Good ACT brewer for $30?

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nate9229

Member
My friend has a compost tea brewer that he needs to get rid of, and he's offering it to me cheap. Only used once. Specifically, this one here is the same kind:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Titan-Controls-Flo-N-Brew-System-hydroponics-compost-tea-brewer-air-pump-/321463280795?pt=US_Hydroponics&hash=item4ad8b4649b

My only concern is that I've read about many brewers not having adequate airflow and I wanted to make sure this is not the case here. The pump is rated 185 GPH and if my conversion is correct this equates to .41 CFM, but this conversion is also for water instead of airflow I believe, so it may be meaningless. I know this is not an ideal brewer per say, but would it be a sufficient one?
 
Pattahabi

Pattahabi

Well-Known Member
It's all about airflow and how much dissolved oxygen the brewer can sustain.

From MM:

We did almost a year straight of research (at a cost of thousands of dollars) building almost every conceivable compost tea brewer design and size, ranging from 1 to 1200 gallons. These included every type itemized on my webpage in the design section and more. We measured the dissolved oxygen (DO2) religiously at all hours of day and night, eliminating configurations which failed to maintain the DO2 at or above 6 PPM. This is close to the minimum level required to support aerobic organisms.

The outcome of this research was, the estimation, that the minimum flow required from an air pump to make compost tea while maintaining the DO2 at 6 PPM, is 0.05 CFM per gallon while the optimum flow is 0.08 CFM per gallon or greater. (the only exception was when utilizing airlifts)

This means that most aquarium pumps will not work with a 5 gallon ACT maker, no matter what a couple of guys from Texas say. Two gallons, perhaps.


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Y

yoyogreen

Well-Known Member
Pattahabi said:
It's all about airflow and how much dissolved oxygen the brewer can sustain.

From MM:

We did almost a year straight of research (at a cost of thousands of dollars) building almost every conceivable compost tea brewer design and size, ranging from 1 to 1200 gallons. These included every type itemized on my webpage in the design section and more. We measured the dissolved oxygen (DO2) religiously at all hours of day and night, eliminating configurations which failed to maintain the DO2 at or above 6 PPM. This is close to the minimum level required to support aerobic organisms.

The outcome of this research was, the estimation, that the minimum flow required from an air pump to make compost tea while maintaining the DO2 at 6 PPM, is 0.05 CFM per gallon while the optimum flow is 0.08 CFM per gallon or greater. (the only exception was when utilizing airlifts)

This means that most aquarium pumps will not work with a 5 gallon ACT maker, no matter what a couple of guys from Texas say. Two gallons, perhaps.


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what a waste of time.....make better soil
 
N

nate9229

Member
Pattahabi, thanks for the info; I've seen MM's post before. I'm just not sure the pump for the brewer described in the first post is strong enough as it's rated in GPH instead of airflow. So thats basically my question: is the pump for the described brewer (a 3-gallon brewer with an eco 185 pump) sufficient to make decent quality tea? That's all I would like to know, please and thank you.
 
Pattahabi

Pattahabi

Well-Known Member
nate9229 said:
Yoyo, what exactly are you saying is a waste of time? Making ACTs? Or the research that was done?
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He's just a hater, don't mind him. Sure, in a perfect world, you would never need an act.

nate9229 said:
Pattahabi, thanks for the info; I've seen MM's post before. I'm just not sure the pump for the brewer described in the first post is strong enough as it's rated in GPH instead of airflow. So thats basically my question: is the pump for the described brewer (a 3-gallon brewer with an eco 185 pump) sufficient to make decent quality tea? That's all I would like to know, please and thank you.
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Nate, I don't have any experience with the submersible pumps. My pump sits outside the brewer and pushes air in. I'm not sure how this correlates to a submersible. I'm assuming it is only working on breaking surface tension. The only real way to check is with a DO meter and/or a microscope.

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