Aerated compost tea, 5gal: What air stone do you use?

Perception

Perception

Well-Known Member
Getting ready to start making some actively aerated compost tea for my indoor cannabis, and outdoor veggie garden. I'll be brewing in a 5gal bucket. Looks like the EcoPlus Commercial Air Pump , 45LPM (1.58cfm) will supply all the air I need and then some ( https://amzn.com/B002JLJC0W ), but I'm wondering what you all are using for bubble makers?

I could buy a couple medium/large airstones, but I've seen pictures of bubble units made to fit in the bottom of 5gal buckets. Can anyone provide recommendations on what they are using for a bubble source?

Alternatively, I'm considering just dropping the 6-nipple rail that comes with the pump right in to the bottom of the bucket. Thoughts? Recommendations?
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
I've used regular aquarium airstones but they get clogged easily. The best I've found so far are from red frog compost. I think I paid like $14 shipped from Amazon. They don't clog and are easy to clean; made from recycled tires. They push a lot of bubbles even with a small-ish pump.
 
Perception

Perception

Well-Known Member
Awesome! Thanks so much. I looked at their site - looks like those bubble devices are made out of soaker hose possibly. I wonder if soaker hoses are made from recycled tires, haha.
 
Richard Drysift

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Yeah when I got mine I thought it was broken but it doesn't come pre-assembled. Smells like old tires & surely does looks like soaker hose. I like that it's weighted with washers; stays in place. Probably would be very good to use in a DWC...but this is the organic section how dare I utter such blasphemies lol
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
Perception said:
Getting ready to start making some actively aerated compost tea for my indoor cannabis, and outdoor veggie garden. I'll be brewing in a 5gal bucket. Looks like the EcoPlus Commercial Air Pump , 45LPM (1.58cfm) will supply all the air I need and then some ( https://amzn.com/B002JLJC0W ), but I'm wondering what you all are using for bubble makers?

I could buy a couple medium/large airstones, but I've seen pictures of bubble units made to fit in the bottom of 5gal buckets. Can anyone provide recommendations on what they are using for a bubble source?

Alternatively, I'm considering just dropping the 6-nipple rail that comes with the pump right in to the bottom of the bucket. Thoughts? Recommendations?
Click to expand...
ditch the brass nipple that is directly off the pump, all the way to the left in this pic.
brass nipple.jpg

it restricts air-flow, and go with a thicker hose matching the diameter before theta nipple, then just get a solid diffuser instead of an airstone.
remember its NOT the bubbles that are aerating it, sure it does a lil, but it's the churning of the water at the surface mixing with ambient oxygen, THAT is what aerates the water, so air bubbles aren't that crucial, water movement is, complete water movement.
here is an example, of a DIY (not mine)

images (2).jpg
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
Perception said:
Getting ready to start making some actively aerated compost tea for my indoor cannabis, and outdoor veggie garden. I'll be brewing in a 5gal bucket. Looks like the EcoPlus Commercial Air Pump , 45LPM (1.58cfm) will supply all the air I need and then some ( https://amzn.com/B002JLJC0W ), but I'm wondering what you all are using for bubble makers?

I could buy a couple medium/large airstones, but I've seen pictures of bubble units made to fit in the bottom of 5gal buckets. Can anyone provide recommendations on what they are using for a bubble source?

Alternatively, I'm considering just dropping the 6-nipple rail that comes with the pump right in to the bottom of the bucket. Thoughts? Recommendations?
Click to expand...
ah, here is one, real similar to mine.
bbubler.jpg
 
Perception

Perception

Well-Known Member
I like it. DIY PVC tubing with holes. Could do a lot with that concept. That's an interesting idea too... running a bubble tube directly in to the tea bag.
 
