Oxygenating Your Nutrient Mix

[LyryC]

Thanks for droppin by

What is your opinion on putting an air-stone in my 4 gallon Nutrient Reservoir and pumping oxygen(air) through my mix?

I use Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect and am unsure of using this method and not making teas. Is it cool to aerate your nutrient mix regardless if its organic and has beneficials?

I know it will pump oxygen into my water and I've read it promotes healthy good bacteria and helps clean the water of bad bacteria and what not.

Insight?

^_^ Thanks

 

[LyryC]

So aerating the water is ideally for teas. BUT anyone with any type of nutrient mixture can aerate their water for a short period of time to boost the oxygen in the water.

For 1 gallon you'd aerate for 5 minutes.

For my 4 gallons 15 minutes.

For a 55 gallon res, four hours.

I'll be aerating my nutrient mixes before I feed from now on. 15 - 30 minutes of bubble time then into the grodan

 

[BrnCow]

Some use Alitas and pond diffusers and aerate constantly in hydro reservoirs

 

[willyweed]

i make a cup of tea,same time as i make 1/2 gals of nutrient,the nutrient gets bubbles the same time as it takes me to drink my tea and smoke a spliff !

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Depends on your medium, really.

Have seen no difference when adding airstone to a res for an E&F or Drip setup with hydroton or coco. Using GH nutes anyway.

I ALWAYS have a couple airstones in my DWC steups. LOL OxyStones kick some serious bubble-butt.

I can see this having a benefit for people growing in soil, for sure.

Stay Safe!

 

[LyryC]

Depends on your medium, really.

Have seen no difference when adding airstone to a res for an E&F or Drip setup with hydroton or coco. Using GH nutes anyway.

I ALWAYS have a couple airstones in my DWC steups. LOL OxyStones kick some serious bubble-butt.

I can see this having a benefit for people growing in soil, for sure.

Stay Safe!

I use Rockwool, Grodans. ideas?

 

[Hammerhead]

im not a hydro grower. I use teas when Im not making tea I use the air pump im my rez 30g. I leave it there until I want to make more tea. I typically make tea 2-3x a week. I dont see any issues with oxygenating your nutrient solution. So far I have not encountered any issues.

 

[skullznroses]

You can achieve max aeration, as you said depending on the size of your reservoir in a short period of time. Adding air for longer periods without having a target population of beneficial micro-organisms is really just a waste of time. That is to say that once you hit peak aeration, there is no actual benefit to keeping your water bubbly.

If you're using chemical nutrients you should just use it like the tea drinking fellow suggested. About 30 minutes prior to each application.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I use Rockwool, Grodans. ideas?

Seriously doubt you'll see any improvement. Never hurts though.

Stay Safe!

 

[Iffy]

I grow in full hydro with Hydroton & have always had a couple of airstones in my res. I run it constantly. You do have to check your PH levels tho if your bubbling!

 

[KITCHA]

Hey lyrc I was talking to te owner of a reputable nute company recently and he said that its generally not necessary as the npk combined creates sufficient oxygen in the res without the need for airstones etc, I think if you were running some organic additives you may need the stones to stop slime build up I.e enzymes or root and bloom boosters. If you run straight base nutes and say pk booster then you won't need additional aeration, cheers kit-

 

[willyweed]

I use Rockwool, Grodans. ideas?

i do too, i try to water every other day and use h2o2 1 mil per litre working up to 2 mil when the plants are big enough ,water from different sides and underneath to encourage the roots to follow the water a bit,also when the plants are small i give it a little splash at the base of the plant as i find the light dries out the top of the rockwool and makes it a bit too warm,i also put a bit of mylar on top of the rockwool to try to bounce the heat back upwards .hope this helps!

 

[Loose Cannon]

I run rockwool and reservoirs with trays and set the drain tube so the water falls for natural aeration. Have had some exciting moments when the sound of falling water was at a bad time, like when I was banging a detective, but can't advise further as I haven't done a side by side soooo.....

 

[LyryC]

Rockwool Usage

Rockwool Usage

i do too, i try to water every other day and use h2o2 1 mil per litre working up to 2 mil when the plants are big enough ,water from different sides and underneath to encourage the roots to follow the water a bit,also when the plants are small i give it a little splash at the base of the plant as i find the light dries out the top of the rockwool and makes it a bit too warm,i also put a bit of mylar on top of the rockwool to try to bounce the heat back upwards .hope this helps!

Don't use H2o2 if you are using beneficials or organics.

I would water from the top only, the roots will always grow down, gravity is your friend.

It also seems like you are not watering with enough water, or toooo much.

I water everyday by hand, Delta 8s and 10s and Detla 10s on Hugos.

For the 4 inch cubes I use 250ml of water, nute mix, food, w/e you want to call it.

For the 4inchers stacked on hugo's I use 500ml.

I water from the top only, and most of the time theres run off.

Always drain the run off, you don't want Rockwool sitting in a puddle. The water replaces air in tiny little pockets through out the rockwool. If you pour water onto the rockwool then listen to it, it sounds like rice crispies, snap, crackle pop. Thats the air pockets opening up after you watered the plant. And that happens all day. If the rockwool can't drain and like a sponge it will hold the water in, the medium will take much much longer to allow the exchange of water for air giving the roots the much needed oxygen they want.

You should be able to water everyday, just pick up the rockwool daily to determine the weight which allows an assumption on the availability of water in the medium. Also you should be able to pick the plants up by the stalks near the rockwool without any worry after a week or 2 once transplanted. If you stack rockwool, be sure to allow a month or more before you test the roots. If you tilt the plant sideways and hold onto just the 4 inch cube, the 6 inch cube will start tearing off roots and you will feel the roots snapping like strings, almost velcro like. If that happens don't test them again for a while, but you should be able to pick the plants up by the stalk and not worry about the rockwool, ever.

