How to get 25% more bubbles from your airstones

[woodsmaneh]

Sometimes you get to the point in growing where it's hard to make more gains, but there is always ways to make things a little better.

Air stones can be made to perform better by not letting them lie on the bottom of your system because you only get air fron 3 side of the air stone. I was in the farm store and found these and than it hit me, use them on the air stones, and there you have it my eureka moment with air stones.

So I bought a box of castrator rings, they put them on new born animals and the nuts fall off, not as messy as a razor blade, and a set of pliers for them, trust me get the pliers. Total cost was under 20$ and here are some pix of the before and after. Hope this helps you all out, that will be 10 cents please.

You can see the difference it makes.

Peace

 

[Seamaiden]

Oh. My. God. BEST use of castrator rings EVAH!

Woodsman, you need your own program for all the stuff you cabbage together. That is very cool.

When I was a kid I raised pigs. No castrator rings. Straight edge razor and someone with a strong back.

 

[cannabeans]

Great Idea!!!

 

[MonsterRobot]

Wait... If those things make nuts fall off won't the ends of your airstones fall off too? Haha... Great idea!

 

[orbad]

I'll bet the correct size o-rings would work too if your in a big city and can't find the castrator rings.

 

[WalterWhiteFire]

Just use cylindrical air stones and lay them on their sides. Problem solved.

 

[GanjaAL]

LMAO... outstanding! I have not seen those since I was a kid when we lived next to a goat farm....ahahahaha.

 

[woodsmaneh]

I'll bet the correct size o-rings would work too if your in a big city and can't find the castrator rings.

Yup they would but the cost is very high compared to 500 for 10$ O rings cost way more. :)

Just use cylindrical air stones and lay them on their sides. Problem solved.

excellent idea but we are not using them, and they cost more in larger sizes so if you use flat stones for a few pennies you can increase performance.

even round stones would work better with them.

Oh. My. God. BEST use of castrator rings EVAH!

Woodsman, you need your own program for all the stuff you cabbage together. That is very cool.

When I was a kid I raised pigs. No castrator rings. Straight edge razor and someone with a strong back.

That's what we did on the farm also, I can see the cats eating the piggy nuts when I close my eyes, shocked the hell out of me first time we did it.

 

[Seamaiden]

Our cat never had a chance with the dogs. We also bred horses, so you can imagine the chaos after a foaling.

 

[Animal Chin]

Great thinking.

 

[Classic Remix]

But w only 3 sides of the stone, I don't know I think of a car AC, if you close the vents the others blow stronger, because at the end of the day it's about the pump not the stone right? So wouldn't you be having a "restricted" style air stone to make this beneficial??

Or I guess what I'm saying or thinking is, I suppose a rainbow style bubble is more efficient than making bubbles down under, if all the same air from the same pump are getting pushed out.

Or is that a dumb stoner thought

 

[midwestdensies]

I kinda get what you mean but i said fuck airstones recently and just do venturi pump for my res or open airlines. No more cleaning, purchasing new ones or worryin about biofilm since i get lazy sometimes.

 

[woodsmaneh]

But w only 3 sides of the stone, I don't know I think of a car AC, if you close the vents the others blow stronger, because at the end of the day it's about the pump not the stone right? So wouldn't you be having a "restricted" style air stone to make this beneficial??

Or I guess what I'm saying or thinking is, I suppose a rainbow style bubble is more efficient than making bubbles down under, if all the same air from the same pump are getting pushed out.

Or is that a dumb stoner thought

Yes it does blow harder but does not blow more. If that was a good way we would just drop a hose in with no air stone, life would be so much more simple.

A pump matched to the job is the first thing, little bigger is better than a little smaller. The more air stone surface area the better for producing more bubbles. There is a direct relationship between increased dissolved oxygen to the root zones and faster, bigger, healthier plants. The reason for going through this is to get 100% performance from your air stones which translates into BIGGER YIELDS and that's why we do it. The other befit is better resistance to pathogens taking hold in the root zone.

When you start out growing if your interested in learning and educate yourself after years it gets harder to make gains in the yield you produce. After 5 to 10 years you should know all the good stuff but your garden tops out. Well I never stand still and am always looking for places I can squeeze out just a little more from my garden. Most people look at some of the things we do as growers and say why bother, big deal, well it is a big deal when your plant count is limited. So my garden is all about consistent improvements, big and small. When I find things that work I share.

