Aeration Tips For Winter Pond Care

Pond aeration, as you know is often a necessity in the hot weather of summer, but did you know it can be helpful in the winter too? It’s true, but it’s useful to know how to set it up correctly to get the best results in your pond and protect your fish. The video below will help you do that.

Simple Steps To Improve Winter Pond Aeration

Added oxygen is vital to protect fish and get the best results with aerobic bacteria, and it’s well documented that as water temperature rises above 78 degrees it simply cannot hold as much oxygen. Also when you have various water quality problems, such as algae, sometimes this can be directly attributed to low oxygen levels. If oxygen is insufficient, aerobic bacteria simply can’t work as well, or as vibrantly, and this is what actually keeps organic nutrient levels in check. As these rise, so do water quality issues.

So, pond aeration is a really good thing.

But it’s also useful in the winter time. It’s not so much that the water needs some help in oxygen supplementation…although this is never a bad thing. Where aeration is most useful is in keeping a section of the pond open from ice build up.

As ice covers the surface, gases can get trapped below it, and oxygen or fresh air is basically locked out. By keeping a hole open in the ice, you allow bad gas accumulations out, and fresh air in. And again, this is a good thing.

The Key Step Is Placement Of The Diffusers

The most important thing you can consider regarding winter aeration is the placement and operation of the diffusers that sit at the bottom of the pond. In the summer, you want all of these operating fully, and spread throughout the pond. The deeper you can place them the better. This creates maximum oxygen circulation throughout the pond and it takes away the various temperature layers that form in many ponds. The surface is usually warm, the bottom is often cold, and oxygen is very poor down deep. Bringing the entire pond into a single, consistent environment is a step in the right direction.

In winter however the reverse is true however.

During very cold weather it’s best to move a single diffuser to a shallow area of the pond. Turn off any other diffusers if you have several of them. Then send all air out through the single diffuser. This will effectively help to keep ice open in the area, but it will also allow the deeper part of the pond to remain warmer, undisturbed, and more comfortable for fish.

In small backyard ponds, some aeration kits come with a floatation device that allows the pond owner to keep the air stone raised above the bottom and near the surface. Others may not have this feature but could be adapted to use a float, or you can combine a small aerator with a pond heater and keep much of the pond comfortable for koi or goldfish.

Ideally most small ponds should be at least 3 feet deep or more to over-winter fish safely. If this is not possible it’s often best to bring them indoors and keep them in a temporary holding tank for the season, and again, a small aerator is very useful to maintaining a healthy environment there as well.

In any case, whether your pond is large or small, you can take advantage of the powerful benefits of pond aeration during the colder winter months when you set up the aeration system properly for the pond and the weather conditions.

And here’s a quick reminder about pond safety in the winter. Obviously if you intend to run an aerator to keep a spot open in the ice you want to keep safety in mind. Don’t let kids (or adults), and pets get out on the ice and near the opening as the ice will be thinner there. If a pond is used for recreational purposes like skating, it might be best to not aerate at all through the winter.

Be sure to visit our page on pond aerators to view effective systems for any size of pond.