken more pics, but I didn't. I suspended the box from chains to four pipes driven into the pond bottom. The PVC grid is drilled to allow air to percolate up through the gravel. We then boated 2,000lbs of gravel by the five gallon bucket load across the lake to fill the box. Here is my dad ready to help me launch the box. I don't think he knew what he signed up for on this trip!



Finally, I worked my azz off so hard I did not even cast a line one time in my own lake. How funny, or sick, is that!! I kind of don't even want to catch or disturb any of those fish! WTH is wrong with me?? I did, however, catch about 80 of these beauties!!! Can't wait to have 4-5 lb'ers like these in my own water! Hopefully I won't mind catching them then!!

Got a data report and pics from the cabin. Piped diffusers still have open holes. Estimated size of the holes is 20' to 30' in diameter. The quad diffuser with the buoy is closed and has been for some time. I think the buoy is officially a fail for ice dome disruption. The quad diffuser receives more air than the other two diffuser stations yet the other two stations have kept holes open and quad has been closed for months. DO came in at 1.12ppm at 1 foot deep and .80ppm at 6 foot deep which was the bottom. At first I was disappointed with this but then after discussing I realized the DO readings were taken approx 200' away from any open holes. I THINK if I have 1.12ppm of DO 200 feet away from any open aeration hole I might be doing pretty good much closer to the holes. Plus, this is MUCH better readings than we have had in past winters. If the quad had been able to keep a hole open this reading would have likely been even better so there is still much room for improvement. Water temp was still surprisingly cold at 33.2F. I was expecting a little warmer.

DO was measured basically in the middle of the two holes.

And we have open water!! ~5 weeks sooner than last year. That's gotta make fish survival a little easier. Hopefully my buddy is going up this weekend to check things out. It will be a hike in trip. Still can't get a vehicle to the cabin. The last 1/2 mile or so drive to the cabin is all North facing timber so it stays snow covered for an extra couple or three weeks depending on weather.

Well I got some PHENOMENAL news today!!! My buddies went up and the fish survived the winter again!!! They tried to fish for a little bit but there was too much wind again. Before the wind got too crazy they saw 8-10 hit the surface. Enough they were both confident to 100% confirm fish!! Don't know how many, but they are there. Feeling more confident about stocking fish this year.

Both pumps have been running simultaneous for 8 days now. DO levels are OFF the charts (for our place)! 5' deep temp was 54 degrees and 9.2 PPM!! Again, way too windy to get out on the lake in the canoe to get readings any deeper - 25-30 mph winds on the anemometer!

That is fish survival 3 years in a row!!

Couple buddies went up to our place to go fishing. They had a heck of a time. Caught a bunch of fish. Even had one Ultra Light rod snapped in half - No joke! He said the fish took off, folded the rod over and then boom! You know how fish stories go - they caught one even bigger than this but didn't have the camera. Now if I can just get them to quit holding them by the gills! This is a two year old Splake.

With Bob Lusk recently discussing LMB actually seeking out favorable water temps over better DO I have tried to pay more attention to temp this year. I would GUESS trout are even more sensitive to temps. Last year I got surface temps up to 71. This year highest surface temp I read was 65 so doing MUCH better. I had 7.5PPM DO at 1' and 7.0PPM at 12'. I am currently running the 1/2HP Thomas 2660 for 1 hour at midnight, 1 hour at 3:00am and turns on again at 5:30am to 1:30PM. Currently air temperatures are in the 50's at 5:30am so I think the night time running is helping keep water temps lower. The big 1HP pump comes on at 7:30am to 1:30pm and runs simultaneously with the 1/2HP pump. I will increase duration of both pumps next month as air temps come down.

Fish are HUGE and fight like crazy! Made 5 casts and caught 4 fish while standing in the same spot!

The water continues to do new and different things. Last year the grass blade bloom (GBB) started in early to mid August. This year the GBB showed up in late June. I have never seen the water so clear in July. If it was not for the GBB I would guess visibility would be 7-8'. Had a similar GBB/visibility situation for the first time ever last September. This year it happened in July - another first. Will be interesting to see what happens after a year at the increased level of aeration I am running nowadays.

