air pump in ebb & flo

should i leave the air pump in an ebb & flow system on all the time or just during flooding and draining?

let it run constant,it will get gunky from time to time,you'll know when bubbling gets faint,just let it soak for awhile in some bleach then rinse it(air-stone or bubble wand)....bonbon

Bonbon, do you think it would be of benefit to have the root mass in the presence of oxegen underpressure. For example using the misting system, a rubbermaid containner could have holes in it just large unough to house the junction fo the stem and the root. that way the plant's roots could be sealed off from the outside air, and possibly pressurised with a can of Oxegen. Would that, with a bubler, increase the ammount of oxegen available to the root system, and would such an increase be of benefit?

yes it would,during the lighting period the plant will use oxygen from the root system to metabolize and absorb nutrients while the foilage uses light and cO2 turns them into sugars and growth hormones,the plant will respirate all the oxygen it recieves in the lighting period,during the dark period the plant releases the cO2 gathered up during day and uses it ,i've read books that advocated the use of cO2 during the dark period,but now these outdated thoughts and theories are revised since the plant biology has been futher examined ,we now know that cO2 is beneficial especially during the light period....bonbon Oxygenating water