Part 2 – https://youtu.be/BsF8HeTxURM
Same Test Hydroponic Peppers – https://youtu.be/2cscaOpIZyU

White LED VS RED/BLUE/WHITE LED Grow Test Ep.1 2018

In this video I grow basil hydroponically to gather data on whether or not aerating water has significant benefits. What is happening when you aerate water?

These links are referenced because in part 4 of the series, I aerated the water for the hydro grow. This is what inspired me to do this experiment.
LED Test Part 1 (Information only) – https://youtu.be/WPAy79_Kh-o
LED Test Part 2 (Soil Grow) – https://youtu.be/HawgP5SXPko
LED Test Part 3 (PAR Info only) – https://youtu.be/RuhiFe3WcQ0
LED Test Part 4 (Hydro Grow) – https://youtu.be/nTVAvxMgLNU
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Kratky vs DWC – Aeration vs No Aeration (Hydroponic Basil) Part 1

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15 Comments

  • Marty McFly

    When you aerate – process wise you must balance pH after either the water has reached max oxygenation or the supply of aeration is at maximum effect. Stops any 'overnight' pH drifts due to oxygenation.

    As for alkalinity – you should be exhausting those buffers prepping the water in the first place. Just like using something stable and preferably strong to alter pH – yes strong – weak acids have a far more reversible action (lemon juice, some vinegars, phosphoric acid).

    Do the above correctly and all you have affecting pH from the hydro is plant feeding and actual evaporation – the aeration affects nothing, you should be at max oxygenation.

    The larger the volume of water in your reservoir – the slower your pH will drift when all is right and well.

    That's how you concisely cover pH and aeration in relation to water for hydroponics.

    Doesn't even touch on how photosynthesis cycles and heat changes create changes in pH, but I digress, this is about pH and aeration.

  • FoolWise

    Hi – cool video format. A quick request to make it even better: As someone not from the field at all, it would be really usefull if when characterizing stuff you could name quantities and their units. E.g. you characherized the tab water with 140ppm – of what? By later context, I assume chorine? This is not clear, since in many countries, tab water is clean enough to not to need chlorinating. You characterized your light by 6000K – do you mean lumen?

  • Richard Owens

    When I grew with DWC, I found that one problem with the standard method is that the airstones used for aeration get clogged with salts from the added nutrients and their output is reduced. To address that problem, rather than using an air pump and an airstone, I used an aquarium power head that had an aeration function. The way that works is a short length of clear tubing – like you would use with an air pump – is inserted into the output nozzle of the power head with the other end above the water line. Then, when the pump is running, the flow of water past that tubing creates a vacuum that pulls air into the stream and mixes it with the water – thereby, aerating it. This method is far more consistent over time and requires no replacement of airstones, or monitoring their condition. The power head also produces much better circulation of the nutrient solution across the roots. Making this change made a noticeable improvement in the performance of the system overall.

    Of course, I no longer grow using the DWC method. I now use an ebb and flow/flood and drain system. The roots are flooded with nutrient solution for 15 minutes every hour and then their containers are allowed to drain completely back into the nutrient reservoir which exposes the entire root structure to air, while leaving them wet with nutrient solution.. This process aerates both the roots and the nutrient solution. The roots get aerated during the drain portion of the cycles. And, the nutrient solution gets aerated during the flood portion of the cycles – through the movement of the nutrient solution through the containers and draining back into the reservoir. The action of the nutrient solution falling back into the reservoir causes splashing and disturbance of the surface, which aerates the solution.

  • Jeff Papineau

    Great video. I appreciate your science outlook. You seem to contradict yourself about aeration, PH, and PH "stabilization" vs "PH creep" which is what most need to deal with as the water sits in a container with roots in it… AS water evaporates, it will climb in PH faster, yes? And thus the water looks more contaminated, higher salts, and we need to change out the water more often, yes? And, we need to check the PH more often, as many plants crave acids, and are not happy in hydro over 6.5, THUS, we are constantly fighting PH creeping up and up over time as water evaporates, and is a major issue on how often water needs to be changed out.

  • joetothesanders

    How could I find out which plants don't require aeration and which do? Is it that all leafy plants don't while fruit bearing ones do? Or is it much more complicated than that?