Air Stones in DWC?

[R.K. Castillo]

I had a couple plants die in my rafts, so someone said to add some airstones to the DWC bed.  

I added the stones under the rafts and the bubbles bubbled out all the coconut coir/vermiculite mix.  

Anyone know how to get around this?  

I put the 12 inch air stones directly below the center of the rafts.  Was that not a good idea?  

Let me know

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi RK,

At 12 inches deep use small stones with matching blower........tiny, gentle bubbles!.

[R.K. Castillo]

By matching blower...you mean the pump itself?  

I just picked up a 100 gallon air pump from the pet store that has 2 outlets of air.  

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi RK,

Guessing that's an air pump for 100gal aquarium? Personally, I'd use that with 4 small air stones or in a trough maximum 16 ft. Of course you may use it in a smaller trough. If you have too much pressure for the existing trough, bypass some of it to the FT.

[R.K. Castillo]

So...it's not necessary to have it really bubbling a lot.  A little is enough?

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi RK,

The finer/tiny bubbles are better...............calm aeration. Use fine pore air-stones, they do need soaking in chlorine to clean them monthly though, to keep them at full operation.

[R.K. Castillo]

Do you put the air stones directly under the rafts?  Or just on the side of the trough?

[Harold Sukhbir]

Hi RK,

I place the first stone 4 feet from the inflow and then one stone every 4 feet from there. All stones are placed in the center of the trough( I use a small netted bag with pebbles to anchor the stone) So in a 20 ft trough I'd put 4 stones. If your pump has sufficient pressure you can put more stones, the more the better. In you case with a larger capacity pump(I assume your pump is over capacity from your post description), with more than the standard pressure, you may even add some aeration to the FT. As you know maximum aeration means better growing plants and fish!

[R.K. Castillo]

Thanks Harold, what I meant was every 4 feet on the edge of the trough? Or directly under the rafts?