"BenignVanilla" wrote:

This will be my first winter so I am dabbling in ideas with keeping a hole
in the ice. Originally, I was going to use a bubbler but I am trying
something different and want some feedback. I have a small filter box full
of filter media and a small, tiny, little pump that sits in side of it. I
have it sitting in some shallows, and with the pump plugged in, it is just
powerful enough to splash water about 2-3 inches into the air. I am thinking
this will do plenty. Any thoughts? Should I take it out of the filter box so
if that freezes, the pump can still get water from the pond?

Water "splashed" into the air will still freeze. The bubbles from my air
pump freeze over. It doesn't stop the air from flowing, but on a cold
morning, there is a dome of frozen bubbles over the air bubbles.

KISS BV, you don't need anything more than a piece of pipe stuck into
the pond, with air bubbling through.

I've got a small, deep water, Tetra air pump (~$12) which is going to be
used for the third year. Attached with some fittings to 1/2 inch PVC
pipe, inside a bucket cover.

That and a watering can with hot tap water, on a daily or as needed
basis, to unfreeze things, and top off the pond, and add a bit of heat.

That serves me on all but the coldest days (chicago zone5), when I power
up the stock tank heater.