Grow Mediums Airing Out the Truth on Dissolved Oxygen in Hydroponics

[pop22]

Here is a link to an article that is not only an eye opener, but very informative also!

http://www.just4growers.com/stream/...truth-on-dissolved-oxygen-in-hydroponics.aspx

 

[Doulovebeef]

Thanks for showing the article, if I could find a half affordable o2 meter I'd be willing to make the switch from air stones to flooming, it would remove the sound and heat from my 80lpm air pump. Hard to make the switch when stones and pumps work so well. The only thing about the article that bothers me is that they list hardly any references to there "research" and it's easy to throw around ppm numbers with no empirical evidence to back it up. Definitely something I will be keeping in mind.

 

[pop22]

I only gave it creedence becuase the site is dedicated to hydro. It seems to make sense to me. saw some pump that stir the water on ebay for like $30 am thinking a bout trying one in my large tote res.

 

[Roark]

could you send me the link to the stir thhing? I want to invent something for 50+ gl rezs. I probably wont though.

 

[Torched]

I've heard of a lot of people using the rotating pump anther bonus is you get less evaporation from your res.

 

[cidd]

Go to your local pet store and get a wave maker for an aquarium there small and just move the water around the tank and range in price $20 -- $50

 

[pop22]

could you send me the link to the stir thhing? I want to invent something for 50+ gl rezs. I probably wont though.

Here's one for $13
http://www.ebay.com/itm/141043655489?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

 

[Grey Bear]

His last paragraph is pretty important in consideration of the article.

"In a nutshell, it is best to use the air stone and air pump combination for hydroponic methods like Deep Water Culture, and if you choose to use it in another type of hydroponic system make sure to place the air pump in an uninhabited, well-ventilated room that is not enriched with CO2 (people hanging out in an enclosed space increases the CO2 levels). Dissolved oxygen levels in systems other than DWC are best maintained with the addition of a stirring pump. If you follow these recommendations you may save your plants (and your conscience) and become a more successful gardener in the process."

For the most part DO is absorbed by H2O only as it comes into surface air, so in order to highly oxygenate your H2O, you need to increase your surface area (not practical for most hydroponic situations) or you need to move the H2O faster to the surface increasing its ability to absorb O.
In most hydroponic situations we opt for using "bubblers" of some sort as they can move quite a bit of water without heating it as most water pumps do.

An interesting article I read somewhere on this site, brought up research that very very small bubbles that collapse beneath the surface of the H2O not only release their O into the H2O but there is also a small electrostatic charge released that the researchers believe is responsible for measurable increase in yeild.