Got one "plume pipe" installed in the plume of a dual diffuser. I had pipes at the cabin I wanted to use. those pipes turned out to be WAY too heavy duty. First pipe ended up laying horizontal on the bottom of the lake and is now considered structure. I am going to source some lighter pipe and install a second plume pipe in September. The purpose of the plume pipe is to stop the ice domes from forming over the aeration plumes during winter. 98% sure the ice domes are what have been preventing me from keeping a hole open in the ice through the last two winters. Also reoriented two other diffusers closer to natural structure protruding from the water as a test to see if the natural structures could also disrupt the domes. My remote camera will take one daily pic everyday and I will be able to monitor progress. Should be interesting.

Cool pic from the trip. Not sure why we get so many rainbows and not gonna complain about it.

Ok mister Buffet I have an idea. Now for starters I want you to know I know almost zero about aeration (keep tht in mind). Would it be beneficial to put 3 diffusers in a small triangle. No clue how close I'm talking about maybe 20 feet apart. Close enough they would help each other out keeping a huge hole open. If it a stupid idea feel free to tell me. Lol wont hurt my feelings like I said I know next to nothing about this stuff.

Edit - Now dont get me wrong I'm not suggesting you try it ar this point in the year. No reason to get crazy lol.

You get the "Freak" title too!!!

Cool pic that came in earlier this month. The lack of snow then was scary. Now after about one week of snow we are at ~89% of normal LOL.

Both sorry and happy for you, you put a boatload of sweat equity and money into that place I'm sure, it was absolutely incredibly beautiful, post card beautiful! I hope you find another place to your liking that makes you happy, I was able to find a farm just 25 minutes up the road, put a 15 acre lake on it and it is my happy place, don't want to leave, hopefully you can find one that is more enjoyable all year around!
Good luck to you and your young ones!!

Yes, congrats. The best to you in your search for another happy place, somewhere you can put down roots.
Maybe you'll find it at a moderate elevation this time, a place you can enjoy year 'round.
In Colorado the elevation band between say, 5500' and 7500' above sea level lets us have a "cool water" pond where both cold water trout and warm water sunfish and bass can live.
We'll be watching for your next thread. Thanks for all your post in this thread; your experiments, reasoning, discussions with all of us have been valued and enjoyed.

Thanks fellas! It has definitely been a fun process. I have appreciated all of y'alls input and interest. I'm not sure where I will wind up next, BUT I have picked up a Snocat and I do have considerable winter aeration experience under my belt now so a BIG part of me is hoping for another place in the mountains with some extreme conditions!! I don't want all my education to go to waste! Lol

Thanks for taking the time to update us! I apologize for having to be the one to push you to update us but I really have enjoyed and was many time inspired by your posts. So many beautiful pictures and so much experience is captured in your posts. I believe you will take this knowledge and rebuild and propel the technology.

I remember once how it struck me that with your efforts a new ecosystem was formed in a high altitude lake which never existed before. Few have been part of shaping the cycle of nature in a positive way.

Please accept our gratitude for all the time you took documenting and sharing pictures! Thanks

Yes, beautiful green tinge there, lets think positive, with open holes most of the winter you have to have some hardy splake and scuds survive right? When is your buddy able to get us pictures? Would love to see if the crayfish made it too...

esshup, that theory is spot on. We've had plenty of research done down here, as well as anecdotal evidence, that much of our soil is deposited material from Arizona and New Mexico (the Land of Enchantment). We refer to this loess as "grains of enchantment". Over many years it has accumulated 6' deep in places.

After a Spring windstorm, the high country snow has a decided reddish cast to it. We're seeing more and more of that as the dry country to the south loses its moisture earlier in the Spring, and the windstorms increase in frequency.

Think about all the dust, smoke particles, etc. that get caught up in the snow over the course of the winter. When it melts, the dust/dirt gets more concentrated (that's my theory).

I like your thinking on the additional pump to move more water this summer. Going in to winter with higher dissolved oxygen in the pond may help.

I worked up above 9000' feet today. Snow is nearly gone-only small piles on the north side of some buildings and in drifts alongside the roads.

