So my new pond looses a bit of water all the time. It isn’t a big deal because I have water year round that I can add to the pond if needed. Normally I’ll bring the level up 2-4 times a winter on warmer days. This brings a lot of cold, but oxygen rich water into the pond. I went to do
This this year and found out I had a broken pipe that would not allow me to back water up to the pond.

Crap! Started punching holes daily with my ice auger. Calving was coming up, so I couldn’t be there every day. I had a 12 volt air pump, about the size for a bait container. Better than nothing. I charged a 12 deep cycle battery. Rigged a cooler as a container, and gave it a try. Drilled an 8 inch hole and dropped a couple of aquarium style stones just below the ice. In a day, this is what I had:


I had to keep moving the cooler back because the bubbles kept eating the ice away. I actually saw one of my trout in the hole. I usually keep a few trout as a pond health indicator. They die first.

This is what my set up looked like.


As the ice got worse, I moved the cooler to shore and got one longer hose.



We will see what happens in the spring. I didn’t have any winter kill last year, but I had hundreds of tons more plants this year. Working on a multi year plan to manage the plant growth. It has me worried about winter kill.

Fingers crossed!!!!!

The snow we got yesterday caused the top of the ice to flood. With warm weather before the storm, the ice and slush is still there, but it won’t be for long. Some of the edges are opening up. I saw some fatheads in that open water. Not for sure, but a pretty good sign.