Disolved oxygen meter

[watercatwn6535nd]

any one ever mess with a disolved oxygen meter. is there a diy way to build one out there. I heard they were expensive but never looked into them. i'm nver have a issue but i'm curiuos to know what my readings are and how much changing stones and volume effects the reading. at one point i had a stone in under every plant in the system and now i have one duel fuish pump from wally world with two small blue round stones and all seems to be the same.

[smurf]

We did this with fish and came up with a solution that most likely will not sit well with people on this site.
Air stones really do not allow the air to absorb well into the water. More air can be absorbed by surface agitation of falling water then air stones them self to say. If you dont have a lot of water falling into it them, yes the air stones are going to crate the surface water movement that you need for the air to get absorbed into the water. So in theory the more you can brake up the water the more it will become enriched with air. However i also believe that water can only hold 11 parts of oxygen, and no more. Thats why the have the foggers out there for hydroponics, because it will be 100% humidity and 100% air.

I hope this helps your thinking.
- smurf

some videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oAQh8kH94E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTzzJV0UTvs

[GpsFrontier]

If you dont have a lot of water falling into it them, yes the air stones are going to crate the surface water movement

Well, the idea is about surface area rather water movement. The Smaller the air bubbles rising through the water the more surface area of those bubbles there is, even if it's the same exact volume of air. The only reason falling water is able to gather more oxygen is again surface area. A drop of water falling in the air has a large surface area and as it falls through the air the water molecule are circulating thought the water drop. The farther the water drop falls in the air the better chances each water molecule has to reach the surface of the water drop, where it can pick up the oxygen molecules from the air. Falling or not it is all about surface area rather than the water movement and/or direction.

Say you have a one gallon volume bubble of air, then you take that same gallon volume of air and split in two, so now you have 2 half gallon sized bubbles. It wont be twice as much surface area because they are smaller, but by far there is more surface area in the 2 bubbles than the one bubble. Now take that same gallon sized bubble and turn it into 10,000 bubbles using an air stone, now you have significantly increased the surface area. Now use a air stone that puts out 1,000,000 air bubbles for the same one gallon volume of air, now you have significantly increase the surface area once again. Lets say it was possible to create an air stone that was able to make air bubbles the size of a single molecule, well now you have created fog.

the air stones are going to crate the surface water movement that you need for the air to get absorbed into the water.

The idea behind the air stones is to create smaller bubbles to provide more surface area as the bubbles rise through the water. Not water movement, that's just a byproduct of the bubbles rising through the water. Also the longer it takes the air bubbles to rise to the top of the water, the more time the bubbles have to be in contact with the water, providing that surface area.

So in theory the more you can brake up the water the more it will become enriched with air

Yes, as I mentioned if you could create air bubbles the size of molecules, you would wind up with fog.

However i also believe that water can only hold 11 parts of oxygen, and no more.

I'm not a chemist so I don't know at what point water becomes saturated with oxygen.

Thats why the have the foggers out there for hydroponics, because it will be 100% humidity and 100% air.

Again, I'm not a chemist, but 100% humidity and 100% air is misleading because that adds up to 200%. Rather it would mean 50% water and 50% air to create 100% humidity. At which point you basically have a cloud.

any one ever mess with a disolved oxygen meter. is there a diy way to build one out there. I heard they were expensive but never looked into them.

I have done a little checking on the disolved oxygen meters, and I don't think you will find a build your own design. That would be kind of like finding a build your own PPM meter. I think the ones I saw ran about $400-$500.

at one point i had a stone in under every plant in the system and now i have one duel fuish pump from wally world with two small blue round stones and all seems to be the same.

I wouldn't be surprised, I'm sure there's a saturation point where the water wont be able to take anymore oxygen molecules without becoming unstable, so it may be saturated already. Also factors such as the water temp and how deep the stones are in the water, also play a factor in the air stones efficacy. The plants themselves may be getting all they need both ways.

I have somewhat looked into Ozone Generators. I didn't find any build your own plans for them, but did find that they add a significant amount of oxygen to hydroponic systems, as well as being a purification system for hydroponics. Though they can have issues to deal with like toxic fumes that you need to be clear of, and a special reservoir setup to take best advantage of it. And highly unstable with 3 oxygen molecules as apposed to 2 with H2O2. Basically not for small reservoirs but they work well for commercial operations. In looking into them I found out about using UV lights as a form of disease control witch led to my thread in this forum: Any thoughts on using UV lights as a form of disease control? but still has no reply's.

[smurf]

I may have said it wrong, however Its 100% of the volume of air can hold 100% humidity. While water can hold I think 11% oxygen.