I hate hydroton!!

[est1977]

or you can try the mini rockwool cubes

 

[thesoftdrugbaron]

hydroton clay pebbles are originally.. made to bulk out the manufacture of breeze blocks. not for growing ... so you need to adjust the ph and wash well. and they are a pain to grow with .. but good results if you treat them right

 

[jadins_journey]

Washing hydroton sucks, hardest part of my grow no doubt. I do a mini version of what TK said. Picked up 4 3 gl buckets at the dollar store and drilled holes in 3 of the buckets. Sit one bucket w/ holes inside the solid bucket filled about 2/3's full of rocks. Fill with hot water and add 15 ml. h2o2. I let the rocks soak for a bit and swirl them around with and old hand held tater masher. Been useing the same rocks for almost 2 years and there is still the red crap every time I wash them.

jj

 

[eastside]

rockwool is so much easier and cleaner in my opinion the only thing i like about hydroton is the savings cuz rockwool is f'n expensive

 

[greenthumbdanny]

Goodluck bro,washed a load last week,I gotta say its the only part of the cycle I dread.
My pebbles had salt from previous grows,I used a lil bleach as id no hydrogen peroxide or anything else.
I gave em a good rinse in the bath,it scores the shit outa tha bath but they needed the soak,like your self I scooped them out with a kitchen strainer and rinsed.
All the clones are going well,I was freakin a bit for the first two days but they are fine.
All the best.

Word man... exactly my same gimmick. Also Im not happy about the bath tub scaring either. Kinda scratched to hell and back lol.. oh well what do ya do??

 

[keroseen]

why don't you use plastic sheet as a bath lining, stab some holes in it to drain and ur away.

stop the mrs moanin about the bath eh

KS

 

[Billygoat]

Here's a trick for you bath tub guys. Get one of those large rubbermaid tots. You can find the large ones for storing tools in. Use one of those and use a strainer like TK said. Doesn't hold the same amount of water but sure is pretty large. I use hydroton and feel your pain everyone.

Some things I like about the stuff. You don't have to keep buying the stuff and spending money every grow like , soil, coco, rockwool, etc. Plus, there is no in and out with new grow medium and trash to go out. No, medium waste to remove. Jut the plant material to get rid of. I love the fact that I have a reusable grow medium and i''m not always hauling shit in and out of my place.

Just my 2 cents.
Good luck.
BG

 

[Texas Kid]

No friggin bugs like gnats, gnat larvae, and those little brown bettle things that climb out of coc all the time..

I am about to go back to a lava rock/hydroton mix and like Billy said, no waste goin out and when your runnin alot, that shit stacks up with the quickness.

Tex

 

[Weekend Farmer]

just using the shower head and the wife's spaghetti strainer lol 3 more bags to go!!! PPFFFF

throw em up for all to see please

thanks in advance

Thats funny, I've been doing it the same way all day today getting ready for my run. I knew there had to be a better way, but it's still too cold outside to be playing with water.

WF

 

[SKUNK420]

make a sifter. the size depends on how much and how fast you need to clean your hydroton. i've use 5 ga. buckets with holes drilled in the bottom. when you got a private backyard then you can make a square sifter out of 2"x10" studs so it's like 3'W x3'L x10"H and then use wire mesh screen on the bottom making sure to add some cross supports for the screen so the bottom doesn't fall out with all the weight of that hydroton. screw using the shower head they just slow down water flow. take it off and add a valve(s) with a seperate hose if you need to keep the shower head. i've found that lots of flowing water works better then high pressure water spray.

 

[xxYIKESxx]

I use hydroton because it's reusable making it more economical...but I HATE cleaning it!Ughhhhh...I just did a run a few days ago and man!...It was a huge freaking pain! Soaking, rinsing and cleaning the old roots off...which is nearly impossible to get every single root hair out...thank goodness it's an event that only occurs every few months

 

[homebrew420]

I would not try lava rock. The minerals and salts are leeched into the res and can become toxic. Not to mention the pH swings that they will bring. Just wash a few times and hit it with some physan 20 or h3o. Any little root matter left over will just be eaten by all the bacteria that will inevitable grow in every system. Maybe even mildly beneficial. Good luck.

 

[JayBee]

cannazyme is supposed to eat the dead roots and turn it into plant food... not tried it yet myself...

 

[bluejay]

Maybe this is a stupid ? but just thinking out of the box....

If Hydrton is primaraly for just weight and stability(correct me if it holds moisture enough to matter).

Why couldnt one just use glass marbles in the net pots, solid and easy to clean...

 

[Liberty_Seed]

I use a large laundry mesh bag and seems to works well. I fill and then take the whole bag outside and hose off and shake around dump in bucket and breakup roots more back in the bag and hose again. Back in the bucket with some bleach and all floaters back into the bag. I also used my propane grill to boil some water and poured on top the mesh bag and bucket.

Works good except you do loose some of the smaller pebbles out the side. My mesh bag is solid material at the bottom which helps keeping the pebbles in.
http://images.orgill.com/200x200/6602973.jpg

got mine at the dollor store; it was orginally used to store beach gear and sand toys.

 

[greenplanetguru]

Fun w/Hydroton

I used those damn rocks for years... and it's been a few years... I used to use very large net pots for a colander to rinse mine but putting holes in the bag and a garden hose sounds like a good way to go...

The only thing worse than washing hydroton is stepping on one little rock right on the center of your heel! Ouch! :sign0055:

Peace!:character0103:

 

[FastForward]

Why couldnt one just use glass marbles in the net pots, solid and easy to clean...

Hydroton clay pebbles have specific air and nute holding capabilities that makes it very good for hydroponics. Glass doesn't have the same properties and isn't as suitable. Roots need nutes and air....

 

[sky high]

Ah....misery loves company! I despise washing these damn things...(in the bathtub, in 2.5 gallon drilled out buckets and strainers) but as TK said...at least there's no critters crawlin' out of 'em.

sure has saved me some $$$ over buying other mediums/tossing them after every grow.

sky

 

[Joe Blow]

I used a 30 gallon tote with holes in the bottom of it. i was going to use the bath tub but jane didn't care for that idea one bit. After i washed em repeatedly I found that i still get some minute sand lookin stuff off em in my table grooves though. I wonder if this is just the hydroton breaking down or is it not washed good enough?

 

[bdawgburner]

Oh man I have a hundred liters to clean today. I bought 15 gal rubbermaid tubs. i was just going to wash in one and move to the other and repeat a few times. Sounds like even if you wash them good they will still leave some residue in the table. Ahhh....looks like im in for a long day. Better get the vicodin out for the ol back.