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View Full Version : Oxygen machine for Grow-Beds?



jackalope
05-18-2009, 10:15 AM
pkgross's thread on aerating GBs to get more oxygen to the plants got me to thinking; Speaking of oxygenation, the house my son bought here in Montana, had an oxygen machine in it ...... (I've got to bring it over here and see if it works) .... you know, one of those machines that people use at night when they have to have oxygen lines stuck up their nose? Well, I'm wondering if the oxygen from that is pure oxygen, and if it is, would pure oxygen be too much for plants and fish ...... If I get no knowledgeable answers, I think I'll try it and see ....... I've got to do some Googling too ......... I'll have to re-design my GBs, and run some supply tubes under the gravel, but if it would improve the oxygenation of the water, and quit rotting the base of the plants and the roots, it seems to me that this could be a good thing ;)

badflash
05-18-2009, 03:29 PM
From all I've seen, it isn't so much the addition of oxygen, but the exposure to air that helps. Many plants just won't tolerate having their roots under water 100% of the time.

My mentor Mike Sipe uses oxygen generator to intensify the number of tilapia per cubic meter to amazing levels. His trick was to dig a well 150' deep and use pure oxygen as a lift pump from the bottom of the well. The water coming out would be nearly completely saturated with oxygen. He did some tests and found that the PPM concentration of oxygen in the exit of the lift pump was directly correlated to the depth that the oxygen was added down to about 300'. 35'=35 ppm, 100'=100ppm, 300'=300ppm.

In any event, what I'd suggest is a growbed of at least 1' and use flood & drain as deep as you can up to about 1" from the surface for plants that rot under water.

jackalope
05-19-2009, 01:08 PM
I put the oxygen on for about 5 or 6 hours a day ...... I figure that more oxygen can't hurt ;) I used 18 gallon roughnecks for growbeds at first ..... the water and gravel caused them to bulge so bad, I didn't trust them not to burst, so that's why I went to the shorter ones.