We're expecting a couple of 80+ degree days this week down here at 6500'. Hopefully your pond will see 60s or even 70. It felt hot in the sun today at 9000+.

This thread has always intrigued me and I always look forward to reading the input from the experts. Hopefully they will chime in and critique my ramblings below.

I have found the following web site informative, and I reference it occasionally to brush up on the ins and outs of dissolved oxygen:

https://www.fondriest.com/environmental-measurements/parameters/water-quality/dissolved-oxygen/

Can anyone comment on the possibility that it is OK if there is not open water exposed to the atmosphere on this lake? In other words, let’s assume that the percent O2 that is entering the water column via the diffuser is 21%, and that relatively little oxygen gets absorbed as it rises. If the air from the diffusers gets trapped under the ice, and spreads between the water/ice interface, won’t there still be diffusion of O2 into the water? Eventually, I would think, the air would make its way to the edges or fractures in the ice and escape, but if the diffusers continue to run, the air tracking along this ice/water interface should be at 21% O2 and diffusion into the lake water would occur. If this was happening across a surface area even larger than a hole in the ice (created by a diffuser) it would not be inconceivable that there is even greater surface area of air/water interface in this scenario compared to one with a smallish hole in the ice. One can even take it further. Let’s say the weight of the ice on that trapped air increases the partial pressure enough that there is even greater diffusion of O2 across the water surface (see link above). If that occurs, then it might, paradoxically, be a detriment to have a hole in the ice. Thoughts?

That's awesome! Might be some lunkers lurking 🤔

TREMENDOUS news!! So happy and can't wait to see the pictures of the fish and critters in the shallows!

Quite the fish there, wbuffetjr! 2 years old? They do have lots of natural foods, don't they! Those scuds, although small, are packed with nutrients, it seems.
I agree, get your buddies to hold the fish with two hands and sideways to the camera so we can see their beauty. Splake and tigers are the next best thing to brookies, aren't they?

Unfortunately, I only took one fish pic the whole time I was there. Biggest fish I've ever caught in the lake, but the pic doesn't give any perspective. I was in too big of a hurry to get them back in the water.

3 feet of ice? I guess that is life on an alpine lake? Your photos are always the best, no matter the season. I have just the opposite issue. It can be -20 for three straight days but a week later the springs open up holes on the ice. Hope those trout make it again this year.

The only thing missing is a big Bull Elk in the foreground. LOL

BIG holes so far! Quad hole goes all the way to shore. That should disrupt any dome I am thinking. Hard to see the single hole to the far right in the shadows.

Bottom of the first inning though.

Very interesting read. Just finished the entire thread at Jpsdad suggestion. My 1 acre pond should be finished by next week and filled by spring thaw if not earlier. I'll being using some of your experiences in aerating through our southern Maine winters. Thanks for the thread.

I'm rooting for the quad hole btw.

Annnd another update:

More snow has fallen. Neighbor said we have 3' on the driveway. Not so much on the lake as wind usually keeps it blown off. More snow inbound.

Quad hole by shore and fallen trees is open, but it looks a little slushy which makes me think it is struggling some.

Single hole by the standing dead tree is open, but also might be slushy.

Koenders hole is open, but has gotten smaller.

Close dual is basically closed. This is the only diffuser with no type of obstruction to deter ice from doming up.

The far dual with the pipe is open and getting bigger everyday!! It is the darkest color which means open water for sure.

Hopefully some DO data coming soon.

Scott

I got to admit, I'd love to hear your theory now instead of after the results come in!!

I have said this before, but I will say it again. I will 99.9% guarantee the water is basically homogenous. It has been over the past 2-3 winters when we were pumping far less air so I've got to imagine this year the water will be even more fully mixed. In past years we had less than half a degree of difference in temp from top to bottom. I believe I am achieving this in winter due to cold waters ability to move easier and farther than warm water. IIRC Bill Cody has stated that in winter he has documented a diffuser moving water 200' away due to cold water moving easier than warm water. Jeff in MN has a Youtube video of GoPro footage filmed under the ice of a single diffuser moving water even further away than that.

I just do not see how the pipe is not a homerun at this point. There's no question DO will improve with a hole open and there seems to be no question that a pipe in the plume either causes the hole to reopen MUCH faster OR keeps a hole open that would otherwise be iced over solid. That HAS to be a win for DO levels and water quality.

