To Break or Not to Break The Ice?....

[Red Robin]

On a wildlife pond (no fish) liner approx 5' x 2'6" x 18" deep and which has Great Pond Snails, Water Beetles, Freshwater Shrimp, Damselfly nymphs and other micro beasties.

Obviously some of those creatures come to the surface for air, hence the question.

Many Thanks for any advice

[slimrbp]

Hi,

I had the same conundrum, in one of my wildlife pond handbooks it recomends making a hole to allow the water to 'breathe'.

However don't break it as this is apparently like a mini earthquake going off and could hurt the wildlife.
The technique recomended and I have been using is to heat a pan of water to boiling and then put the pan on the ice and then repeat the exercise until a pan sized hole is melted through.

Cheers,

[tom00_uk]

do nothing except brush snow off the ice are the advise from Pond Conservation | Latest news | PRESS RELEASE: Should I break the ice on my pond to protect its wildlife?

[nightshade]

I have said before I overfill the pond then after the first surface freeze make a hole (in the sunniest part) and remove an inch or two of water, this gives a double glazing effect. Maintain the hole using very hot water in one place or a narrow based pan to make a 4"-6" hole, trying to make a larger hole with a a larger pan wastes heat and effort.
At the moment the pump is running so there is free running water for the birds.

[faz]

place a tennis ball or simlar in the pond when if freezes take it out thats what i have done for years some times its a struggle to get ball out but it works

[tom00_uk]

from the link

Don’t bother to make a hole in the ice: there’s little evidence this makes any difference to the amount of oxygen in the pond. This is because oxygen diffuses so slowly into still water – about 2 millimetres a day! – so it takes over 6 months for oxygen to diffuse to the bottom of a 50 cm deep pond.

[Red Robin]

Originally Posted by tom00_uk

do nothing except brush snow off the ice are the advise from Pond Conservation | Latest news | PRESS RELEASE: Should I break the ice on my pond to protect its wildlife?

....Cheers - The advice in that link you posted was very helpful and made a lot of sense.

[slimrbp]

Originally Posted by tom00_uk

do nothing except brush snow off the ice are the advise from Pond Conservation | Latest news | PRESS RELEASE: Should I break the ice on my pond to protect its wildlife?

Thanks for that, it saves me a job in the morning

[Deb London]

One inch of ice yesterday on the LNR pond. In the oldest part of the pond (vegetated) there was a water beetle swimming under all that ice, in the sunlight, in and out of the weeds. It was lovely to watch.

[RoyW]

I always wonder why people feel that they need to break the ice at all.

Unless the intention is to give land based animals, and garden birds, access to freshwater why should there be any need? Most of the animals that live in freshwater ponds in the UK (and northern Europe) are able to survive for quite long periods during which the ponds are frozen - otherwise they would not have survived so far. Animals that can't survive the weather conditions that we experience shouldn't be here (cold weather is a factor that limits the northerly expansion of some more southerly distributed species).