Enough bubbles?

SmokeDoggy

Well-Known Member
How do you know if you have enough bubbles?

I'm at day 10 and have crazy roots hanging out the bottoms of all 3 of my net cups.

The longest roots are probably 6 inches and many of them have side shoots and are thickening up. It looks REALLY GOOD for week 10 and on a brand new setup I built (DIY Stealth Hydro).

Roots are all bright white and this is on original 2 gallons of water (3 gallon super stealth tote), I have yet to do a water change (will in ~4 days then will shoot for doing it weekly). Right now I'm not using any nutes, just 6.0 pH water roughly.

I'm just wondering if I have enough bubbles. I see lots of little bubbles beneath each cup, but if I bump my airstones slightly, the bubble densities move, so it is a small, focused area of bubbles. When the root mass grows, the roots will spread out and likely be floating in airless water, or so I would think.

So how do I know if I have enough bubbles?


:peace:
 

SmokeDoggy

Well-Known Member
Sorry I have 3 air pumps, all of them are the small 10-gallon size pumps. 1 of them has the large 5" disc which I had to seal up better but it still doesn't work as you'd expect. The other two have multiple small airstones with splitters. I think 2-3 airstones on each. It is not 100% coverage based on surface area of the basin, but it yields decent bubbles @ each net location roughly (below the net cups). But like I said, in the other spots, it is not as bubbly and if the roots make their way over there and that water is not oxygenated enough, won't they die?
 

whatapothead

Well-Known Member
no the bubbles don't HAVE to hit the roots tho they do like it.

the bubbles oxygenate the water in the whole tub... just like in a fish tank... the fish get oxygen from water that is away from the bubbles as well as near them.

sounds like you have plenty of bubbles.
 

SmokeDoggy

Well-Known Member
ok, that is what I was thinking but I saw all of the bubbles in 3 main areas up top with some small ones trickling elsewhere, but that is at the top, I figured they burst then and oxygenate the air only.. *shrug*

:)
 
I

Illegal Smile

Guest
You have plenty of bubbles for oxygenation but I see you also started the plants with bubbles to water them instead of feeder tubes. Doing that calls for more bubble action. How much depends on how far or close to the netcup you want the water level. I have come to prefer less water and more bubble-filled airspace below the netpots. OTOH, you can work with fewer bubbles by raising the water level. I have it down to water level 2 inches below the netpots, 3 or 4 12 inch airstones, and a 600gph air pump.


 
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