should i leave air pump on 24/7!

joan

New Member
hey there!! can anybody please tell me if its ok to leave an air pump on 24/7 in a nft system through out the whole grow cycle or is that not good for the roots and should be turned off from time to time!! thank u for any help in advance :eek:)!!!
 
Re: should i leave air pump on 24/7!!

In any system that is not using soil you should never turn off the air pump. A good point to remember is that you can never provide to much air in a hydro setup, in reality the more the better!

As I can quote from my horticulture class there are only (4) things that must be provided to a plant/viable seed, that is Air, Light, Water, and Nutrients.

From past experimenting with DWC, Ebb, and NFT etc.. etc.. I have found it to be true that the more the better, tho in some aspects different nutrients will act accordingly to the air stones and increased air, depleting them faster. If there is under adequate air to the roots they may start to rot from saturation. Good luck with your grow!:high-five:
 
hey there fuzzy, thanks for replying!!! i am feeding the girls vitalink easy grow and i have now started using hygrozyme as well due to a couple of problems i have been having and i read some where that you have to be careful with how much air bubbles the water in your gro tank gets when using hygrozyme, probably due to what you said fuzzy with the air bubbles depleting the good stuff inside hygrozyme faster!!! i was wondering fuzzy if u or anyone else can comment on this and if its true that to much air bubbles would deplete hygrozyme faster then what should i do!! should i have my air pump on one day then turn it off on the next day or should i turn it off for a few hours a day!!! thanks for your help!!! :eek:)
 
hey there fuzzy, thanks for replying!!! i am feeding the girls vitalink easy grow and i have now started using hygrozyme as well due to a couple of problems i have been having and i read some where that you have to be careful with how much air bubbles the water in your gro tank gets when using hygrozyme, probably due to what you said fuzzy with the air bubbles depleting the good stuff inside hygrozyme faster!!! i was wondering fuzzy if u or anyone else can comment on this and if its true that to much air bubbles would deplete hygrozyme faster then what should i do!! should i have my air pump on one day then turn it off on the next day or should i turn it off for a few hours a day!!! thanks for your help!!! :eek:)

Turn it on, leave it on, better yet, add another one.. Even with the Hygrozyme.
 
hey there mr poet thank u for replying!! i think i will do what u and fuzzy said and leave it on all the time!! however, i am now curious to know just what fuzzy means when he says that in some cases increased air from air stones can deplete some nutrients faster!! can that be harmful to my plant in anyway and does depleting mean that the air bubbles can some how break down and get rid of all your good nutrients in your tank faster and if so how does that work and wont that start to corse some nutrient deficiencies to the plant!!! thanks guys for all your help!!! :eek:)
 
Yes, leave it on 24/7. If you can get commercial grade air pump they deliver more power = more air. More oxygen the plant will increase nutrient uptake (as fuzzy have said) thus your nute will get low. You shouldn't have deficientcy if ph is in check, keep it at 5.8.

Check for water level and PPM every 2-3 days along with ph.
-If water is low and high PPM = Plants consume more water to nute. Solution: Add only water to bring down the PPM.
-If water is high and low PPM = Plants consume more nute to water. Solution: Add some water with nute mix from the lost. To know how much to add, take the ideal PPM in the growth stage and minus the PPM currently in the rez you'll get the PPM in the new mix.
-if water is low and PPM is low = Plant is using both water & nute heavily. Solution: Add more water and nutes.

Which ever one of these occur react with the solution to keep it going. Different strain will use up different water to nute ratio at different growth stage. Don't forget to clean out the rez every 1-2 weeks with fresh water and nute mix.
 
I was out of town for the weekend. But yes, more air just means keep up with a water change a week, it may seem excessive but 3.5g per 5g bucket weekly is still less than what a 5g soil container uses in a week. Another good idea is to mark off the inside if you do not have a water level meter on the side of your bucket, fluctuations in water uptake will sway your pH drastically and change what nutrients are being used. "Refer to below"

My recommendation is to stay at 5.9~6.0.