I am starting to believe plume intensity matters much less than I thought, at least in my setting. If plume intensity mattered I do not see how the koenders could currently have a hole open and the close dual is frozen over solid. The koenders has about the weakest plume you can imagine and the close dual has a downright ferocious plume. What is happening right now makes no sense to me if plume intensity actually matters. I am also not convinced the coarser bubbles would help my ice doming situation. If the ice domes up and is no longer touching the surface of the water how would coarser bubbles help at all? That is why I am sticking with the vertex diffusers. The pipe opens the hole and then the vertex fine bubbles moves more water to the surface for gas exchange than the coarse bubbles would.

Honestly I just don't think we can compare systems in your area to these true "northern" systems. You guys might get an inch or two or three, right? I am getting three feet of ice!!! IMHO, Jeff in MN is the closest comparison to what I deal with. He gets MUCH colder temps than I get, same amount of ice, less snow than I get and then I have altitude always working against me. I think the amount of ice we get, the rate at which the ice can form once aeration turns off, how low the water temps get, how long our water is under ice, etc are game changers for us and require solutions that you guys never have to worry about. I think there is a reason you have never had to deal with the ice doming up, yet Jeff and I both have dealt with it every single year. Jeff has disproven a LOT of winter aeration stuff that gets regularly posted and reposted here on PB, but he won't post any of his findings because he just doesn't care to argue it with folks. For instance, he now runs his aeration 24/7 all through the winter. He "super chills" his entire pond down to 33 degrees or less. In the spring at ice off his LMB are coming out fat, happy and healthy with impressive growth over the LONG winter under thick ice. That isn't supposed to be possible, right? Yet it's happening.

Bill Cody has said this quite a while back and I agree more now than ever. I think we have a LONG way to go to fully understand aeration under the ice, especially thick ice.

Weather has been so rough up there the camera has not been able to consistently send images. It is going several days in a row without sending pics. We got somewhere around a combined amount of 2 feet of snow over the last couple weeks. Buddies went up on snowmobiles and estimated 4' to 5' of snow on the ground with even more in the timber. No idea how much snow is on top of the ice. Here is what I do know.... The pipe hole is still open. All other holes are long gone. At this point I am claiming victory. We are almost into March, have a ton of snow on the ground and the pipe is still killing it. I have NEVER in the history of aerating this water had a hole open this long. IMO the pipe 100% solves the ice doming issue.

Tentative plan moving forward. I am going to keep my diffusers in deep water, but I am going to suspend them under the surface of the water some amount like MNFish is doing. Currently thinking maybe 4'-ish. Hoping this can keep my water temps a little bit higher and therefore keep bigger holes open. Diffusers suspended in shallow water will also reduce the PSI on the system, increase the amount of CFM produced and lower the pumps power consumption therefore allowing longer run times on the solar system.

I will also suspend a single diffuser below the surface with NO PIPE to see how it fares. In the name of science. Lol

ALSO - another huge benefit to suspending the diffusers. We think by moving diffusers off the bottom we can significantly reduce the O2 consumption by the bacteria on the bottom of the pond. If we stop circulating the water all the way to the pond bottom we should also stop feeding 02 to the bacteria in the muck working on decomposition. We think this will significantly reduce the BOD in my water. Only time will tell. Unfortunately there are basically one year gaps between starting my experiments and seeing the results. THAT is hard to deal with.

I count this year as a huge win. We finally identified the correct problem to solve - Ice doming up - and solved it. My water also seems to be in the best shape it has ever been in at this point in the winter. Fish should survive no question. Will 100% survive? No way for me to know.

I thought this was a very interesting comparison of the last few years. Clearly the setup this year has been MUCH more effective than in the past. The pipe hole stayed open, although small, all winter long minus three to five days it appeared semi closed up. All the other holes opened up about a month sooner than in the past. Trying to get my buddy up soon to get a DO reading. I am hoping that produces improved results as well. Pics are from either the same day each year or one day off.

