TheGreenHornet
Well-Known Member
buy a high output air pump. you cant have too much oxygen in your water. ** it will also kill algae caused by high temps**How exactly did you "add more oxygen" ?
I had 31.2 Liters of air total, for 16.6 Lpm of air going through each res, with each res somewhere between 12 and 15 gallons... normally this would be fine, but because I have high temperatures in my grow space, and because I have a water pump constantly recirculating the water at the bottom of each reservoir, my water temperature is around 75 deg F. (residual heat from the pump)
Warmer temps cause algae
I then noticed some smells and algae during week 1 and 2, so I ordered two more 15 Lpm pumps, and some air rings with weights attached - pretty much doubling the amount of dissolved oxygen in each of my reservoirs.
most people have their water at 65, and try to keep it under and around 65 F. The cooler water is, the more oxygen it can hold.
I refuse to buy a water chiller for each res,. because they cost like 300 bucks for a bottom of the line model
So I pump massive amounts of air into my res - its solves problems. last grow my res temps got up to 80 F, but were mostly at 78 F (extremely warm) , I was amazed that my plants survived, but then again I was pumping 16 Lpm into a 5 gal res. (filled to 4gal)