Aerator location?

[Rashad]

Hi everyone, just curious if anyone thinks it matters where I put my two aerators? I currently have one near the waterfall, and then one in the middle by the entrance to the fish cave. I'm still not sure how much ice I'm going to get since it's my first winter with the pond. My instinct is it should just be around the edges as it rarely stays below freezing during the day here. Was thinking I may want one near the intake bay to keep ice away from there, but with the moving water it will probably be okay? Maybe I'm overthinking things...

 

[Mmathis]

Good question — I don’t ever freeze here, so that isn’t an issue with me, but I would love to hear input from the northerners. I usually position them either in the middle or close to a slow-moving side.

 

[brokensword]

Hi everyone, just curious if anyone thinks it matters where I put my two aerators? I currently have one near the waterfall, and then one in the middle by the entrance to the fish cave. I'm still not sure how much ice I'm going to get since it's my first winter with the pond. My instinct is it should just be around the edges as it rarely stays below freezing during the day here. Was thinking I may want one near the intake bay to keep ice away from there, but with the moving water it will probably be okay? Maybe I'm overthinking things...

put them about 1/3 the way down, NOT on the bottom. No prob near the bay and if you're using the waterfall, you don't need either. If not, it doesn't matter where as long as a hole is kept open.


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[cas]

As brokensword said, don't put the aerators on the bottom. You don't want to disturb the water at the bottom during the winter. I put mine down 12". Closer to the surface will also allow the bubbles to have more affect on the surface to help prevent ice.

 

[GBBUDD]

The other note is you don't want the aerator close to the fish cave where they hide either. while WE WANT TO KEEP AN OPENING IN THE SURFACE SO AIR EXCHANGE CAN happen " sorry for caps" we don't want to disturb the water around the fish . they will find the warmest area and hand out there . so as said you want the air along the shallows keeping an open area. The other concern is how cold it may get in your area you could be throwing -20 degree Fahrenheit at the water and that's not so great it can super chill the water. i keep my air pump in the bulked of the basement to its not quite outside but it's not sucking out the heat either.

 

[Rashad]

The other note is you don't want the aerator close to the fish cave where they hide either. while WE WANT TO KEEP AN OPENING IN THE SURFACE SO AIR EXCHANGE CAN happen " sorry for caps" we don't want to disturb the water around the fish . they will find the warmest area and hand out there . so as said you want the air along the shallows keeping an open area. The other concern is how cold it may get in your area you could be throwing -20 degree Fahrenheit at the water and that's not so great it can super chill the water. i keep my air pump in the bulked of the basement to its not quite outside but it's not sucking out the heat either.

Thanks! I’ll move it more toward the edges. We haven’t gone below 25 at night yet and the days are still in the 50s, so no worries about super chilling or anything yet. We do hang out in the 20s and below some weeks in winter but never anything super cold. Aerator is enclosed in a fake rock for a little temperature buffering.