Oxygen is essential for all living creatures including Koi and Goldfish. The use of an pond aerator helps ensure your fish will have a healthy environment. Using an aerator is best all year round.
In the summer months an aerator helps add oxygen when it is hot out. Most people think a waterfall adds enough oxygen but they provide surface break thus adding oxygen at the top of the water. An aerator is down low in your pond adding oxygen from the bottom to the top giving more benefit to your fish. Plus an air stone has tons of surface area and the more porous your air stone is the more oxygen it disburses. Those tiny bubbles are mighty!!
In the winter months an aerator helps with gas exchange along with adding oxygen. Typically in the winter you shut your pumps and waterfalls down so water is motionless and oxygen poor. Your fish go to the bottom and hibernate but they do still require some oxygen to survive. The aerator’s air stone should be placed around 6-8 inches below the top of the water.
An aerator along with a deicer work in tandem. The deicer will keep a hole in the ice and the aerator will help the gases find the hole so they escape and don’t suffocate your fish friends. An aerator will also help keep your ponds water oxygen rich so your fish stay healthy and comfortable for the long winter ahead. We have found with our 17 years of pond experience that it is best to have both a deicer and an aerator in the winter. We also put them on different electrical circuits if possible, that way we can ensure that at least one is working at all times.
Summer is ending and winter is coming. Be prepared for your finned friends so they have an uneventful winter and a happy spring.