Re: [compost_tea] Pumps and Aerob-a-jet

From: Jason Austin <jason.austin_at_shaw.ca>
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 16:53:44 -0700

Hi Thomas - no comment <grin> I noticed that some folk could not find
Elaine's message so I was just passing it along.

Jason

Thomas Giannou wrote:

> Hi Jason,
>
> The equipment that generates the fine bubbles for fish tanks does not
> achieve 20 micron bubble sizes, so the application is not the same.
> The track record of the Aerob-a-jet working with aerobic bacteria in
> the sewage treatment industry doesn't remotely suggest a problem with
> too much air in suspension in the water. In fact, it shows that there
> is a significant benefit in the performance of the aerobic bacteria.
> So, there seems to be a contradiction between what the Aerob-a-jet
> people are saying and what Elaine is saying. I believe it is worth
> some investigation. It seems to me that DO has a limit no matter how
> many bubbles are present. I don't know where she came up with the
> idea of more air than water because the micro-bubbles are so small one
> can't easily see them. That sounds and looks like a lot more water
> than air. I remain skeptical. It would be interesting to see
> Elaine's data on her experiments with fine bubbles, but then I'd still
> wonder about the micro-bubbles which are different than fine bubbles.
> On the Aerob-a-jet web site, they cite quite a few people doing
> successful experiments with the Aerob-a-jet. Perhaps some of those
> could shed a little more light on the use of micro bubbles? The way I
> read what Elaine wrote, the aerobic bacteria don't like such an
> environment, but the Aerob-a-jet people claim the aerobic bacteria do
> well in such a setting.
>
> Thomas Giannou
> http://www.tandjenterprises.com
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>
> From: Jason Austin <mailto:jason.austin_at_shaw.ca>
> To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com <mailto:compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Monday, May 12, 2003 12:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Pumps and Aerob-a-jet
>
> Thomas Giannou wrote:
>
>> Hi Peter,
>>
>> I don't remember seeing anything from Elaine on this topic. But
>> who knows, she sometimes replies but doesn't copy text from the
>> message.
>
> Sometimes ? <grin>
>
> Here is Elaines's message from May 6th under the heading of Simple
> CT maker
>
>> Compost tea brewers are a bit different from fish tanks. Fish
>> don't get growing quite as fast as bacteria. When you feed
>> bacteria well, they can use up all the oxygen in any amount of
>> water within minutes, and therefore the aeration rate needs to be
>> high enough to offset bacterial and fungal growth.
>>
>> The fine bubbles are not the preferable condition. The fine
>> bubbles are really hard on the fungi and seem to break them up
>> and shatter them.
>>
>> If you suspend fine bubbles in the water, by over-aerating, you
>> end up with problems. Too much air, and not enough water
>> (supersaturation?), and the organisms will be killed because the
>> environment become too oxidizing.
>>
>> Cute, huh? Not too much, not too little..... Goldilocks strikes
>> again.
>>
>> We need some additional testing on the fine bubble versus coarse
>> bubble situation. The fine bubble work we've done suggests that
>> fine bubbles are quite detrimental. The bigger bubbles seem to
>> do a better job of extracting hte organisms from the tea, and
>> keeping things as aerated as possible.
>>
>> Always something more to know. So, what is the optimal aeration
>> rate? Depends on how much food you add, the compost you use, the
>> temperature of the water.
>>
>> Check the www.magicsoil.com web site. Some interesting insights
>> there about aeration.
>>
>> Elaine Ingham
>> President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
>> www.soilfoodweb.com
>
> Jason
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> <http://rd.yahoo.com/M=251812.3170658.4537139.1261774/D=egroupweb/S=1707418612:HM/A=1564415/R=0/*http://www.netflix.com/Default?mqso=60164784&partid=3170658>
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> compost_tea-unsubscribe_at_yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>.






Received on Mon May 12 2003 - 21:50:29 EDT

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.0 : Tue Feb 07 2012 - 14:29:14 EST