Air Pump Timings

It would seem that everyone just says to stick the air pump on 24/7 but I've come across this guy who says that it's ok to have it on for 15 mins and off for 30.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yy5kJwdMv8 (in the comments)

Incase the link is removed or his comment he says:

Yes and No..In the past I always ran the pump 24/7 but recently I have been running it 15 minutes on 30 off with no real or perceived difference. Bottom line is its all about DO levels which are influenced by a variety of factors most notably water temperature. The cooler the water the greater the capacity of the water to retain gaseous oxygen. Unfortunately, clones root slightly better in a bath that a bit on the warm side (76-78F).

Click to expand...

Obviously standing water is not a good thing but if it's being broken up every 30 mins for a good 15 then could this pose much of a problem?

Play it safe and leave it on 24hrs in my book. The guy said it himself "bottom line its all about D/O" and this is true, so how does switching your air pump off come into this, plus theres gotta be more wear and tear on your pump keep switching it on and off all the time.

Ai, I was more thinking for cost of running as I have a 25w piston pump and can't help thinking it's gonna cost a bit to run. I might give a go once the plants have developed and see how to affects them.

you can leave 25w on 24/7 all month long and it going to cost you less then $5 a month to run, unless you live in like hawaii, it might cost you about $10. I run my 2 x 108w pumps and The cost increase was very little compared to the lights. I wouldnt worry about changing stuff for that little of pocket change, I wouldnt change something thats already proven to work, unless you want to experiment.

I say 24/7. I have been having very good results with doing it this way. And I think that I am still very new to hydro.

agree, leave the bubbler on 24/7. crap, that's what dwc is all about, letting that plant feed 24/7 and I doubt you could ever get too much oxygen to the root system. I think your plants will be healthier with constant access to oxygen, too little O2 and you could get root rot as they'd be drowning in the nutes.

I've done an unsuccessful grow one time before on DWC NOOB grow. I drowned the plants because apparently the rootzone should not be submerged all the way to where the stem begins. The root zone seems to enjoy best some of the top part to be significantly drier than the bottom part of the root. I can't find any perlite or vermiculiblahblah or volcanic or nothin'. So I'm kinda just suspending the stem and plant to grow into a scrog net later. PEACE

I usually leave roughly 1-2" of space between the bottom of my net pots and the surface of my nute solution Air roots and water roots = BEST of both worldz. DEFINATELY leave the air pump on 24/7. It should never turn off imo. When/if you do rez changes, you have to remove the plant from its "environment" anywayz. When you expose root systems to open air, they absorb all the CO2 and O2 directly which I read causes small, but noticeable growth spurts. Food for thought. Happy growing!