In my experience, if your plants aren't thirsty everyday, the environment is not dialed in and they aren't growing as fast or well as they can.

I used to water with just 100ml and I always waited for the rockwool to be dry as fuck, like dust dry, dry like whne you bought it. then my friend who advised me to use it literally slapped me when he found out how I was using the medium.

He taught me to feed with 250 and 500 ml all the time because otherwise you are just starving the plants, and they will grow slow and crappy.

I'd say a week maybe even less after I changed my feeding patterns, the plants just fucking skyrocketed. I feed at the same time, same portions and same technique, they love it.

I hope this helps. I didn't realize what I was doing because I was so used to soil and I'm not saying you don't, but straight up, if you have a good environment dialed in, your plants should be making that rockwool bone dry every day.

 

[Dorky]

Thanks for droppin by

What is your opinion on putting an air-stone in my 4 gallon Nutrient Reservoir and pumping oxygen(air) through my mix?

I use Advanced Nutrients pH Perfect and am unsure of using this method and not making teas. Is it cool to aerate your nutrient mix regardless if its organic and has beneficials?

I know it will pump oxygen into my water and I've read it promotes healthy good bacteria and helps clean the water of bad bacteria and what not.

Insight?

^_^ Thanks

Your last paragraph is about it. If your not running deep water culture or a bunch of benefiacial bacteria in your res all you really need is a stir pump to keep your res from becoming stagnant.

Dissolved Oxygen only matters when water is your medium. If your running soil, coco, perlite, hydroton and so on the medium along with with how often you water determines the rest.

 

[LyryC]

I grow in full hydro with Hydroton & have always had a couple of airstones in my res. I run it constantly. You do have to check your PH levels tho if your bubbling!

True. Experienced this today.

 

[willyweed]

Don't use H2o2 if you are using beneficials or organics.

I would water from the top only, the roots will always grow down, gravity is your friend.

It also seems like you are not watering with enough water, or toooo much.

I water everyday by hand, Delta 8s and 10s and Detla 10s on Hugos.

For the 4 inch cubes I use 250ml of water, nute mix, food, w/e you want to call it.

For the 4inchers stacked on hugo's I use 500ml.

I water from the top only, and most of the time theres run off.

Always drain the run off, you don't want Rockwool sitting in a puddle. The water replaces air in tiny little pockets through out the rockwool. If you pour water onto the rockwool then listen to it, it sounds like rice crispies, snap, crackle pop. Thats the air pockets opening up after you watered the plant. And that happens all day. If the rockwool can't drain and like a sponge it will hold the water in, the medium will take much much longer to allow the exchange of water for air giving the roots the much needed oxygen they want.

You should be able to water everyday, just pick up the rockwool daily to determine the weight which allows an assumption on the availability of water in the medium. Also you should be able to pick the plants up by the stalks near the rockwool without any worry after a week or 2 once transplanted. If you stack rockwool, be sure to allow a month or more before you test the roots. If you tilt the plant sideways and hold onto just the 4 inch cube, the 6 inch cube will start tearing off roots and you will feel the roots snapping like strings, almost velcro like. If that happens don't test them again for a while, but you should be able to pick the plants up by the stalk and not worry about the rockwool, ever.

In my experience, if your plants aren't thirsty everyday, the environment is not dialed in and they aren't growing as fast or well as they can.

I used to water with just 100ml and I always waited for the rockwool to be dry as fuck, like dust dry, dry like whne you bought it. then my friend who advised me to use it literally slapped me when he found out how I was using the medium.

He taught me to feed with 250 and 500 ml all the time because otherwise you are just starving the plants, and they will grow slow and crappy.

I'd say a week maybe even less after I changed my feeding patterns, the plants just fucking skyrocketed. I feed at the same time, same portions and same technique, they love it.

I hope this helps. I didn't realize what I was doing because I was so used to soil and I'm not saying you don't, but straight up, if you have a good environment dialed in, your plants should be making that rockwool bone dry every day.

i grow in 15-30 litre pots of rockwool chunks ,to water every other day is fine for me,how many litre's are those hugo blocks in size 3-4 litre?

 

[LyryC]

Hugo's are 3.38 L /0.12 cu ft of medium

Sorry I assumed. On the bright side anyone who uses blocks can learn from that post.

Would you recommend the chunk cubes?

I like rockwool, mixed feelings about it, but through a lack of experience I see myself using it for my next grow.

I have a few plants in coco but that started in rockwool. I have to say the coco with Veg + Bloom nutes is tooo easy, with nice results. I bet if I went mad scientist on them and used additives the buds would be bigger than the AN girls but I'm doing the run with just V+B to see how well it stacks up because its extremely economical vs Advanced Nutrients.

 

[Iffy]

I think res temp is also an issue, especially this time of year (UK).
If you have submersible heaters to keep your nutes in the low to mid 70's, you may need to add a couple of bubblers!
Stay safe

 

[Iffy]

Oxygenating your reservoir.

Oxygenating your reservoir.

Hi Folks,
Another tip I picked up from a pal recently was to 'blast' the water in when your topping up.





We're all doing what ever we can to increase DO in our res', especially as the warm weather approaches. This little tip isn't going to rock the world but hey, if you top up every day - it's a blast of oxygen once a day & I'm sure you girls will thank you!
Stay safe & happy growing