Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

has anyone played with adding extra airation to exiting setups? the root zone takes up nutrients better with more O2 so why not stick airstones every metre or so in a constant flow or even a FD system? DWC looks impressive with it's growth rates and it's only advantage is the airstones.

Wouldn't the airstones get gunk all over them in a GB?

nope, they have air blowing out of them

Would the extra growth rate be worth it for the extra effort?

Air stones will only be an advantage if the grow bed is flooded all the time water does not circulate in say a 6ft by 4 ft grow bed an airstone in the middle would only increase the do in a sq ft area [air rises ] when the bed drains air just blows away i think a better idea would be put an air stone in the pump line and aireat al the water [this will only work if the pump is running continuasley][all the time ] i am running 8 airstones now and have max do

I was down on air stones after my last 1 failed to take the pressure so instead attacked some 3mm poly pipe with a drill, it has worked quite well and I have no intention of buying an airstone ever again

I woukldn't recommend drilling holes in tube,,it doesn't reallywork on an efficiency basis.
For an air bubblesystem to work youneed bubbles as smallas you can get.
If you don't like airstones (I don't like them either)getyourself some of those rubber "air curtains". In one of my lakes I use that black rubber recycled tyre "dripper hose" ,, it makes a wonderfull aerator.

Why didnt I think of that lol, off to bunnings tomorrow

Outback,,,,be carefull which brand,.....,the cheap one they sellis CRAP.
Look for the one with a red stripe , a few dollars more but 50 times better.
Bythe way , the end od the dripper hose fits nicely inyo a tube with hose clamp and then nicely onto the "barb" on a large air pump.

Cheers

Yep, only the red stripe stuff, used the cheap stuff in the garden a while ago. No good

As to what the difference is between DWC and flood and drain.. Look at this picture closely. You will notice there are some small pepper plants in 2 liter bottles. These are the flood and drain peppers. They large peppers in the middle are DWC, almost twice the size! Is it worth it? and for what crops? Duno...

Plants were fed the same hydroponic solution from a common container.

Also ,don't forget it will want to float,,,we just tied a couple of rocks on with string:)Very high tech,,,but effective.

Oh, I placed small air stone under each plant using air pumps rated for 60 gallon aquariums. 6 plants and air stones, 3 air pumps.

DWC gets suprisingly little focus here for some reason. it's a very productive method and avoids the dreaded gravel wash.
how much does it cost to run the air pumps? the one i have for my hospital tank could do 3 plants and it uses about 2 watts.

You still need a biofilter though, and solids filtration, and the gravel beds flood and drain gives o2 to the max, hence why. imho