04.23.2021


04.22.2020


04.23.2019


04.23.2018

W-B-JR,
I'm with you that the embed youtube feature seems to have quit working. I had one person offer to look into it but it doesn't appear an answer was found.

Moderators, can someone please restore the function of the embed video button and if it is working, give us the secret as to how to embed youtube videos?

BUMP

Can moderators help fix youtube embed or if they can't can they report to forum software manager to ask for bug fix?

I asked our resident techie, hopefully he sees the question.

This has been an awesome story. It really gives a person a lot of things to think about along the lines of pond development, and i must commend your determination. You have over came a lot of obstacles and keep looking for ways to improve your pond. I feel like only one thing is missing you have mentioned that you go out there in fall for elk season, but we have never seen any pictures of elk. Have you ever had any luck?

Thank you thank you for the post, the beautiful pictures and the update. Reading your updates is like getting an update from a mars rover complete with pictures. You are in uncharted territory and producing great pictures and results.

A few questions - how does the dual aerators stay fixed in place when hanging by ropes from the pole? Doesn't the pressure pushing upwards make them flop all over under the water? Great idea to suspend with extra rope so you can adjust depth

How is the population of small critters? scuds, salamanders etc? Did crayfish survive this season through the winter?

I don't see your grass blade algae, did you successfully pump it all out?

Finally, maybe a long shot but maybe if the buoy was painted black or wrapped in black duct tape it would help keep a hole open. It seems even though your pipes are not black they provide enough heat to keep holes open. Is that ground heat travelling up the pipe from the soil beneath or do you think solar heat is trapped in the metal? If so then painting pipes black or wrapping in black electrical or duct tape might help. Could even consider wrapping the top few feet of the pipe with the black pipe foam pipe wrap used to insulate copper hot water lines in your basement.

I agree with everyone else, you write so descriptively well, this should be a blog. I really enjoy your, Mile High Musings.If I was on FaceSpace, I would give you two thumbs up.

I agree with canyon on more heat retention color scheme.

Also, do you run the aerators at night when air temps are below freezing?

I also enjoy reading this thread, you have definitely got a ton of time, effort, and possibly a good amount of money in this project. I can only imagine.
As for the temps, I had pictured much colder temps then an average of +10 for lows, thats not too bad, seems I read somewhere that you expect about 6 to 8 months of ice cover, probably just hangs on longer due to the elevation, that's definitely a sweet place and I'll bet its hard to leave when it comes time to go, so much to do, so little time.
That's a beautiful Brookie btw, a person would never get tired of catching those! Kudos!

Nice work !!! I agree - often there is a very fine line between survival and death. Often what causes fish to succumb is a combination of prolonged cold , stress (low DO) and starvation. The longer - front end and back end of the calendar you can maintain good fish condition the less likely you will lose fish.

May I suggest a Pond Boss article. I do think we can find a scientist/engineer who could help with the question of what is going on as to DO moving deep.

That last pic looks like a Christmas card !

There's a couple quotes from Mark Twain that I would reference here, but I won't.

On with the regular programming.

We went quite a while with very little snow. Then a LOT of snow came in pretty short order. The power to the pumps cut off three times due to snow on panels and the low voltage disconnect. One stretch the power was cut off for three days. Based on past results, that is a HUGE test and the setup passed with flying colors. No domes formed and holes opened back up immediately. The holes also continued to grow each day until power cut off again. We will see what happens if I get a 3'-4' dump of snow at one time, but so far I am extremely happy!

The results continue to prove out. MNFish was exactly right. Suspended the diffusers over deep water is the answer. We initially went 4' deep. Next year I think I will move the diffusers to 3' deep. The quad results are very interesting to me. It is suspended 10' deep over 21'-22' of water. I always expect the quad to make the biggest hole and it always disappoints. I am assuming there are some reasons for that. Obviously deeper is not better when trying to de ice. This year also has some unique variables that do not make it apples to apples. One, because the quad is suspended so far off the bottom that makes a huge P-trap in the line that fills with condensation. It takes a good amount of run time before the PSI guage levels off to it's steady state pressure. It always starts off about 2 psi higher while that condensation is being blown out. Not sure of a way to solve that issue when working in 20'+ water. Two, I am only running the 1HP pump for 5 hours per day. The only time the quad diffuser pumps air is when the big pump is running. I am running the 1/2 HP pump 13 hours per day. Only the two duals pump air when the 1/2 HP pump is running. This definitely gives some credit to the "less horsepower, increased duration" train of thought. Of course duration is not an issue with 120V power. You guys have it easy. 120V aeration compared to intermittent solar aeration is like long range hunting with a high powered rife compared to traditional archery hunting with stone points. Then throw in 4'-5' of snow and 3' of ice. With all this in mind, the next round of upgrades to the solar system will include a solution for me to be able to run at least a 1/2HP pump 24/7 through the winter.

