Keeping airstones at bottom of Reservoir

[Cugel]

How do you keep your airstones at the bottom of your bubblers and reservoirs, and stop them floating to the surface?

 

 

Is there anything toxic in plywood (the glue maybe?) or is it okay to use, in the nutrient solution, to hold the airstones down?

 

 

All replies appreciated!

P.S. like my new Avatar?!

 

Cugel.

[Luke Skywalker]

Uhhh, never had an airstone do that to me.... usually more than heavy enough to hold themselves down.... what kind of airstone are you using?

[loylty gets u nothing]

wow wat sort of stone are u using?

maybe use some silicone to hold it down?

u may have to by a bigger heavier stone

all the best

bil

[Al B. Fuct]

How do you keep your airstones at the bottom of your bubblers and reservoirs, and stop them floating to the surface?

Is there anything toxic in plywood (the glue maybe?) or is it okay to use, in the nutrient solution, to hold the airstones down?

 

I use "bubble curtains" which have a plastic foam tube on the outside and a flexible stainless steel core. This keeps them on the bottom of the tank. Normal airstones made from glued sand only last a couple of months in acidic nute solns on the high and outside before they disintegrate. Bubble curtains last years and years, just need to be scrubbed with a bristle brush every so often to remove nute salts.

 

If you can't find stainless cored bubble curtains, PM me. I have 4-5 on hand I'm not using. About $10/ea.

[Cugel]

Oh well I thought they floated for some reason... and the last time I used an airstone, it was the small 3 inch one, and maybe it was moving around, actually, and I wanted to keep it stationary.

 

But as you do not have this problem, I probably wont have it either. I have the 12 inch airstones, and a kickass 4 outlet 1900L/hr Aquaone airpump ($49.00 from pet shop)

 

I'm building a bubbler, and wanted to plan for that contingency. Had seen posts about glueing them down, but I didn't want to do that, as I would need to change them.

 

 

Al B. Fuct, thanks for the info, I will see if I can find some, they sound really good, and more economical than purchasing new airstones every few months.

[everest]

mate don't glue it down or use lead weights or owt like that ....

 

i use a stiff section of air pipe in the bottom of my bubbler , so it 'jams ' in there so to speak

 

or get a heavy mother air stone

 

ev

[Stoney]

hey there cugal

 

i just 2 different types of airstone i use the air curtains like Al has mentioned and these work great as you can bend and move them around as well as them being weighted so that they dont float around

 

the other type i use in my main res and they are just big ball airstones cost maybe $4 each from da pet store and they about 4-5cm across and work a treat i have one right near the water pump and one on the other side of the res to keep it constanly moving around

 

in my honest opinion if ya air stone is floating fuck it off and get a new one they cheap as

 

cheerz

[Chato]

actually floatin an moving airstones is quite a common problem in dwc.

 

the bubble curtains suck for dwc as do the ball type ones, the best ones to use are the airdiscs although are more expensive than other types.

 

problem with gettin an airstone that wedges into the bottom of your bucket is that it often kinks the airline as well resulting in less airflow an bubbles.

 

silicon it and it's not a problem or you can try attaching suction caps with rings on to the bottom of the tub/bucket an slip the stones thru these although they can sometimes move a bit.

 

peace

c

[Luke Skywalker]

Ceramic stones last a lot longer than their equivalent sandstone types too.

 

Never had trouble with airstones doing more than bump a bit in the bottom of the pot, never floated before....

[Chato]

I think you'll find luke it's more common in dwc because of the larger airpumps used, a pissy little 2 or 4 output airpump prolly aint gunna do it unless it's a cheap arse chinese made airstone.

 

hard to get pic of it happenin cuz of all the bubbles but i can do so if peeps want pictorial evidence.

 

peace

c