Pond Boss Forums AERATION Systems questions 8 acre pond at 10,000' - lots of aeration ?s

Bill,

Here is part of my post from after my trip to the cabin
"I have to say this was an EXTREMELY informative trip. I actually made a shocking discovery.

For about 10 days or two weeks leading up to the trip the holes in the ice appeared to be frozen up. When we got there, there was a small hole open in the deep water above the quad diffuser. Snow that night covered it up and that hole was never to be seen again. The pump was running as normal, PSI gauge looked good and I was confused. Where was all the air going? My brother in law and I got out on the ice to measure the DO and we were at 1.5 PPM and temp was 33.6 F. Very disappointing, but I was assuming it would be bad with the lack of open water. While we were on the ice we started thinking we were seeing a "hump" in the ice. We debated back and forth for most of the day whether it was a hump or shadows playing tricks on us. The next day I got a rifle out and took a shot at it and IT "BLEW UP"!! I use "blew up" because I can't think of a better way to describe it. It did not make a sound or literally explode, but it WAS dramatic. After it happened, there were chunks of ice several feet away from the hole. There was still no open water, but all of the snow/ice was laying in the hole like broken glass and there was and obvious depression in the shape of a circle where the dome had been. Unfortunately, no video of the shot because I really didn't think anything was going to happen. Here is a pic right after the shot."

Here is the pic I mentioned


After the hole freezes closed for any amount of time, when the air kicks on next it is lifting the ice up off the water before a hole is melted open. Fairly quickly the water cannot contact the ice. This is preventing the diffusers from making holes. It is still domed over and frozen solid as of today.

The last day I was there I actually watched the dome form. The hole had frozen closed over night. When the aeration kicked on that morning I could see the water moving around under the ice. After about ten minutes I could only see the water intermittently touching the ice. After 15 minutes or so I never saw the water touch the ice again.