First of all, let me say I don’t want to start a huge debate about the efficacy of AACTs. I have seen results that I personally attribute to applications of AACT, so that’s why I’m posting this in the first place. Anyway... my question is, when aerating and diffusing oxygen into the brew, what do we want to aim for? Large bubbles to disturb the surface, or do we want many tiny bubbles so that more oxygen is actually dissolved into the water?
I would make an airlift, then you get double the bang for buck. If you have a small air pump, use smaller diameter pipe, that's the trick to an airlift. A quick search on google or whatever, and you should be able to find some designs, keep it simple. I have some mothballed that I just can't get to, or I would photo one for ya. hth cheers
Right on, I’ll definitely look into that. However, the pump I have to work with is an aquarium pump. It’s meant for a 60 gallon tank, maximum. Not sure about the wattage or voltage or anything like that. Does this sound like something that could still power an airlift? PS For the time-being, I went ahead and just made a waterfall with a submersible pump. There’s a machine I’ve seen used by fellow KNF practitioners on Instagram called Bacterial Mineral Water Machine and it basically employs the same tech. Probably not as optimal as an airlift, but I feel like it’s doing a better job than the pump by itself would have.
AFAIK you want to aim for minimum 6ppm oxygen to properly propagate microbes in an AACT. Small bubbles are more effective then large at diffusing gas into a liquid. I know you said you dont want to debate so lets not debate, just ask yourself if the results you saw have been compared with just top dressing compost/castings and watering them in. Im willing to bet you wont see much (if any) difference between applying ACT and top dressing with the same amount of compost. There I said it.