oxygenate (aerate) plant water before feeding?

Does the Chlorine in Tap Water Harm Beneficial Bacteria? | Alb
These are lab results from different samples of soil using tap from the faucet, garden hose, and letting sit out to evap.

This from Clemson University
g. Chlorine (Cl) Chlorine is an essential plant nutrient element, existing in the soil as the chloride (Cl- ) anion. This anion is abundant in nature and chloride excesses are more common that its deficiency. Crop quality can be affected by the use of chloride-containing fertilizers. For tobacco as well as potato and tomato, either potassium sulfate (K2SO4) or potassium nitrate (KNO3) is the recommended potassium fertilizer source rather than potassium chloride (muriate of potash, KCl). For blueberries, acid-forming fertilizers that do not contain chloride are preferred. Chlorine exists in the soil solution as the chloride (Cl- ) anion. List of Chloride-containing Commercial Fertilizers: Source Formula Water solubility %Cl Calcium chloride CaCl2 Soluble 50 Potassium chloride KCl Soluble 48
 
are there any nutrients/additives/etc that shouldn't be added to aerated nutrient solution until after aerating?
 
tangerinegreen555 said:
I always wondered what an actual oxygen tank would do for this? Other than making you more prone to fire...that oxygen would go somewhere after it bubbled out...wouldn't want it in a tiny room at the time.
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The only thing extra oxygen will do in a small room is make you feel more energetic. If there is a fire in the room it will burn faster with extra O2 but O2 itself does not burn.

I was thinking of doing what you proposed. Getting a tank of O2 and feeding that into a box with a flow gauge to enrich the air going to the stones. I think it would be overkill and wasteful to feed the O2 directly to the stones pure as so much just comes off the top. Would be an interesting experiment to do a side by side with two tubs. :)

:peace:
 
KryptoBud said:
Chlorine/chloride is a micro nutrient used by plants in small amounts. Tap water isn't going to hurt anything.
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Chloride is needed by plants in micro doses. Free chlorine is poison to them. Apples and oranges. Small amounts won't really hurt anything but water should either be left open in a wide container for 24 hours or an airstone in something with a narrow opening like a water jug for a few hours.

Many places use chloramine to disinfect drinking water and it needs special filtration like RO to remove it. Call your town or water suppler and ask for a report. Should be free and can likely be emailed to you. You may want to switch to RO water when you see it. Better for you and your plants.

If you don't know what it all means post it here and I'll let ya know what kind of nasties if any are in there.

:peace:
 
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komoshan said:
are there any nutrients/additives/etc that shouldn't be added to aerated nutrient solution until after aerating?
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Not really. I'm aerating a 5 gal jug of RO water that I added potassium silicate to and the pH went up to 8.7. I started adding pH down 1ml at a time while aerating so that it is mixing the acid in well while it aerates the water. Put 5mls silicate in and after 5mls of pH down it's at 6.3. Put another 0.5ml in and will check it when I get up. Using it to water soilless plants and will be adding pH perfect nutes before watering. I also put 3.5ml of 35% peroxide in there to make sure it's as sterile as possible.

:peace:
 
I'm no expert. But I read that its the bubbles popping that aerates the water. And not the injection of air, I know you can't inject air with out making bubbles so this is probably a mude point. Feel free to correct me if this is inaccurate.
 
Won't do much for soil O2 levels but aeration does keep my rain water totes smelling fresh, also with a splash of H2O2 added now and then.
 
OldMedUser said:
The only thing extra oxygen will do in a small room is make you feel more energetic. If there is a fire in the room it will burn faster with extra O2 but O2 itself does not burn.

I was thinking of doing what you proposed. Getting a tank of O2 and feeding that into a box with a flow gauge to enrich the air going to the stones. I think it would be overkill and wasteful to feed the O2 directly to the stones pure as so much just comes off the top. Would be an interesting experiment to do a side by side with two tubs. :)

:peace:
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i like your idea, in concept, but it has a problem, if you were to somehow fuse more O2 into the water it cannot hold the extra O2 without pressure applied. sorta like with carbonated water once it is no longer under pressure the CO2 leaves the water naturally. it is called decompression, think blood stream with divers with nitrogen and other gases when returning to the surface.so with no pressure, no added gases. just think of a soft drink once it is opened and exposed to the lower pressure in our atmosphere.
simply the physical movement of water touching the atmospheric air is what add oxygen, but keep in mind the oxygen once the water is "saturated" you can't really add more under atmospheric pressure
unless my understanding of it all is off
 
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Bareback said:
I'm no expert. But I read that its the bubbles popping that aerates the water. And not the injection of air, I know you can't inject air with out making bubbles so this is probably a mude point. Feel free to correct me if this is inaccurate.
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Actually the bubbles dissolve into the water as they rise through the water column. The finer the bubbles the more surface area is exposed to the water and the more gases in a fixed volume of air will get into the water. If the bubbles are deep enough down they can disappear before reaching the surface. That's why airstones are used instead of just sticking the end of the hose into the water alone.