H

High Tide

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
ditch the brass nipple that is directly off the pump, all the way to the left in this pic.
View attachment 3742884

it restricts air-flow, and go with a thicker hose matching the diameter before theta nipple, then just get a solid diffuser instead of an airstone.
remember its NOT the bubbles that are aerating it, sure it does a lil, but it's the churning of the water at the surface mixing with ambient oxygen, THAT is what aerates the water, so air bubbles aren't that crucial, water movement is, complete water movement.
here is an example, of a DIY (not mine)

View attachment 3742881
Click to expand...
thats some good shit, man
 
Perception

Perception

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
remember its NOT the bubbles that are aerating it, sure it does a lil, but it's the churning of the water at the surface mixing with ambient oxygen, THAT is what aerates the water, so air bubbles aren't that crucial, water movement is, complete water movement.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I got in to a debate with the kid at my local grow shop yesterday. He wanted me to buy a MUCH smaller aquarium pump with an air stone, and I kept trying to explain to him that I wanted something close to a rolling boil. I think this pump will do the trick!

I'm going to try that device from Redfrog Compost, and depending on how well it works or doesn't, I'll decide if I want to build my own. Thanks!
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
Perception said:
Yeah, I got in to a debate with the kid at my local grow shop yesterday. He wanted me to buy a MUCH smaller aquarium pump with an air stone, and I kept trying to explain to him that I wanted something close to a rolling boil. I think this pump will do the trick!

I'm going to try that device from Redfrog Compost, and depending on how well it works or doesn't, I'll decide if I want to build my own. Thanks!
Click to expand...
yea get the ecoplus models man, those are relatively cool to the touch even after a day of brewing, the saller ones have to work harder, and typically the diaphragm is much lesser quality, you want the ecoplus heavyduty one.
I think I payed like less than 75 bucks for mine, I wanna say it was the ecoplus 4?
but i'm not sure on that.
 
growerNshower

growerNshower

Well-Known Member
greasemonkeymann said:
ditch the brass nipple that is directly off the pump, all the way to the left in this pic.
View attachment 3742884

it restricts air-flow, and go with a thicker hose matching the diameter before theta nipple, then just get a solid diffuser instead of an airstone.
remember its NOT the bubbles that are aerating it, sure it does a lil, but it's the churning of the water at the surface mixing with ambient oxygen, THAT is what aerates the water, so air bubbles aren't that crucial, water movement is, complete water movement.
here is an example, of a DIY (not mine)

View attachment 3742881
Click to expand...
Hey greasemonkeymann, I'm wondering why the bubbling at the surface has a greater contribution to aeration than microbubbles injected in the bottom of the bucket? Intuitively, I can't wrap my mind around that.

I've cultured bacteria (E. coli) in erlenmyer flasks at my lab for over a decade and we use a shaker to both mix the bacteria (keeps them from clumping) and to aerate. I've never used an airstone or injected air bubbles using other methods simply because of sanitation issues and to prevent cross-contamination of samples. It seems intuitive to me that we could have also injected microbubbles with an airstone or something and achieved AT LEAST the same efficiency of aeration.

Any help in understanding this concept would be greatly appreciated, and any references to peer-reviewed literature would be a huge bonus.

Thanks in advance!
 
RandomHero8913

RandomHero8913

Well-Known Member
growerNshower said:
Hey greasemonkeymann, I'm wondering why the bubbling at the surface has a greater contribution to aeration than microbubbles injected in the bottom of the bucket? Intuitively, I can't wrap my mind around that.

I've cultured bacteria (E. coli) in erlenmyer flasks at my lab for over a decade and we use a shaker to both mix the bacteria (keeps them from clumping) and to aerate. I've never used an airstone or injected air bubbles using other methods simply because of sanitation issues and to prevent cross-contamination of samples. It seems intuitive to me that we could have also injected microbubbles with an airstone or something and achieved AT LEAST the same efficiency of aeration.

Any help in understanding this concept would be greatly appreciated, and any references to peer-reviewed literature would be a huge bonus.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I’ll take a stab at this. The use of air stones and pumps are for the movement of water. While a little Oxygen is leached out as the bubbles rise, the surface agitation is where almost all DO transfer happens.
The air stone does help keep the water moving from bottom to top which is a good thing, but unless you’re pumping in enough oxygen to reach the DO saturation point the quality will suffer.
Koi ponders are all about this. They will almost always use a waterfall/geyser system rather than an air stone for the same reason.

I guess the only way to test this would to run both systems and check the DO levels.
 
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