The pipes are a home run. Actually a grand slam and the windmill is proof of that. In the past the windmill has almost always been the first hole to disappear - even though it was close to shore in 5' of water. Why is that? Doming!! This year the windmill hole hasn't disappeared once!! Those results are in spite of the fact that this year has been a terrible year for wind up there. The wind data is no where even close to the last three years. I plan on upgrading the windmill compressor to the new OWS windmill compressor than can produce 4.5 CFM. That combined with the existing pipe and I expect the windmill to significantly contribute next winter.

On to pics for comparison.....

Yesterdays pic 12.17.2021. Holes look great. Windmill is small, but it is surviving! That is a huge improvement. The quad is battling back from being frozen over. Life is easy for the two duals. Holes aren't huge, but they will continue to grow until the next storm. The holes are also bigger than they appear in the pic because they are far from the camera. The far dual hole is ~300 yards away from the camera.


Last year 12.16.2020. Quad was struggling - struggling much worse than it is this year though. Close dual was domed over (donut pattern) already and not the first time it had done that. Small single hole was open but tiny. Windmill non existent. 2021 kills 2020.


Two years ago. 12.17.2019. Not sure much needs to be said. No holes anywhere. Windmill non existent. 2021 absolutely destroys 2019.


Three years ago. 12.18.2018. two diffusers running in the deep water. they are fighting to keep holes open. We were running the small pump 12-14 hours per day IIRC. Back when we were thinking duration. When we get further into the year you will see these eventually domed over with the infamous donut as proof.

Here is the winter kill thread. I did have more fish survive than I originally thought, so that has been nice.

I think Brian and I are talking about the same new batteries maybe.

Hey, it's basically summer. Where is your update on the monster trout that survived?

Hey Canyon.

Good news and bad news.

Bad news is I went through an extremely contentious divorce and the ex got the cabin. The divorce lasted 18 months and right up until the end, Feb 2022, I thought I was getting the cabin. It More bad news is that the lake project is certainly dead. Obviously no one cared about it like I did, but on top of that no one else understands the system in any way. That part sucks. It was my favorite place on Earth. So I guess this is officially the end of this thread. Sorry y'all!

Good news is my life and my kids lives have never been better - so, please, no apologies!! Should be congratulations only. Got full custody of both my kids and we WILL find another cabin with a lake!! This time there won't be so much trial and error. I will know exactly what needs to be done!

Congrats!! Hopefully the new place has grid power!

"Hey, It's basically summer."
Now THAT is funny!

Even our wildland ponds around here at 8000' are getting ice along the edges each morning. I can only imagine how cold it is up at 10K'. Our rivers are just now starting to show color as the high elevation snow starts to melt. I'm bundling up with long johns, multiple layers of fleece, FITS socks, gloves too thick to fit into the trigger guard of my shotgun as I head out for another morning of hoping the gobblers will thaw out. BRRRR!

Most of our Forest Service roads are still gated, as the snow and mud is deep enough to mire any 4 wheel drive rig that attempts to pass. In fact, some ignorant greenhorns drove around the barriers on a gated major road recently in their newly acquired 4 Runner, ground their way into trouble for themselves, and had to be rescued. Hopefully their fines are used to help pay for the damage they've caused.

DUH

BUMP

Please a summer time update? pictures of the trout? scuds? any crayfish?

I'm curious if your wooden trout spawning structures were successful?

What is your O2 and other water quality parameters looking like going into winter?

Did you say you updated your solar setup this summer?

You probably will see hard water in a week or two already?

Congratulations on the future!