:peace:
 
greasemonkeymann said:
i like your idea, in concept, but it has a problem, if you were to somehow fuse more O2 into the water it cannot hold the extra O2 without pressure applied. sorta like with carbonated water once it is no longer under pressure the CO2 leaves the water naturally. it is called decompression and happens in the body and blood stream to divers with nitrogen and other gases when returning to the surface.so with no pressure, no added gases. just think of a soft drink once it is opened and exposed to the lower pressure in our atmosphere.
simply the physical movement of water touching the atmospheric air is what add oxygen, but keep in mind the oxygen once the water is "saturated" you can't really add more under atmospheric pressure
unless my understanding of it all is off
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Nailed it! :clap:

:peace:
 
Bareback said:
I'm no expert. But I read that its the bubbles popping that aerates the water. And not the injection of air, I know you can't inject air with out making bubbles so this is probably a mude point. Feel free to correct me if this is inaccurate.
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no it's nothing to do with the bubbles really, it's simply the movement of the water to the air.
the air is roughly 20.5% oxygen, that mixed with the water is what oxygenates it
you could easily oxygenate water by no bubbles at all, in fact most serious aquariums don't use bubbles at all, simply water movement through a filter, with the filter typically being exposed to the air not only to oxygenate the water but to also house beneficial microbes that clean the water of the nitrate/nitrites
sorta the same concept as organics really, only instead of the microbes cycling the nutrients they are consuming/converting the fish waste
but it's the same stuff
so bubbles DO add oxygen, but not how you would think, you could bubble with pure nitrogen bubbles and that would oxygenate the water merely by the surface agitation
 
Kingrow1 said:
Most water companies are fast turning to chloramides not chlorine so the chlorine issue is fast becoming a non point, my water companies shit hot but even they run chloramides over chlorine now.
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This is true, however, chloramines are non-volatile, so will not dissipate. Less corrosive than chlorine, but still caustic.

That be said, I use tap without issue (we have "good" water here).


Edit: Anyone ever see how the water in/around the large bait tanks/nets (boat launch, open water) are aerated? That's how it's done.
 
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OldMedUser said:
Chloride is needed by plants in micro doses. Free chlorine is poison to them. Apples and oranges. Small amounts won't really hurt anything but water should either be left open in a wide container for 24 hours or an airstone in something with a narrow opening like a water jug for a few hours.

Many places use chloramine to disinfect drinking water and it needs special filtration like RO to remove it. Call your town or water suppler and ask for a report. Should be free and can likely be emailed to you. You may want to switch to RO water when you see it. Better for you and your plants.

If you don't know what it all means post it here and I'll let ya know what kind of nasties if any are in there.

:peace:
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Water being left out for 24 hours is more forum bro science. The link posted above has several tests done with water being left out for different lengths of time. The results of the tests for the water and soil are at the bottom of the page.

As for chloride and chlorine being apples to oranges, chloride is a compound of chlorine. Look at any periodic table of elements you'll find chlorine listed not chloride because it's a compound element. Another place you can find chlorine listed is on the labels of fertilizers, often times with concentrations higher than or equal to boron, cobalt, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, sodium, and zinc.
 
Bugeye said:
Won't do much for soil O2 levels but aeration does keep my rain water totes smelling fresh, also with a splash of H2O2 added now and then.
Click to expand...

Increasing the DO in water you are going to use with potted plants does help. I make sure to have a cheap airpump running in my water jug at least a couple hours before watering time to charge it up. RO or distilled water is fairly low in DO so aerating boosts O2 levels in those.

As the pots dry they pull in air and that replenishes O2 in the root zone. Overwatering prevents that so anaerobic bacteria, the bad guys, go to work and root rot sets in. The aerobic bacteria, the good guys, need O2 to stay healthy as does the plant itself so the more O2 in the water used the better for both.

Often people water when they stick a finger in and it's dry in the top couple of inches where if they picked up the pot and it is still heavy that means there is lots of water lower down. Adding more water before that gets used up deprives the roots lower down of O2 and they can rot. This can spread but it often just kills the lower roots and slows plant growth as it has less roots to grow with.

The pots should feel light before watering then they should be watered fully to soak the whole root zone. 3 days between waterings seems to be optimal so if you have to water daily it's time for a bigger pot. Smaller plants in a big pot may take a week or more to need watering but that's normal and more frequent waterings will be needed as the plant grows.

The way I like to water is to pour the water in when the soil is dry and much of it goes right thru into the tray as it will run down the sides. I let it sit in the water for a half hour to suck up all it can hold. If it's all gone I add some more until there is water left over after another half hour then suck that out with a turkey baster or a shop vac. Then I know the whole root zone is saturated with no dry areas that will kill the roots in those spots.

:peace:
 
Odin* said:
This is true, however, chloramines are non-volatile, so will not dissipate. Less corrosive than chlorine, but still caustic.

That be said, I use tap without issue (we have "good" water here).
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Both will have their own cycles of breakdown but neither types of tap water will affect soil or hydro grows due to the miniscule amounts. Tap water despite its chlorine is very much alive with microbes.
 
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