Sharing information with the forum.

This info is for you guys and gals using oxygen injection systems in closed livewells/bait tanks.
Much of this information came from the tech staff at Pentair in Florida. They sell several diffrent brands of ceramic rocks.

All kinds of gas rock bubblers: The difference between an air rock and a creamioc type O2 rock is how quickly, how fast livewell/bait containing a high load of gamefish or bait fish. You cannot blow through an ozone/oxygen rock regardless of how hard you blow.

Transporting more fish will always require more dissolved oxygen to reach and sustain DO Saturation or greater continuously.Do not confuse dissolved oxygen with dissolved ambient air, the difference is major. How fast dou need your livewell water to reach DO Saturation is the question; 2 minutes, 6 minutes, 8 minutes?

Ceramic diffusers (Point 4, Sweetwater and other brands of ceramic type O2 rocks)

The Gas Chemistry: The smaller the rocks pore size is, the smaller the gas bubble produced by that rock, the greater the gas/water interface the quicker gaseous oxygen dissolved into water. Actually oxygen dissolved poorly into water whereas on the other hand Carbon dioxide gas exhaled by the fish dissolves very quickly into water forming carbonic acid and you all know the toxic effects of acid transport water in fish and bait fish in livewells/bait tanks. CO2 is a major toxin in livewell water.

These white ceramic rocks all look similar, but when you look closer they are different: The rock's pore size is different with different brands of ceramic rocks, the pore size varies dramatically. The pore size in different brands even though these white ceramic O2 rocks look the same, says a tech expert at Pentair that sells these different brands of ceramic rocks. Thech laughs and says the devil in in the specification details, read the specs before you choseF CERAMIC DIFFUSERS[/b]
Some of the benefits of ceramic diffusers as follows:
1. When new, they operate with less headloss than rubber diffuser membranes.
2. They will not shrink, creep or crack because they are made of fixed ceramic rather than rubber and plasticizer.
3. They perform better with fats, greases and oils and with heat over 80 degrees Fahrenheit
4. When new, they have slightly higher OTE than the average new rubber membrane diffuser. Increased susceptibility to fouling, however, can quickly erase this advantage.
5. They will last longer than rubber membrane diffusers if they are well maintained and do not become fouled. This is an academic point, however, because the vast majority of ceramic diffusers do become fouled.

CONS OF CERAMIC DIFFUSERS
Ceramic diffusers also have several disadvantages, however.
1. They clog and become fouled. Their fixed orifices admit sludge, and they lack the protective coatings of rubber diffuser membranes.
2. They incur more maintenance costs because of their increased susceptibility to fouling, which means they require more frequent cleaning.
3. They are less energy efficient. Clogged and fouled diffusers lead to higher backpressure, which increases demand on the blowers, which in turn leads to higher power requirements and costs. Even a 10% increase in strain on the blowers can lead to plant energy costs that are 5% to 9% higher.
4. They are more expensive to manufacture and install.
5. They have shorter lifespans because of increased susceptibility to fouling.
6. They perform best in pristine conditions. Ceramic diffusers are at their best in aeration tanks with low loads, low solids concentration and soft water. This ideal environment rarely exists. Ceramic diffusers struggle to maintain steady backpressure and high OTE in suboptimal conditions.
7. They should not be turned off because their fixed orifices will become fouled in the absence of airflow. Therefore, they are not ideal for plants that turn their diffusers on and off regularly to save energy or during nitrification and denitrification.
8. They are not ideal for industrial wastes where high concentrations of biosolids would raise the backpressure and reduce the OTE.
9. They allow for less turndown, so plants achieve less efficiency when operating at low airflow
10. They are more expensive to clean.

Other than that, ceramic rocks are great and relative cheap too. Ceramic O2 rocks are disposable when they stop up. Rock failure is no big deal unless you kill $200 live bait or a $3,000 winning tournament fish because your ceramic rock stopped-up.
But, if you really want and must have the top of the line ceramic plate O2 rock, this one is pretty impressive. It produces nanooxygen bubbles.
Try this: AirOxi - Nano Bubble Ceramic Plate Diffusers For High Efficiency Aeration (airoxitube.com)
Nanobubbles are 70-120 nanometers in size. That’s 2500 times smaller than a single grain of salt. These bubbles can be formed using any gas and injected into any liquid. Due to their size, nanobubbles exhibit unique properties that improve numerous physical, chemical, and biological processes.