Nutrient_Chart.jpg
 
hey there twelve and mr fuzzy!! well i want to start off by saying to u both and u mr poet that im really thankful for all your help that u been giving me!!! i wiil take your advise mr twelve tho i am slightly confused as in i was told that u should never add more nutes to a rez that already has nutes in it as it could end up killing the plant and for that reason i have always been abit weary about adding more nutes to my tank tho i have experienced all of those situations that u have spoken about and apart from one little thing that i dont really understand, what u have wrote makes sence!! when u say that if the water is high and the ppm is low that u should add some water with new nutes from the lost, how many liters of water should i add with my new nute mix!!! mr fuzzy, i hope u had yourself a good time whilst u were out of town for the weekend!! i'm not actually using buckets with my hydro set up mr fuzzy, i'm using a 5 foot nft tray, the ladies are in rockwall and sit on the top tray on top of a spreader mat which holds all the roots together, the ladies get constent water from the rez below which holds about 50 liters of water, i have 3 little ladies in a tray and was wondering if u still think i need to change my rez once aweek from having the air pump on constantly or would a two week rez change be ok!!! thanks for all your help guys :eek:)
 
mr twelve tho i am slightly confused as in i was told that u should never add more nutes to a rez that already has nutes in it as it could end up killing the plant

Hey Joan. Adding more nutes and keeping the same PPM count every 3-4 days keeps the plant from suffering deficiency. More nutes needed to increase the PPM as plant grow from stages to another. Start with 1/2 strength and work it up slowly.

when u say that if the water is high and the ppm is low that u should add some water with new nutes from the lost, how many liters of water should i add with my new nute mix

Example the rez is 5 gal, and you had it at 4gal of water + nute at say 1000 PPM. I shouldn't say when the water is high, it just means the PPM drops lower than 1000 PPM and the water is slightly used. When that happen add in the lost water and nute to bring up the PPM a little more after each week to feed the growth. You can change out the rez once every two weeks for big rez and weekly for small rez (under 5gal).
 
hey there mr twelve i hope your having yourself a good day today!!! thanks for getting back to me twelve and once again thanks for all your help which has been very useful!!! i was wondering if yourself or if anyone else can help me out by explaining how to use canna mono for plant deficiencies!! i have a bit of a nitrogen deficiency so i went and bought some nitrogen canna mono and although i understand the dosage of foliar feeding at 1-2 ml per liter of water, i am slightly confused at what it means when it says administration with the nutrient solution (not foliar feeding) add 1-2 ml per 1 liter of water!!! does it mean that i have to add up how many liters of water is in my tank already (lets just say 40 liters for example) does it then want me to say add 40 ml of canna mono to my tank that has nutes in it already or does it mean that i should add new water to the water thats already in my tank at at a ratio of 1 ml of canna mono per 1 liter of new water and if so then how do i know just how many liters of new water and canna mono i should add!!! thanks for all your help!!! :eek:)
 
Hey Joan, doing great thanks. Yourself?

Here's a link to the list of deficiency (nitrogen included) and how to solve it along with any other ones you might encounter later down the road.

1-2ml per liter of water means you take that number and multiple it to the volume of water in your rez. If your rez is 40 you'll add 40ml of nute/additive to the rez even if you have other stuff in there already. However, your total PPM should stay within range. Start off with 1ml, stay safe go with 1/2 strength.
 
Instead of all the airstones using air, what if some were having CO2 pumped through them, in some significant concentration of it? Would that be too much for the plants?
 
hey twelve, i've been ok thanks for asking!! thank u for all your help and for the link with the deficiency on it, i can see that deficiency link being a great help with future problems i may get and problems that i've had in the past and did'nt know what it was!!! i can't express enough on just how greatful i really am for all the help i've been getting, thanks twelve and thank u all so very much!! :eek:)
 
Instead of all the airstones using air, what if some were having CO2 pumped through them, in some significant concentration of it? Would that be too much for the plants?

I think it would be pointless because the plants use CO2 through the leaves and O2 is used throught the roots. So pumping all that CO2 intot he roots would be a waste i think. But you should double check on this.

CGs
 
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