Peace

 

[woodsmaneh]

I kinda get what you mean but i said fuck airstones recently and just do venturi pump for my res or open airlines. No more cleaning, purchasing new ones or worryin about biofilm since i get lazy sometimes.

I tried venturi pumps and some big ones, problem was the deeper you go the less effective they become. I used 1800 gph mag drives and 1200 mags. As soon as they got down to 18" of water they stooped working, inches made a big difference in performance. I have 30 gal barrels that are 3 feet high so no way they would work plus you need one for every pod gets expensive. I'm lazy to but not when it comes to my gardens, the other thing is scale some people only have small grows so it's not a big deal to them but when your growing for patents you got to bring your A game everyday.

 

[Seamaiden]

I tried venturi pumps and some big ones, problem was the deeper you go the less effective they become. I used 1800 gph mag drives and 1200 mags. As soon as they got down to 18" of water they stooped working, inches made a big difference in performance. I have 30 gal barrels that are 3 feet high so no way they would work plus you need one for every pod gets expensive. I'm lazy to but not when it comes to my gardens, the other thing is scale some people only have small grows so it's not a big deal to them but when your growing for patents you got to bring your A game everyday.

Once you get to depths like that you have to go with an external pump with inline venturi. I've seen, used and cleaned foam fractionators that were 8' tall and about a 2.5' diameter (almost fell in one the first time) and that's how it's done. I can't remember what the public aquarium used.... it was bigger than anything I'd ever seen before in the aquarium trade, but it was an inlet for air, IIRC it came after the pump, and you know how a venturi works so there it was. A lot easier than trying to push air down through an 8' tall column of water, that's for sure.

 

[vaporedout]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41qpKQE2BSL._SY355_.jpg

this is the one i have because i thought the same thing with the other air stones, plus ive used these in my aquariums and love em. this will be my first tea brew and first try with the disc.

 

[spacebomb]

very cool idea mr w:-) ha i really never give a second thaught to that.lol .so ur into pushing the onvelope eh mr w?.great man. im of to do that to mine now.NO casrtator rings tho:-)lol ive got some lil pieces off brass n copper ill stand em on that cool.it will get all the ewc and guano of f of the very bottom of my tea brewer aswell eh:-) cos of the flow underneath?.
thanks for sharing yur tips:-)
space.

Sometimes you get to the point in growing where it's hard to make more gains, but there is always ways to make things a little better.

Air stones can be made to perform better by not letting them lie on the bottom of your system because you only get air fron 3 side of the air stone. I was in the farm store and found these and than it hit me, use them on the air stones, and there you have it my eureka moment with air stones.

So I bought a box of castrator rings, they put them on new born animals and the nuts fall off, not as messy as a razor blade, and a set of pliers for them, trust me get the pliers. Total cost was under 20$ and here are some pix of the before and after. Hope this helps you all out, that will be 10 cents please.

You can see the difference it makes.View attachment 303099View attachment 303100View attachment 303101View attachment 303102View attachment 303103View attachment 303104

Peace

 

[spacebomb]

I

Once you get to depths like that you have to go with an external pump with inline venturi. I've seen, used and cleaned foam fractionators that were 8' tall and about a 2.5' diameter (almost fell in one the first time) and that's how it's done. I can't remember what the public aquarium used.... it was bigger than anything I'd ever seen before in the aquarium trade, but it was an inlet for air, IIRC it came after the pump, and you know how a venturi works so there it was. A lot easier than trying to push air down through an 8' tall column of water, that's for sure.

have a 2,out let helia air pump + stones.biguns.4,inch Anyway lol. and my pump says.aprox !its good for a 350 litre res?.ive got it in my 16, l bucket:-).lol. and its ONLY 4,watts.u can turn a button on back to lower air flow! .i just take it right out n let the water really have it with the air.works great!gonna get a 100,l water but soon tho.iv just re-built my ,SMALL, 680,watt growroom,tent and really upgraded to qualits gear.i only have to chech em now n water,feed. no more having to open,close it at dark periods:-) the 7,in fan im using with my new ref are keeping the grow at spot on 24.? to 26. no higher.is that good i?.