Could Air Stones Be Doing More Harm Than Good?

[jcom]

I've found that 72F - 73F water temps are best (this includes using Hydroguard and Aquashield). It's just a matter of not cutting corners on your chiller. Chillers are expensive (and emit heat/best to have outside flower area, obviously), but they are crucial in RDWC. It's an investment that will pay itself back immediately. If you're running co2 burners, obviously you'll have your room temps 4 - 5F hotter (good thing for plant absorption of co2), but this causes the chiller to work harder. Case in point why it's good to have chiller outside of flower room...the drawback is that you usually have to deal with more/longer vinyl tubing for plumbing, but with the correct safeguards (i.e. hose clamps on chiller and bulkhead connections, etc), you can avoid leaks or floods. p.s. - goes w/o saying, don't put chiller in an area below your rez or you'll get siphoning effect, adding to risk of flood, system drain in the event of a power outage.

 

[FooDoo]

Just started Week 2 bloom. Not dead yet

 

[blactunda]

^^^^ no airstones?

 

[FooDoo]

No airstones

 

[PhatNuggz]

So far, I'm a believer. No stones for over a week. I did put my lp pump on a timer 3 minutes on/10 min off

Pic is of plant one week after DeFol ( a technique most can't wrap their minds around either)

 

[FooDoo]

Root shot. Don't mind the disgusting water. There's a super nasty white film that sits ontop because there's no air bubbles to mix each bucket. But like I stated, that will get fixed with a few simple modifications after this run.

Non the less it hasn't caused root rot or damaged the plant in anyway. I've set my chiller one degree higher as well. The water is now at 73 degrees. Once it goes past that it kicks on.

The roots are 2x as big without stones than with stones. Before they would sort of grow hollow in the center where the turmoil of the air stones would be but now they grow a solid center mass because there's no force driving roots apart. And even tho the water is super dirty, the roots themselves are pearly white.

 

[blactunda]

looking good so far... no air pump buzz

 

[Grower13]

I stopped using air stones and went to a fountain pump on a timer............ it was messing with my PH and it was disrupting the swing through the ph range I was looking for............. air is pumped into aquariums to move water.......... not to oxygenate it........... movement of water on surface oxygenates the water.

 

[JMcG]

Ok... first post for me here.
Great thread btw. I am still running air to each module but with out the stone. I usually put the hose off tho the side of the bucket or in the corner so the rising bubbles create more of a fluming effect than anything else. Depending on the size of the root ball during blooming stages I may move it directly under it. I also have the waterfall effect for the epi center.
I have used small submersible pumps in rezs before to roll as much DO into the solution as possible, it worked well.

 

[JMcG]

Interesting comment on the higher Rez temps too...
I saw similar results on my last run. I am sure it's been covered before, but perhaps a new thread is in order?

 

[FooDoo]

I was doing my week 3 nutrient change out and decided to snap a picture of the roots. When I looked in after putting just clear RO water in shocked me. My first thought was how are my plants not dead lol

There is so much nasty white build up. I don't know if it's bacteria or calcium or fungus but the roots themselves are still extremely white and healthy.

As are the girls.

This is actually the healthiest run I've ever had in my entire life.

 

[mojavegreen]

I stopped using air stones and went to a fountain pump on a timer............ it was messing with my PH and it was disrupting the swing through the ph range I was looking for............. air is pumped into aquariums to move water.......... not to oxygenate it........... movement of water on surface oxygenates the water.

Now there are 2 of us that realize this!
:shockedninja:

 

[JMcG]

Now there are 2 of us that realize this!
:shockedninja:

Make that 3!

 

[JMcG]

What about adding a pvc 45 degree connection to the inside of the bucket? If it is placed on the in flow side and pointed upwards ( or angled slightly) it could circulate the solution ever so lightly. Or would this defeat the under current aspect of UC?

 

[PhatNuggz]

What about adding a pvc 45 degree connection to the inside of the bucket? If it is placed on the in flow side and pointed upwards ( or angled slightly) it could circulate the solution ever so lightly. Or would this defeat the under current aspect of UC?

You could do a double elbow to create an upside-down "J", placing it high enough above the water line to splash, or if you're real create have it splash into a netpot with stones

 

[FooDoo]

What about adding a pvc 45 degree connection to the inside of the bucket? If it is placed on the in flow side and pointed upwards ( or angled slightly) it could circulate the solution ever so lightly. Or would this defeat the under current aspect of UC?

This was my first idea actually except when I looked inside the module to see how this would work I noticed the bulkheads didn't have enough thread exposed to screw any 45 degree elbows on. If I removed the locking ring and used the elbow instead, they would leak because the locking ring has the rubber grommet in it.

 

[FooDoo]

You could do a double elbow to create an upside-down "J", placing it high enough above the water line to splash, or if you're real create have it splash into a netpot with stones

This wouldn't work because there's no way to create suction outside of the water. Your idea in theory sounds nice but physically impossible to suck water up over itself to splash back down. There's literally nothing that can do this and it defies physics and gravity

 

[palm eezy]

I've tried the 45s, 90s etc and have concluded that -[|]- a piece straight across the middle, just like that, about 6" high, will stir the buckets great, and not affect the level that the pump can suck to. Some gaps around the outside or holes in the piece might be necessary. I just can't figure out how to reliably and cleanly implement it. I've experimented with cut up containers.

I'm still using lots of air. And the more the merrier (with lower nutes) so far, for me. Interested in this. FooDoo, you should check out kendog's ozone post. He didn't spend too much on it and his only real issue was off-gassing which he had a solution for.

 

[palm eezy]

One thing I didn't consider is that my systems might be moving the water a bit faster than actual brand UCs, and the cross plate probably will not work nearly as well at lower flow/velocity. I get the full flow rating out of mag drives using 1.5" return pipes. Chiller piped separately also probably makes a huge difference.

 

[PhatNuggz]

This wouldn't work because there's no way to create suction outside of the water. Your idea in theory sounds nice but physically impossible to suck water up over itself to splash back down. There's literally nothing that can do this and it defies physics and gravity

????? Obviously, you misunderstood. Low Pressure Pumps go inside the rez. The larger is used to pump nutes into the tote. The smaller to circulate the nutes is on a timer as even my 132 gph pump running 24/7 overheated the nutes