Continuous oxygenate and agitate nutes

[Stormtoke]

I've received a lot of help in these forums and I thought I may have a nugget I could pass on.

I've always been concerned about the nutes settling in the reservoir but had never done anything about it. My setup is an aeroponic system and with the pumps constantly running.

I'm getting ready for a 2 wk trip and was thinking of how I could mix up enough nutes and keep them mixed while I was away. What I came up with is using a small 250 gph ($20.00) water pump just laying at the bottom of the tank, pumping water across the bottom of the 25 gal container. Works great!

While watching it another thing occurred to me. I took a short length of 1/2" plastic sprinkler pipe and put it on the pump, then I took a smaller hose 3/8" and ran it from the pipe just where it comes out of the pump, to the surface where it could pull in some air and now it also works great for oxygenating the water. It's a better and more powerful aerator than anything I've used or seen before.

If something like this was posted before then.......never mind.

 

[direless]

Great Idea, however, are you having any problems with tank temps? Perhaps, putting the pump on a timer and running it for short bursts of say a minute would create enough agitation and while increasing Dissolved O2. I wonder if you could attach a 1/2 inch dia. tube that runs to the surface and regulate air/water ratio by simply drilling holes along the length of the tube?

There I go thinking out loud again