How many bubbles are too many bubbles for DWC?

I'm going to buy one of those industrial air pumps for my DWC setup. I only have 3 buckets, recirced through an 80L res, or 20 gallons. (80 liters all together)

http://www.thegrowlight.com/air-3-commercial-air_pump-35-watt.html

That's the kind of pump I'm talking about, but they're available all over ebay for much cheaper. As you go up in wattage they don't get that much more expensive, so I'd really just rather have the optimal one.

I've heard people say you can't have enough, but there must be a point where it's too turbulant, or too many bubbles?

If not I guess I will probably buy a 55W or 65W. Or bigger if better? How big should I go?!

the one you picked should be sufficient...but you can definitely go higher watt if you want

How much higher can I go? 185watt?

http://cgi.ebay.ca/185-WATT-AIR-PUMP-Hydroponics-Pond-Aeration-aerator-/250727700362?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6089178a

How much is too much?

I'm running an ALITA AL 60 Pump with 6 ALITA 3.75 sintered stones.2 stones in a 5gal and 4 in a 10gal.My pump is rated at 60watts and 68 liters per minute.Going by the 1watt per gallon standard I'm by far exceeding recommended wattage per gallon.My water churns very much like the ocean to give you an example the discs(by the way these discs rock seriously for the price) push the water a bit up an over the surface and makes it hard to tell my water level sometimes until i actually pull the water out of the reservoir.One word of warning about the pump you are looking at is they are extremely LOUD,this is why i went another route.Your Eco Plus pump is rated at 35w and 65 liters per minute and you are going to run 20gals.So yes in my opinion you can go larger.The 185w pump you are showing is rated at 155lpm probably a bit big.It also depends on how many air stones you plan on running.If you have a pump that requires a minimum of 8 stones and you put 5 or 6 on it you will need to bleed off some of the air through the manifold,so waste.If you don't and you reservoir is not deep the stones will be over powered and shoot the water up over the surface like a fountain.Or at least that's what mine will do!

Also keep in mind that pumps run 24/7, and their wattage will add to your kilowatt hours. You only need a pump big enough to replace the dissolved oxygen slightly faster than it's removed. 1wt per gallon is said to be enough to achieve this, though I admit I am not sure where that number originally came from. More and more bubbles will not hurt your plants, but at some point it does cease to increase your yield or overall plant health.

you can take this for what its worth,I had two plants that were growing in 5 gal buckets,1 with 4- 6 inch air stones in it and 1 bucket with 1- 4 inch round air stone,the plant that had the 4 air stones ended up being alot smaller than the bucket with the 4 inch round stone,also my root ball never really grew down into the bucket it was more of a ball of roots just under the net pot,I was useing a 4 outlet air pump in the bucket with 4 stones and a single aquirium style pump for the other one.so my conclusion is that the roots couldnt grow down through the turbulant water therefore they massed under the net pot cuz the had nowhere else to go.this is just my observation with my grow set up so it may be differant for others

Thanks for the info. I think I'll go about 45 watt. -Edit: just saw your post snocat. Hmm.. Maybe I'll try those flexi bubble wall tubes? They make much smaller less turbulent bubbles. My roots will also be quite established from 2 months of veg.. So I dunno if that'll make a difference. Can probbaly take a bit more bubble punishment.

How loud is loud? louder than my 6" blower if I hang the air pump from the ceiling with a bungee? What route did you go Gixxerboy? I was just considering what I should do. I have 4 6W dual outlet (3.5l/m per outlet) old maxima air pumps from a friend. Might be able to get some more for free so I'll see about that before I make a purchase. These ones can't be heard over my other stuff going on when I hang them. If I just set them on something you can hear the vibration under the room in the basement.

I wonder what point that is Heisenberg. I guess nobody has done some real testing to see. I just hear that more is better. I imagine enough bubbles in contact with the roots may help above and beyond just the replaced dissolved oxygen in the water?

I have a bunch of those blue 12" long stones. I've been cutting them down and making 6" pieces. I was planning to put 3 in each 5 gal bucket. Right now I have 1 of these each in my 2.5 gal buckets in the DWC veg section already going. 2 6W dual outlet pumps for my 40 liter (10 gal) veg res. 1 6" stone in each bucket and 1 in the res. Fiz like crazy. But I also have an extra oxygenation trick I disocovered by accident. It's pretty cool! I'm gonna make a thread about it I think, and try to create the same effect when I configure the budding side.

If you tune your flow and your overflow drain size you can really get some oxygenation! Check out the pics! I pinched off the air stone line to the res for the pic. All those bubbles are created by the drains sucking in air. Extend the small drains through a larger hose into the res and all the drain water gets annihilated by bubbles!

Your on the right track with smaller bubbles, but those flex tube bubble curtains are crap. It takes all of my 35wt pump to get bubbles out of it, and after a couple days the holes get clogged. Jus a heads up.

I don't think it would be louder than a 6in blower.Hanging with the bungees seems to be what everyone was having to do.That is why i went with the Alita its very quiet.As Heisenberg pointed out your air will run 24/7 along with ventilation.One less noisy piece of equipment always helps .

Yes, I've been thinking about cutting down my power usage, though it isn't too much. I may run my fan on a timer with a dimmer so it goes onto a slower speed when lights are out.

As it is though, it's under 1500W. The baseboard heater beside me is 3150W, and the one in the dining room is also 3150W. I think I'm gonna try a parabolic unit.

I'll probably go with about a 45W I guess. Maybe 35W, and most likely 3 of those blue 6" air stones in each bucket, since I already have them.

I agree that if your roots are already established then more bubbles would be good,thats what I do now,I wait until the roots are growing to the bottom of the bucket, once Im satisfyed with the root mass I then increase the bubbles to full flow.