Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I found this very interesting

This may be a good alternative for ALL ap. I am going to try it because mildew is a real problem here.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6AKP-xY0qA&feature=related

Dan ,, I have little regard for this one ,, I could be wrong.
They seperate alkaline water from acid water,.....,, OOPS pure water is neither acid nor alkaline???
As s side issue ,, is pure water able to conduct electricity . AHH shock ,, well no shock , pure water is an insulator not a conductor.
Sorry but I lost any intrest after the acid water bit ,, why not just add some acid?
Anyway , thanks for the link.

Well, I know for a fact that when water is under electrolysis your free hydroxide ions migrate to one pole. Infact there is a guy that sells alkaline water made this way with such a high charge that the water shocks you the first time you open the bottle. I will give it a try, I have no shortage of mildew to test it on so I will let you know if it works. I just need a control subject for the experiment.

So how much does this special water cost?

Would it be easier to use some hydrogen peroxide?

The next effect is a balanced pH over time so it better than using other substances.

Its noting more than an electrolysis cell. I have some stainless steel laying around so I am just going to stick two plates in a small tote and connect then to a car battery (or rectified current from my adjustable transformer), placing a felt pad between the plates, run the cell until pH reads 2.whatever and then draw off the water - electrode side. So, for me to make a little to fill a sprayer is not going to cost much of anything.

I don't think killing germs is the best solution. Aerated compost tea is the first and best choice for disease and bug resistance, but there are times when you must treat a problem of loose a crop. So why not do it as harmlessly as possible, but without chemicals.

Please let us know how it goes. Each step that is.

Like does the one side reach a pH of 2?

then does it seem to work on the plants and do there seem to be any side effects?

DD, before running to try it out, have another look at the clip and take note of
“When salt is added to water and put through electrolysis, ……..”
and let us know, could be interesting, hopefully will not kill the bacteria in the GBs

Alkaline water that shocks you when you open the bottle....

How does a bottle of water hold a charge... and how does it maintain "alkalinity"....

If I was this guy... I'd be selling the stuff to car and battery makers...

I can understand the migration of positive and negative ions to the electrodes under a high charge.... "electrolysis"

But how can you possibly maintain seperation of the ions ... in a bottle... without a charge????

Let alone the water ... hold a charge???

Or is this some of that magic "magnetic" water...

I stopped by their web site as well.

I think they some how need to drain the water out while it is still separated and even then I don't expect that it can hold the pH or charge for long while exposed to anything reactive. Their web site seems to be touting the alkali water as a medial antioxidant elixir of some sort.

My main questions is if the acidic water is strong enough to kill off the diseases so fast, why is it not burning the plants, people and animals it hits? I expect it is probably just as harmful to the beneficial microbes as it is to the disease microbes so I would be careful about drenching the grow beds with it.

They talk about how acid is the free radical and alkali is the antioxidant. Sounds to me like a terrible oversimplification to sell products.

Sorry... sounds like bullshit to me...

My understanding of electrolysis was that the free H+ ions effectively formed and off-gassed Hydrogen.... and the O- ions off-gassed as Oxygen...

And that the reaction is in a constant state of re-ionisation back to water... and ceases immediately the current is stopped...

And Wiki suggests the same... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolysis_of_water

And as Chappo says.... water is an extremely poor conductor.... saltwater is better...

The wiki article suggests that massive amounts of energy needs to be applied... and needs platinum electrodes to be anywhere near efficient..

Perhaps it's just a bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2)... which would be slightly acidic... and can be formed by electrolysis with pure oxygen added...

If it did work tons and tons of chlorine and Bromine wouldn't be needed in cooling towers and swimming pools. But I did find this:
http://www.intec-america.com/products/Pools.asp
http://www.intec-america.com/resources/ ... zation.asp

But the copper would suck in AP. Catfish wouldn't stand a chance!

http://www.ecleartechnologies.com/
This one uses UV also but I believe all the disinfecting goes on within the unit, so it would be hard to tell how much is done thru ionization or UV treatment.

Dan

Without getting into the discussion of whether this will or will not work I notice you intend to use stainless electrodes. Stainless contains chromium and in the presence of a chloride could under electrolysis break this down. Something to be wary of.

I weld stainless steel a lot and it releases hex-chrome, bad stuff, maybe electrolysis will release it too? dunno
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexavalent_chromium

If he used carbon steel electrodes they may not last long but the byproducts would be good for the plants, and for your blood. For me the jury is still out on weather it would work or not. High Acid foods is easier to preserve and last longer. And Cooling towers while the Acid is good for keeping the bacteria as in legionella and algea down it is bad for most exchangers and require anodes to protect from electrolisis. I agree with chappo that you could just add acid or vinegar to kill the nasties but would have to make adjustments in the ap water to maintain proper PH. But it would go against the whole idea of compost tea application which is supposed to make the wax like bacterial protectant. I would like to know the actual outcome. With out actually testing I can only make educated guesses.