It starts "spitting" water up the outlet after only two gallons and really gets after it with a full five! Will let this aerate out the chlorine overnight, add a couple hands full of compost for a beneficial bacteria starter and some other experimental ingredients like manures and various meals from the local coop.

This reminds me of the old wastewater plants' sludge return pipe where active sludge was airlifted out of the clarifier to re-aerate in the main aeration basin. That's where the giant tomatoes grew.

The outer edge has quite a lot of circulation. The center is the calm area and is also where I have cut out for a net pot. Solids may also accumulate in the bottom center. If they do and fail to circulate I will extend the airlift inlet with an elbow to the center bottom.

This prototype white bucket is all I had on hand for the trial run. If it seems to work ok I'll do more in black buckets. Funny thing is I remember all that green algae covering the roots of those tomatoes at the wastewater plant. Perhaps with all the constant aeration from a remote source allowed the plants to thrive regardless. We'll see...

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I predict future sediment problems blocking the flow of water :(.

OK...prediction noted. I disagree after spending the last ten years maintaining a 750,000 gallon wastewater plant with 32 years of build-up grit and sediment in the aeration basins being airlifted around by 6 and 8 inch pipes but I have been wrong on way more than one occasion!

I was just thinking awhile ago that a conical bottom with a solids outlet valve might be in order or concocting the nutrients in a separate container and just using the filtered liquids. Solids will become a factor at some point if left unattended.

Thanks for the view...

Hey why not duplicate my experiment so there is no question as to results? I'd love the help from a chemical engineer and we might just give everyone something useful in the end. That is if you're not reluctant to perhaps admit organics might be cool!

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This will be really fun to watch. I'm thinking there are a lot of advantages to the airlift if you can get it to work well.

Is there an airstone in the pipe, or is it just working on air being pumped in there? No air stone would mean that pipe would be much harder to clog. I don't quite understand how it works inside the piping/tubing, if you could help me out there...

It would be great to at least know how to set up a system that uses hydroponic advantages, with nutrients you can produce yourself locally from your own property or local area. Would be so cool...

There is no airstone in this pipe but just air. An airstone produces more tiny bubbles which give a more bubble-saturated column of water, thus a more steady flow and yes in the event of using raw organic materials it might clog. I had not thought of that but was wanting more of the "gurgling" effect produced by not using an airstone...thinking it will aerate better? Maybe.

The works are very simple. You can do some easy experiments just by inserting a piece of tubing from a small aquarium air pump into the bottom of a piece of pvc pipe and stick it into a bucket of water and note the results from where the air is being fed at what level of pipe and water depth.

Airlifts are commonly used to pump water out of very deep mine shafts, dredging for treasure on the ocean bottom and used in places where there are a lot of solids to deal with since they need no filtering to work and are more efficient than pumping and aerating with two separate pieces of equipment.

Air mixed with water in the column simply causes the surrounding water in the reservoir to rush into the bottom of the pipe to fill the space as if there were no water in the pipe and forces the air/water mixture out the top. It also causes a pretty powerful suction on the bottom as the water is filling the space. We would commonly use a 2" airlift to suck grit, rocks and sand from the old sewer plant 1st stage aeration from a depth of 20 feet. We also find coins, rings, loose stones from rings and various other things people lose down their sinks and toilets, lol! Yes the stuff is always disinfected prior to handling...

Anyway, thinking about local nutrients, yes it would be very cool if we could come up with a standard method of sorts people could easily and cheaply duplicate from handy sources. But like our resident chemical engineer noted, there will be sediment problems if raw materials are used in the working and there is a timeline to consider in which the beneficial bacteria will be alive and present to enable the necessary actions for plant nutrient uptake from the materials.

In a wastewater environment the bacteria are constantly being fed a steady new supply of "food" to eat as it circulates through the system. Lots of air and stirring are necessary to ensure the bacteria survive. In due time though, they die and become what's known as "waste sludge" that is dumped on sand pits to drain and dry. Once out of the aerated liquid environment, this stuff turns septic very quickly (anaerobic) and can contain all sorts of nasty bacteria as the good ones are unable to reproduce.

Honestly I don't know just how long the same container of organic materials churning in aeration will remain viable for plant growth. It would seem that as long as there is adequate stirring, aeration and addition of fresh food for the bacteria, the mixture would stay "sweet". We'll just have to see. Any foul odors coming from the container will mean something is wrong and could even make you sick or even kill you if you get some bad e-coli or something.

Good points - thanks!

New and improved...well, at least how building it goes.
Sticky-back Velcro holds the pipe in place very well and extended the inlet to the bottom center to circulate any solids that may want to gather there. Just drilled a small hole big enough for the air tubing right above the lower elbow and stuck it in about 1/8 inch. Not sure how little of air it will take to run this thing as you can see it's coming off a manifold from my old compressor and it blows water out of the bucket so I can probably run several buckets off that compressor but I must wait for warmer weather or get a bigger and new air blower like a pond aerator or something. That old compressor is slinging a small amount of oil off the pulley that's coming out of the seal and I don't want streaks on my patio. Might go to Wal Mart and buy a small aquarium pump and see how it runs...

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Charlielittle7 said:
"I disagree after spending the last ten years maintaining a 750,000 gallon wastewater plant with 32 years of build-up grit and sediment in the aeration basins being airlifted around by 6 and 8 inch pipes but I have been wrong on way more than one occasion!"

Ok, I've changed my prediction to 'it won't plug up' :).

Lol! Ok but your comment about sediments made me think some and I do see them as a problem if left in the bucket. Probably will need changing out or additions will just make the solution thicker and thicker.

I ordered a Dolphin AV-150 air pump and a 12 outlet manifold to handle all my air needs. Planning on building several of these buckets and trying different mixtures of things.