@greendyl
from what in reading i thing your using the tea rong! Your adding every 2 weeks?
if so by the time you add new tea the old bacteria is dead! Even though you might
do a res change every 2 weeks this is not the only time to add the tea.
correct way to add tea resipe........
#1 brew a tea close to hienbergs resipe
#2 mix a fresh res
#3 add 1gal. Of tea to every 10gal. Of res water to start off. Never exceed 3gal. In a 55gal drum.
#4 every 3 days add 1cup tea to every 10gals res water.
reason for adding tea throughout the 2week res cycle is to add new micro life and feed the old
micro life as they need food to.
Your water temp is fine allthough i wouldnt go any higher, the left water in the buckets is getting
cooked by the light and causing funk to spread to your substra
Zone or h202 will kill off and good you have created with teas! Simple fix to the left water in your buckets is to
just raise them 1 1/2in above the control box. Allowing the water to drain back to the res where you want it.
you will not get 100% of the water but 90% is better then nothing.
Just putting a spacer in the bucket to raise it up is a fast fix but the roots will grow down into the left water
again.
as for air......
at the peak of my ebb and grow years i was running x6 55gal. Ebb drums and 3 were rig up
with 45l air pumps to each and the other 3 were just being turned by a small pump. Seen no
difference between the 2, allthough the one that i was turning i could add alot more stuff to
without it getting all funky. Air can aggitate some products and cause foam and junk to form.