Water Gardening: winter covers on ponds ?, 1 by DRH2

DRH2 wrote:
I've used an airstone and air pump in our watergarden for several years. The hyperlink ( http://www.emba.uvm.edu/~hemenway/WaterGarden/bubbler/Bubble... ) should open a pdf file that runs through a bit of the calculations for using electrical heaters versus light bulb versus an air pump. For air pump I use an Optima air pump (got it at Petsmart for about $36 - it was the largest one they had). It uses about 4.5 watts so I don't even notice it on the the old electric bill. As far as covers go the only caveat I'd add is: if you live in an area where you know you're going to get a lot of snow you may find that these will collapse. Either be prepared with a backup plan or be prepared to go out during heavy snows to keep the snow off the top. The jpeg below is included showing what the air stone unit will do even when you get 14+" of ice plus a foot or three of snow.