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Re: [compost_tea] Re: Simple CT maker



Compost tea brewers are a bit different from fish tanks.  Fish don't get growing quite as fast as bacteria.  When you feed bacteria well, they can use up all the oxygen in any amount of water within minutes, and therefore the aeration rate needs to be high enough to offset bacterial and fungal growth. 

The fine bubbles are not the preferable condition.  The fine bubbles are really hard on the fungi and seem to break them up and shatter them. 

If you suspend fine bubbles in the water, by over-aerating, you end up with problems.  Too much air, and not enough water (supersaturation?), and the organisms will be killed because the environment become too oxidizing. 

Cute, huh?  Not too much, not too little..... Goldilocks strikes again.

We need some additional testing on the fine bubble versus coarse bubble situation.  The fine bubble work we've done suggests that fine bubbles are quite detrimental.  The bigger bubbles seem to do a better job of extracting hte organisms from the tea, and keeping things as aerated as possible. 

Always something more to know.  So, what is the optimal aeration rate?  Depends on how much food you add, the compost you use, the temperature of the water. 

Check the www.magicsoil.com web site.  Some interesting insights there about aeration. 

Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com
SFI Oregon, USA
SFI Australia
SFI New York
SFI Europe
SFI New Zealand

"Hope is not a feeling. It is not the belief that things will turn out well, but the conviction that what we are doing makes sense, no matter how things turn out."   --  Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic


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