Your thoughts on Compost Tea (CT) at transplant

[OldHondaNut]

You guys got me to start my first batch of CT today. I left the 5 gallons of tap water overnight to release the chlorine. After dumping in a quart of compost and a tablespoon of Molasses, I started the bubbler this morning. I don't know why you guys bother with all the extra air for small 5 gallon batches, this Academy bubbler works great and the CT never stinks.

All I had to do is add a weight to the bubble so that it went to the bottom. 2 D batteries for 2 24 hour brewing periods before new batteries are required. Might buy a set of rechargeable batteries for the next run.

[Cole_Robbie]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Cole, que va?!? If I understand what you are saying correctly, it's that the amount of aeration is directly correlated to the water to air interface surface area. Since that is limited by the area of the circle of our 5-gal buckets, it seems as though we could greatly increase the interface area by inundating the liquid with hundreds of bubbles of varying size. Thus, for the period of time in which the bubbles are suspended and rising to the surface, the water is seeing that air interface, and the total area of interface would be much greater than that achievable by the circle surface area alone.

Isn't that the premise of the bubbles when used in fish tanks to slowly aerate and maintain a certain O2 level in the medium for the fish to survive?

When using an air pump, the bolded part accounts for about 10% of the aeration. The other 90% is from turning over the surface area of the water. When you add more bubbles, you will turn over more water.

Some sewage plants use air to aerate sewage water, and it works better, because sewage contains a lot of soap and detergents that reduce the surface tension of the water, and sometimes they use additives that help do the same thing.

Commercial fish farmers are another place to look at aeration, and most of the operations I have seen use water movement rather than air. The paddle wheel aerator is common : http://i00.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/492...el_Aerator.jpg I have also seen simple fountain pumps used in a pond.

Hydroponics systems that use air pumps are considered entry-level setups. The best and most popular grow machines use water movement to aerate. You don't need any bubbles if you make the water flow, because it turns itself over as it flows, like a running stream.

I need to get some bluegill back in my horse trough. I think the fish water would be a great starting point for compost tea.