Air pump and stone question hydro noob

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Smokenpassout

Well-Known Member
The pumps and stones that came with my 5 gallon dwc seem pretty weak. They dont seem to stir up a whole lot of water. I am considering adding one more pump and airstone to each bucket. Will this improve growth? I did buy one from the pet store, a large round disc style stone, and the smallest pump they had (said 5 gallon). I placed it in the water, turned on, and nothing! Not a bubble, just the pump humming? I returned it, but noticed it said something about letting the stone soak for an hour for best result? My other pumps and stones worked right off the bat. Do I need a larger pump for bigger airstones? Maybe a 10 gallon pump or bigger? The disc style stones did come in small, medium and the large that I bought. What type of stones and pumps do you prefer? Not opposed to ordering online.
 
Alaric

Alaric

Well-Known Member
Smokenpassout said:
The pumps and stones that came with my 5 gallon dwc seem pretty weak. They dont seem to stir up a whole lot of water. I am considering adding one more pump and airstone to each bucket. Will this improve growth? I did buy one from the pet store, a large round disc style stone, and the smallest pump they had (said 5 gallon). I placed it in the water, turned on, and nothing! Not a bubble, just the pump humming? I returned it, but noticed it said something about letting the stone soak for an hour for best result? My other pumps and stones worked right off the bat. Do I need a larger pump for bigger airstones? Maybe a 10 gallon pump or bigger? The disc style stones did come in small, medium and the large that I bought. What type of stones and pumps do you prefer? Not opposed to ordering online.
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Pics?

How many buckets/plants?

Watts of flower lighting?

Why not recirculation with an inline pump (heat issue). This opens the way for much, much easier nute changes and eliminates the seemingly constant air stone maintenance.

You may get more feedback if you posted your question in the DWC sub forum.

A~~~
 
S

Smokenpassout

Well-Known Member
Alaric said:
Pics?

How many buckets/plants?

Watts of flower lighting?

Why not recirculation with an inline pump (heat issue). This opens the way for much, much easier nute changes and eliminates the seemingly constant air stone maintenance.

You may get more feedback if you posted your question in the DWC sub forum.

A~~~
Click to expand...
Two 5 gallon dwc buckets. Approx 350 watt LED, for starters. Have more light for later but both buckets have jus healthy seedlings for now. Buckets are 5.8 PH and 78F Tent temperature and 78F water temperature
 

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WeedFreak78

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
Smokenpassout said:
So you use this one pump to run 4 airstones, 2 in each resevoir? How big are your resevoirs?
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No, 1 pump runs (2) - 2"dia X 4" cylinder stone for each res. up to 10 gals. I run that setup in a 3 gal dwc and in multiple 10 gal hydro res's. If you think you'll be expanding look into a bigger commercial pump, i grew my op slowly..2 dwc buckets at a time..so now i have multiple small air pumps all hooked to a common manifold feeding my res's..it's not very efficient
 
DukeO

DukeO

Member
Smokenpassout said:
The pumps and stones that came with my 5 gallon dwc seem pretty weak. They dont seem to stir up a whole lot of water. I am considering adding one more pump and airstone to each bucket. Will this improve growth? I did buy one from the pet store, a large round disc style stone, and the smallest pump they had (said 5 gallon). I placed it in the water, turned on, and nothing! Not a bubble, just the pump humming? I returned it, but noticed it said something about letting the stone soak for an hour for best result? My other pumps and stones worked right off the bat. Do I need a larger pump for bigger airstones? Maybe a 10 gallon pump or bigger? The disc style stones did come in small, medium and the large that I bought. What type of stones and pumps do you prefer? Not opposed to ordering online.
Click to expand...
I run GH dual pumps with 2" cylinders in 5gal DWC buckets. With temps 75f and below I would run 4 buckets with one pump. Over 75f I only run two buckets per. Those big piston pumps put out to much heat without a chiller for me to use.

1 watt per gallon minimum and closer to 2 watts if your running over 75f. I want a lot of motion in my buckets. Not just a higher DO.

I found 2" cylinders work much better then those flat ones for me. I can even hear the pumps working harder trying to run those kinds.

I run z7 water treatment with GH 3part and have never had a stone clog. For that mater. There is never a need to even clean them.

I have tried at lest 12 pumps. GH daul's have by far worked the best and for the longest for me.
 
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BurlingtonBam

Active Member
How many LPM are your pumps? And how many LPM's are you feeding to each bucket? If the pump is 7.5 LPM and you split it between 2 buckets its likely not enough air bubbles for it. More air for the plants is almost always better. I run about 22.5 LPM to each 15 gallon bucket and in the future I still plan on upgrading that. I'm checking it out though to see how much of a difference it makes in sizes of containers though. I have 4 plants in DWC 18 gallon tote with 22.5 LPM worth of pumps and also 2 - 5 gallon buckets with 15 LPM each with 1 plant. More air is almost always better though. Might think about upgrading depending on how much you're running.
 
Flagg420

Flagg420

Well-Known Member
I got a 7.8L dual output, like above said, pair of 2x4 stones in each 5gal bucket....

I will NEVER got back to anything less.... The rest of my system runs off a commercial pump that came with an undercurrent system im not currently running... so hella lotta air... turbulent water.... and the roots and plants LOVE IT....

Try n make sure the pump is somewhere its getting cold air to pump into your res, cuz, why not...
 
WeedFreak78

WeedFreak78

Well-Known Member
Your res temps are going to influence it also..i can get away with less air in the cooler times of the year when my res's stay under 70F. This time of year they start climbing into the lower/mid 70's and without enough air i start having root issues. Cold water holds more O2.
 
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