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Trough aeration increases plant growth!!

I have seen several aquaponic farms in the area that have been adding supplemental aeration in their troughs and getting dramatic increases in plant growth in the immediate area of the aeration. Seeing this happen has prompted me to add aeration to my troughs. I just got done running main lines with a blubber every 4 feet in my troughs. I hope to increase my plant growth with the extra DO.

I plan to add an air stone every 2 square feet in my micro system as experiment to compare to the commercial system.

My current theory and direction are going toward a low water transfer of about 2 gpm through the troughs and high aeration. I will down size on the water pumps and add to the air pumping capacity. My electricity costs $.44 kw hr so I want to get the systems as efficient as possible.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ryan Chatterson on February 17, 2011 at 6:49am

Saturation is where its at maaaaaan :).

Are you tying the nursery tanks into the main system GAO? If so you might still be fine. If the waters coming into the troughs saturated you shouldnt need quite as much in the beginings of the troughs to stay at saturation. Depending on water flow you might not see a drop in DO for the first 10-15 ft. The slower the flow the faster the drop.

Like you said though, get out that DO meter/kit and see how low you can go.

Permalink Reply by Marina Galvan on February 17, 2011 at 1:26pm

Chris, what is your water temperature range and average temp? I am very curious, as we are trying to size blowers for our commercial system and want to figure out how many airstones we need at 72-82 F.

Permalink Reply by Ryan Chatterson on February 17, 2011 at 2:25pm

Any ideas on max fish weight, species, tank depth, trough size and distance between the FT and Troughs?

Permalink Reply by Green Acre Aquaponics on February 17, 2011 at 5:16pm

Ryan you may be right! Our nursery tanks are the first in line from the troughs so there could easily be plenty of air coming from the saturated troughs and we have a pretty good flow rate. We will have to measure and see.

Permalink Reply by Chris Smith on February 17, 2011 at 11:23pm

Marina, my water temperature stays at a fairly constant 70 deg. My farm is at 1500' elevation so we have cooler temps than the coast. At most the water will fluctuate 2 deg either way.

You have quite a fluctuation in temperature. The higher the water temp the less DO is retained in the water and the more aeration you need to provide. You might consider useing several size blowers(one small and one medium) on a manifold system so you can add more air when the water temps are higher by turning on a blower and save on power when the temps are cooler by turning off a blower. Having two sizes of blowers you will have lots of flexibility in aeration levels. In the beginning you will have to spend lots of quality time with your DO meter and troughs to figure out your exact needs on aeration, which will change with water temp. How big is your commercial system going to be?

Permalink Reply by Rudy S on February 22, 2011 at 6:53pm

Well put.

Permalink Reply by Harold Sukhbir on February 24, 2011 at 6:04pm

Hi Peter,

Is this nutrient solution in a loop system?

Peter Shaw said:

Missed most of this thread but here is a photo from the Univ of Az CEAC showing the influence of aeration on plant growth, spinach plants, on the left with aeration, on the right none added just what the water can hold naturally.

Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on February 24, 2011 at 7:53pm

Just re-plumbed my aeration in my DWC trough and added additional air stones after my own research proved to me that you just cannot really have enough aeration if your want excellent vegetable growth (now yes we all do have a budget so within that, do try to allocate more to an additional good quality air pump). Your plants and fish will love you and you will be well satisfied with your rewards :-)

God bless

Permalink Reply by Michelle Silva on February 24, 2011 at 8:18pm

Sahib, can you give some details on what you added in terms of quantities of size of air stones, distance apart, etc. I'm thinking that I would like some more aeration..I added three gravel beds and have some additional splashing into the sides of one of the raft tanks, but I think I could use a lot more. Do you happen to know what your DO levels are?

Permalink Reply by Harold Sukhbir on February 24, 2011 at 8:55pm

Hi Sahib,

Totally agree, maximum aeration is surely the way to faster growth. In AP water moves our aerated nutrient solution through our plant roots with turbocharged results, makes me wonder about these poor plants in conventional soil agriculture patiently waiting for life giving oxygen to somehow come their way!

Sahib Punjabi said:

Just re-plumbed my aeration in my DWC trough and added additional air stones after my own research proved to me that you just cannot really have enough aeration if your want excellent vegetable growth (now yes we all do have a budget so within that, do try to allocate more to an additional good quality air pump). Your plants and fish will love you and you will be well satisfied with your rewards :-)

God bless

Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on February 27, 2011 at 12:55pm

Hello Michelle,

I just have three of the following outdoor Air Pumps purchased from Aquaticecosystems (50w 3/8 barb). For the DWC system, I share one pump with the Gravel systems - here I have 2 12 inch Sweetwater Air Stones in the 1,000 Gal Koi Pond. On another Air Pump, I have 1 12 inch in the second 55 gal barrel and have added about 6 3 inch air stones every 6 feet in addition to the 10 1 inch air stones that were there before.

My next task is to further increase the aeration be sharing the third Air Pump between the Catfish IBC 285 gal IBC tote - one additional 6 inch Air Stone and take a split line for another 5 to 6 3 inch Air Stones in the 48ft DWC bed. That g=should be plenty of air...I think.

I do not have a DO meter yet so can not share DO level info. I just look at plant growth rates, quality of water and condition of fish to know that they really do love the extra aeration :-)

God bless

Michelle Silva said:

Sahib, can you give some details on what you added in terms of quantities of size of air stones, distance apart, etc. I'm thinking that I would like some more aeration..I added three gravel beds and have some additional splashing into the sides of one of the raft tanks, but I think I could use a lot more. Do you happen to know what your DO levels are?

Permalink Reply by Mel Soule on March 5, 2011 at 9:51am

Sahib Punjabi said:

Hello Michelle,

I just have three of the following outdoor Air Pumps purchased from Aquaticecosystems (50w 3/8 barb). For the DWC system, I share one pump with the Gravel systems - here I have 2 12 inch Sweetwater Air Stones in the 1,000 Gal Koi Pond. On another Air Pump, I have 1 12 inch in the second 55 gal barrel and have added about 6 3 inch air stones every 6 feet in addition to the 10 1 inch air stones that were there before.

My next task is to further increase the aeration be sharing the third Air Pump between the Catfish IBC 285 gal IBC tote - one additional 6 inch Air Stone and take a split line for another 5 to 6 3 inch Air Stones in the 48ft DWC bed. That g=should be plenty of air...I think.

I do not have a DO meter yet so can not share DO level info. I just look at plant growth rates, quality of water and condition of fish to know that they really do love the extra aeration :-)

God bless

Michelle Silva said:

Sahib, can you give some details on what you added in terms of quantities of size of air stones, distance apart, etc. I'm thinking that I would like some more aeration..I added three gravel beds and have some additional splashing into the sides of one of the raft tanks, but I think I could use a lot more. Do you happen to know what your DO levels are?