Compressor for Aerater

[surfacefeeder]

How does this sound for a DYI aerator. I took my air compressor with a 40 psi max nozzel. Then filled a bleach bottle with water. Then tied the the air compressor nozzel to the bleach bottle with the nozzle tied open and lowered it into the pool.

I have a high alk level and reading says I need to aerate after I lower my ph. Makes alot of bubbles. Any thoughts??

Chris

[haze_1956]

From my understanding of how the Alk lowering method works, that should be extremely effective. The farther the bubbles have to travel to reach the surface, the better !
.

[sevver]

I would be extremely interested in how it works, do you think the size of the bubbles would effect anything? Like using the small tip as opposed to using a bigger opening tip? Nice, my alk is at 170 and I need to lower it but my mom and wife are dealing with most of the chemical stuff while I recover from my eye injury. I had gotten it down from around 260+ to the point it is at now though using the aerating method. I was just pointing the nozzle towards the surface though, it was working but slowly.

[DavidD]

Great idea! It's the amount of bubbles, not the size that is important. I've heard this somewhere before :o .....

Dave

[sevver]

that is what I was thinking, not the size, but the output. :D

[duraleigh]

How does this sound for a DYI aerator.Doesn't it sound pretty loud? Serious question.

[sevver]

My compressor is extrememly loud when it kicks on, my neighbors would probably love me if I was to do it that way. :o

[chem geek]

that is what I was thinking, not the size, but the output. :D
You want to maximize the total surface area of the bubbles and their contact time with the water. Smaller bubbles have a larger surface area relative to their volume and they also tend to take longer to migrate upward to the pool surface. So use the largest output (volume of air) you can but produce the smallest bubbles from that output possible for the best combination. That probably requires a type of nozzle you don't have since the smaller nozzle probably restricts the output rate. The ideal nozzle would be one that had many small nozzles to produce lots of tiny bubbles (I can hear Don Ho singing now).

If you only have a choice between a large output rate with large bubbles vs. a smaller output rate with smaller bubbles, then I agree with the earlier post that the larger output rate is probably more important.

Richard

[sevver]

I could see a manifold type fitting with caps on it with slits cut into them with a pencil grinder with a cut off wheel for this. I will make one sometime here, pvc should work, plus it would keep costs down.

[aquarium]

Or maybe a few of these (http://southernaquaculturesupply.com/products/aeration/air-stones.shtml):

http://southernaquaculturesupply.com/products/aeration/18aa.jpg

Not affiliated, yadda yadda...

[sevver]

very nice... I assume the barbed fittings have Female Pipe Thread?

[aquarium]

Dunno, but I think they have other models that do have pipe threads. I use one of their smallest stones in a 90 gallon planted aquarum to disperse compressed CO2 into the aquarium.

After doing the alkalinity lowering trick learned here, and already knowing that plants don't 'like' high alkalinity, I let the chlorine in the pool run low and then put pool water in my planted aquarium. :eek: Removed the fish first and used a chlorine neutralizer too...

So far there's been a positive response from the plants.

The fish is still alive too. :D

[surfacefeeder]

The compressor I have is farly loud but I have 150 feet of hose so I put it in the back garage. I live in somewhat of a rural area so neighbors arent a problem. I have a 15 gallon coleman compressor it would run about one minute on 3 minutes off.

I waded around in the pool with it pulling it by the hose just off the bottom and it stayed on the bottom and didnt float when I left it in one spot.

I thought of making a atomizer for the end which would be just a empty bleach bottle filled with tiny holes and something to hold it down if needed. I have an AG pool 27 footer so I dont want bricks of metal harming the liner. In total it ran for about six hours I left the cover off tonight and will test ph in the morning.

More to follow
Chris

[surfacefeeder]

I measured my ph this morning it went up from 7.0 to 7.4 so that tells me if I want to run a compressor for a longer period of time my results can only improve.


Chris

[medvampire]

Are you having any issues with oil from the compressor? I know my compressor does kick a little oil in to the air lines.
Steve

[chem geek]

I measured my ph this morning it went up from 7.0 to 7.4 so that tells me if I want to run a compressor for a longer period of time my results can only improve.Chris,

Just keep in mind that you will outgas more CO2 faster at lower pH and the effect is dramatic. About a doubling of the rate when operating at a 0.3 lower pH (see CO2 Chart (http://richardfalk.home.comcast.net/pool/CO2.htm) and CO2 Graph (http://richardfalk.home.comcast.net/pool/CO2.png).

So you'll want to follow Ben's procedure and continually add acid to keep your pH down. You'll find your alkalinity dropping at a good clip. I know you were probably just testing the system, but my point is that you would rise from 7.0 to 7.1 faster than from 7.3 to 7.4, etc. so you can really only determine the efficiency of your nozzle designs at a given pH.

Anyway, it sounds like you've found a great design!

Richard

[surfacefeeder]

Thanks for the info Richard. Steve its a just a coleman 110 volt 15 gallon oil less compressor.

Chris