Lol no worries. It's all a really complicated process to me. I know a bit but there are ion exchanges, chemical reactions and forces towards equilibrium. I Hava a basic understanding as to what happens and a limited understanding on how.
I can tell you though that anyone who thinks the bubbles give oxygen to the water is not accurate. O2 is a hard gas to dissolve as is and needs more dwell time than it takes them to rise to the surface don't get me started on o2 emmitiers cause they enrage me. Gas exchange is reliant on surface agitation and water colum mixing to bring less oxygenated water to the surface.
Aeration can effect PH if that's what you are hearing but Imo this is not an issue and I can explain why if you really want to know.
What specifically are you questioning? I can prob explain it better. There are many forces at play and interactions. Some of which my understanding is greater than others.
This question, like a lot, possibly most, has a lot of shady opinions. Your opinions parallel a lot of mine, so I figured I'd ask.
I'm no chemist, and don't plan on becoming one in any substantial capacity, but molecular bonds are super interesting to me. Do you believe action and only action in water can break the bond between Hydrogen and Oxygen? Leaving Oxygen free to roam the party alone? I've read this particular bond (polar) isn't terrible strong and will allow stripping of Oxygen in some situations.
What's your deal with emitters? Why do they enrage you so? If we are talking about the same thing (tank gas), they wouldn't need any surface agitation.
Do you believe in super saturation? I once read, water maxes out at about 10 PPMs in our situation, at growing temps. Do you believe PPM concentrations at 50 PPMs(or more) are possible, and is there a benefit?
I've always been skeptical of the surface action thing. It's always the dude with the waterfall bragging about how bitchen his rig is. I have put a lot of thought behind this skepticism.
You bring up dwell time being a driving factor. Can you elaborate, or possibly have an approximation of how long a bubble needs to be in water before it starts to dissolve? My deal with this is what makes the surface of a bubble different than the surface of water? I get that rain can pick up Oxygen as it falls through the air, and surface agitation can perform something similar, but I just have a hard time believing a mass of bubbles with a rather large combined surface area AND it's agitation doesn't do much.
I've always had big pumps. My last one was 80liters, the one I have now is 60. I've never had Oxygen issues in even the warmest water. With my growing in a shed in So Cal. It can get warm. One of these days I want a photometer to SEE what the hell is going on in my system... nothing is wrong, I just want to see it. Hanna makes one that just does O2 concentration, maybe I'll pick it up someday.