Am I the only one using Air lift water pumps

U

Unrestrictedgrowth@

Member
So I have been growing recirculating deep water culture systems for 10 years and I have never used a submerged or external pump to circulate water. I use air lift columns, it’s a tube in your reservoir connected to one end of a circuit of plants that displaces the water held inside by means of air via air pump. This results in circulation(very slow).it works spectacular and I have never had to run chillers thanks to the heat reduction.just wondering am I the only one?
 
U

Unrestrictedgrowth@

Member
No the airstones are just for oxygenating the water…another 4 airlines supply the tubes that are displacing the water and circulating the water. You can see the water coming out of the elbows at the top of these tubes in my pictures. The airlines come in at the bottom, and when the tubes are full of water submerged in the reservoir, the air pushes the water out of the tubes. When I get home from work, I will post some pictures of my columns, a.k.a. tubes.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
it's a neat idea. similar to a GH waterfarm

i always thought a waterfall inside a res was a better option IMO. more DO and it also keeps nutes well mixed
 
Drop That Sound

Drop That Sound

Well-Known Member
Even if you did have problems with heat, you could probably hook an intake tube up to the air pump, and suck in cold air from inside a freezer (or a coil placed in front of an AC, etc). It would cool the water off much better than just pumping cold air into the air stones, because its actually circulating the water too..
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
amneziaHaze said:
if you have an airstone why do you need more? dont the airstones move the water?
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i allways thaught the more the better, i used to put insaine amounts of airstones in my hydro tanks, still not as much disolved oxygen as misters. and misters do a better job then air stones
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
Drop That Sound said:
Even if you did have problems with heat, you could probably hook an intake tube up to the air pump, and suck in cold air from inside a freezer (or a coil placed in front of an AC, etc). It would cool the water off much better than just pumping cold air into the air stones, because its actually circulating the water too..
Click to expand...
if you have problems with heat, get a small RV 12v /gas operated fridge, make two holes in the door and just cram as much tubeing in the fridge as you can, job done
 
U

Unrestrictedgrowth@

Member
Drop That Sound said:
Even if you did have problems with heat, you could probably hook an intake tube up to the air pump, and suck in cold air from inside a freezer (or a coil placed in front of an AC, etc). It would cool the water off much better than just pumping cold air into the air stones, because its actually circulating the water too..
Click to expand...
I’m holding around 68f and the room temp inside is around 78f.I hold cold temps on the outside of the room along with the pumps and I haven’t gone higher than 71 and that’s in summer .also my top feed tanks are very cold.that’s a brilliant idea maybe this summer if needed I’ll convert a chest freezer. I’m running 120gallons of water between two systems
 
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