Recommend submersible pump for 5 gallon bucket filled with nute water

I am growing in coco and instead of having to make fresh food everyday for the plants, i was wanting to just make a lot of nutes at once (maybe once a week-ish) and fill the 5 gallon bucket up and have that food last for a long time. I know it is not good to leave food out for long periods of time b/c of pathogens and stuff, but if i kept the nute water circulating and bubbling with a pump, could i leave it set out for about a week with no problems? If so, does anyone know of a good small, cheap, and QUIET pump to stick in the bucket just to bubble the nute water and keep it fresh for a week or so?

Check out Amazon for a submersible pumps. I use a 396 GPH pump and it works great.

A couple things though:
I am in Aeroponics and have a recirculating system.

Are you planning to recirculate or drain to waste?

Pictures of your soon to be setup would help as well.

Don't put a pump in the water just to bubble it. The heat from the pump constantly running will cause pathogens to grow in the water over a period of time. Use an aqarium air pump instead. The pump sits out of the water, you connect some 1/4 inch tubing to an airstone and put the airstone in the bucket.

TMG Genetics said:

Don't put a pump in the water just to bubble it. The heat from the pump constantly running will cause pathogens to grow in the water over a period of time. Use an aqarium air pump instead. The pump sits out of the water, you connect some 1/4 inch tubing to an airstone and put the airstone in the bucket.

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Ah, ok. Do you know of any quiet pumps that will do that?

TMG Genetics said:

Don't put a pump in the water just to bubble it. The heat from the pump constantly running will cause pathogens to grow in the water over a period of time. Use an aqarium air pump instead. The pump sits out of the water, you connect some 1/4 inch tubing to an airstone and put the airstone in the bucket.

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Oh my bad. Didn't realize that's what he was trying to do.

Yeah follow those directions, lol. If you put a submersible pump and just sit it in there it would probably end up like old faithful, haha.

gorillagrower0840 said:

Ah, ok. Do you know of any quiet pumps that will do that?

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Any small auqarium pump will do. All you need is a small one for a five gallon bucket. I have one one each of my fifty gallon res, you can't hear them.

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Pet-Supplies-Aquarium-Air-Pumps/zgbs/pet-supplies/2975471011

cool, thanks. Is there a limit on how long someone should leave their nutrient water sit out while being bubbled and circulated constantly with a pump? Is a week (or even 2 weeks) too long to have plant food sitting out even while being pumped?

the ph will change.

Buy a 120 volt to 12 volt dc inverter and a 12 volt bilge pump. They are just about free to run, cost very little and last forever. DO NOT use a sump pump, many have oil as a cooling agent inside and when, not if, they fail your water and plants are toast.

OOps sorry air pump, rock on

gorillagrower0840 said:

cool, thanks. Is there a limit on how long someone should leave their nutrient water sit out while being bubbled and circulated constantly with a pump? Is a week (or even 2 weeks) too long to have plant food sitting out even while being pumped?

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I go weeks at a time with my res. You have to watch the ph as it may drift depending on the nutrients you use and the other big thing is your water temp. Keep it around 75f/28c and you'll be fine. When you start getting the water over about 78 to 80 for any length of time is when you get pathogen problems. Also, keep the air stone on 24/7, you are adding dissolved oxygen to the water by doing this, your plants need dissolved oxygen. Another benefit of the air is that the more air you pump into the water, the more dissolved oxygen you get and that allows you to run the res temps in the high 70's. And the last thing, keep a lid on the bucket, you don't want light hitting the solution.

brimck325 said:

the ph will change.

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why would the ph change? would it go up or down?

if the ph does drift, does that mean the nutrient mix shouldn't be used then?

gorillagrower0840 said:

if the ph does drift, does that mean the nutrient mix shouldn't be used then?

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Either or. I've done what you are asking. I always used the nutrients and just kept an eye on the ph. If you run plain water and then add nutes when you are ready to feed, some nutes will cause the ph value to change more than others, It will even change across formulas with the same nute brands. Take for instance general hydroponics three part, micro, veg and bloom. I used to run it in hempy using the useless formula and always had issues with the ph drifting like mad no matter what I tried. After I made the switch to tables and used the useless formula I still had ph issues, it had to be watched constantly. Now I have switched to the lucas formula which only uses the micro and bloom portion of the gh nutrients. My ph issues have all but disappeared. In fact now when I start with 7.2 water from the tap and add my nutes, my ph drops overnight to about 6.0/6.1. This is fine for hydro but I add a little ph down to get it to 5.8 and it stays right there with no drift. Bottom line, monitor your ph, keep it at 5.8 if your feeding plants in hydro or 6.5 if your feeding plants in dirt.

oh yeah i am using the canna nutrients line. Coco A, coco B, rhizotonic, cannazym, and once i start flowering i will be using pk 13 and cannaboost also. I will use tap water with my nutes, which is what canna recommends for their nutes. My tap water ph is about 8.2, 8.3. one time i actually did leave the nutrient mix out for a day or two, i initially set the ph of it to 5.8, then when i checked it again later, the ph was up to 6.1. If that happens when the nute mix is being pumped, should i just add some ph down to get it back down to 5.8?

TMG Genetics said:

Don't put a pump in the water just to bubble it. The heat from the pump constantly running will cause pathogens to grow in the water over a period of time. Use an aqarium air pump instead. The pump sits out of the water, you connect some 1/4 inch tubing to an airstone and put the airstone in the bucket.

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Isnt that a question of the overall temp og the water? If it stays below 24c i dont see any problems..

Eurohigh said:

Isnt that a question of the overall temp og the water? If it stays below 24c i dont see any problems..

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Yep, if you can run the pump 24x7 in the water and keep the temps right then that works too. But I've only seen problems trying that. Air pump will 100 percent avoid that issue.

gorillagrower0840 said:

oh yeah i am using the canna nutrients line. Coco A, coco B, rhizotonic, cannazym, and once i start flowering i will be using pk 13 and cannaboost also. I will use tap water with my nutes, which is what canna recommends for their nutes. My tap water ph is about 8.2, 8.3. one time i actually did leave the nutrient mix out for a day or two, i initially set the ph of it to 5.8, then when i checked it again later, the ph was up to 6.1. If that happens when the nute mix is being pumped, should i just add some ph down to get it back down to 5.8?

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Yes. just adjust the ph if you need to, no big deal. I'm not a fan of all the additives. I just use the lucas formula with a little koolbloom in week 5.

TMG Genetics said:

Yep, if you can run the pump 24x7 in the water and keep the temps right then that works too. But I've only seen problems trying that. Air pump will 100 percent avoid that issue.

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I agree that the Air pump is a better solution.. But both should work