Re: [compost_tea] Re: Bob, Ted on pumps & sugar & Newton

From: Ted Peterson <ted.peterson_at_tcsn.net>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 15:02:33 -0800


  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Kirk Leonard
  To: Compost Tea Group
  Sent: Monday, February 23, 2004 1:30 PM
  Subject: [compost_tea] Re: Bob, Ted on pumps & sugar & Newton


  Hey, I know something about this too... Bob's right Ted. Ver-ry unlikely
  you're gonna find a 5cfm air pump for US$45 (even used, unless broken;).
  Would that you could get a 1cfm pump for that, or new at $75-100? A $45
  aquarium pump is unlikely to produce even .5cfm under pressure. In five
  gallon buckets, one can be made to work ok, though, I've been convinced.

>> I bought the pump two years ago at my local fish store. It's made by =
Optima and pumps 5000cc/min at 4psi. I mis-wrote the specs. However, it w=
orks in a 5gal bucket. You can use several little ones but I found better r=
esults using those 6" Koi stones.

  I have to assume that anyone doing this the first time is going to be usi=
ng commercial compost. That stuff can be pretty lame not active like mine =
or the Alaskan stuff so a little more carbs wouldn't hurt. All we are look=
ing for at the beginning is bacterial multiples because, as I has said befo=
re and will say again, it all depends on the compost. I can't be sure that=
 the compost has fungi that can be extracted.

  By the way, I have brewed lots of tea with this little brewer and am now =
using it to grow nematodes and protoza with some slight alterations. I con=
verted it into a chemostat after a suggestion by someone on this list about=
 growing protoza and such. I have also used that pump in a 30 G brewer I m=
ade from a trash can and a mixing system to move the water through the air =
flow with some success. I tend to stay away from mechanical solutions beca=
use they are the first to break down. But I designed a system that works.

  I found an impellor from a company called Thurgood that works really well=
 if put in the bottom of a 4" pvc pipe with the aerator above the impellor =
and inlets at the top by the water line. You want the inlets just below th=
e water line. You want the impellor at the bottom about 3" above the compo=
st inside the tube. You can screen the tube if you want but I found that i=
t doesn't matter. Here is what it looks like roughly:
   ________
   | |
   | |<----- Motor assembly
   ||___||
    | | |
    | | | <---- 4" PVC
    | | |
    |ooo| <---- Water input holes. They are small and there's a bunch.
    | | |
    | |A| <---- Aerator inside pipe.
    | |A|
    | |<---- Shaft from motor to impellor.
    | | |
    |sss| <---- Impellor
    | |
       /\
          |_______ Water/tea comes out here..

  The motor I used for this thing is a DC 13.5 volt moter I got from an onl=
ine NASA surplus store. I had to figure out how to attach the impellor dri=
ve shaft to the motor, waterproof the motor housing, meke sure the shaft at=
 the bottom stayed aligned (I did this with a piece of plastic that I put t=
hrough slots cut in the pvc and fixed into place with epoxy. The shaft thr=
eads through a hole in the plastic guide that is centered from the motor ho=
using above. I tried it at different lengths and even tried reversing the =
impellor which also worked but clogged when compost got in the impellor sys=
tem. Remember, all my systems use freely suspended compost. I do not beli=
eve in bags or chambers of any kind. For a shaft, I used a hollow brass ro=
d. I tried aluminum (Look up CEC and you will know why. It didn't work an=
d broke done too fast.)

  I have a modification (no aerator) of this same thing in a small brewer t=
hat is solar powered. It has been working great.

  Newton's Second Law has to deal with energy and energy conversion.

  Ted Peterson
  Earth-Wise/Spirit of the Earth



Received on Mon Feb 23 2004 - 23:05:32 EST

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