Aqua Man said:

So figured its about time to make a thread i can reference for those seeking a solution to root rot.

First let's go over some facts. Root rot is not temperature dependent there are many different types pythium that survive and thrive at various temps.

Second it is not caused by anaerobic conditions. However anaerobic conditions cause damage to the roots and make it more susceptible as will any plant that is unhealthy or stressed.

Root damage makes a plant very susceptible to pathogens so overly violent bubbling etc can actually do harm.

Use of either a sterile system or live system is a must in prevention. If your not doing one or the other you are very likely to have root issues.

Water level is important. I almost always see grower with an infection above the waterline. Contrary to popular belief you can run the net pot submerged (i dont). What is this madness Aqua Man you say? Let me explain...

So when we first introduce a plant to our systems they are generally started in a soil, starter plug of some kind etc. The roots are slightly different when grown in soil and water. As this plant grows thw roots that hit the water change in structure and adapt to being fully submerged. Once this happens you can raise the water up the net pot. However I don't do this. 1" below the net pot is where I stay. The bubbles breaking the surface will keep the root and net pot moist enough the prevent issue with damage from air pruning. Even notice the roots in the water are always brighter white? Thats why. If you are not getting the contact of the res solution to the roots above the water and in the hydroton then your not getting the beneficial bacteria, enzymes or h2o2 thier either and that were you see the infection start most times.

So next is the use of enzymes and bacteria. This is not only how we prevent but also cure root rot.

Enzymes will greatly help cleanup of the roots. Quickly eating up any root shedding or decay. This helps eliminate any food source for thw pythoum to take hold.

Beneficial bacteria... the specific species we are looking for is bacillus amyloliquefaciens D747. Several products on the market contain this. Raw bloom microbes, hydrogaurd, southern ag fungicide and plenty more. Counts may vary from what they list so I recommend hydrogaurd or southern AG fungicide. This bacteria species has been used for decades in big AG for exactly the same reason.... pythium, damping off, organic fungicide that actually works extremely well.

So we have root rot how do we get rid of it.

1. First you need the bacteria.

Southern AG fungicide should be used at 1 ml per 20 gal in hydro.

Hydrogaurd I believe is 2ml per gal.

2. take the plant in the netpot out of the system. You can put it in another pail of temp adjusted water.

Then do a full res change adding back the doses of bacteria i listed above.

3. Take the plant to the sink and use temp adjusted water and sprayer to rinse the roots. Massage them with your fingers gently. Don't be afraid to see some roots break off they are usually the most damage and decaying. Get every bit of slime off the roots as this is what suffocating the roots and is actually a mass of bacteria. The chlorine will aid in killing the pythium.

4 place the plant back into the fresh system. Then mix up a double dose of your bacteria with DISTILLED WATER. You want about 1 litre so can mix up 1 gal and that will last you the treatment. Pour i litre of this over the hydroton trying to cover everything. This is going to re inoculate the hydroton and roots in it and let the bacteria go to work.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for 4 days. No matter how the roots look. Make sure each time to re inoculate the hydroton as you will be rinsing it each day so important to pour that litre over the top.

6. Now you should be in the clear and going forward your going to want to pour some res water once a week over thw hydroton to keep it inoculated and bonus rinse and salt buildup out.

Thats it... its that simple... and it works.

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Gdawwwg said:

I think I'm. Currently seeing early signs of root rot. Slight brown colour. No. Bad smell just yet.

Went to a local shop and they advised a product called pythoff. Said to empty my bucket refill with just water and pythoff. Then Tommorow refill my bucket from scratch again with nutes and add pythoff also every water change. So I don't no if it will get rid of rootrot or just keep it from getting worse. But I have done this anyway.

I'm in. Dwc btw.

Before I started I really wanted to use hydro guard after hearing so many good things. But it's not available in the u. K and iv seen 1 place I can buy it but its quite expensive £70 a bottle. I'm. Guessing they know the demand for it so they can charge what they want and people will pay.

Southern ag I can get £25 for 8oz bottle. Is it the liquid copper option. I saw 2 or 3 different bottles but I'm. Guessing it's this 1.

I was using orca beneficial bacteria so I know the pythoff I'm. Using will kill these good bacteria. And that's not really what I want but I just didn't want the rot to. Get worse. Panicked and bought the pythoff like advised.

So now I'm in a situation. I'm still in veg and sure I can save this plant its not. Too late. But do I continue with the pythoff and ditch the orca.

Or do I buy the ag souther or hydro guard and still add orca

Also seen something called regen a root anybody know anything about this.

Just really wanna make the right decision on what to do and not buy 4or5 different bottles testing them all.

Hydro guard seems most. Popular. Just wondered if there's a cheaper alternative in the u. K

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Aqua Man said:

So figured its about time to make a thread i can reference for those seeking a solution to root rot.

First let's go over some facts. Root rot is not temperature dependent there are many different types pythium that survive and thrive at various temps.

Second it is not caused by anaerobic conditions. However anaerobic conditions cause damage to the roots and make it more susceptible as will any plant that is unhealthy or stressed.

Root damage makes a plant very susceptible to pathogens so overly violent bubbling etc can actually do harm.

Use of either a sterile system or live system is a must in prevention. If your not doing one or the other you are very likely to have root issues.

Water level is important. I almost always see grower with an infection above the waterline. Contrary to popular belief you can run the net pot submerged (i dont). What is this madness Aqua Man you say? Let me explain...

So when we first introduce a plant to our systems they are generally started in a soil, starter plug of some kind etc. The roots are slightly different when grown in soil and water. As this plant grows thw roots that hit the water change in structure and adapt to being fully submerged. Once this happens you can raise the water up the net pot. However I don't do this. 1" below the net pot is where I stay. The bubbles breaking the surface will keep the root and net pot moist enough the prevent issue with damage from air pruning. Even notice the roots in the water are always brighter white? Thats why. If you are not getting the contact of the res solution to the roots above the water and in the hydroton then your not getting the beneficial bacteria, enzymes or h2o2 thier either and that were you see the infection start most times.

So next is the use of enzymes and bacteria. This is not only how we prevent but also cure root rot.

Enzymes will greatly help cleanup of the roots. Quickly eating up any root shedding or decay. This helps eliminate any food source for thw pythoum to take hold.

Beneficial bacteria... the specific species we are looking for is bacillus amyloliquefaciens D747. Several products on the market contain this. Raw bloom microbes, hydrogaurd, southern ag fungicide and plenty more. Counts may vary from what they list so I recommend hydrogaurd or southern AG fungicide. This bacteria species has been used for decades in big AG for exactly the same reason.... pythium, damping off, organic fungicide that actually works extremely well.

So we have root rot how do we get rid of it.

1. First you need the bacteria.

Southern AG fungicide should be used at 1 ml per 20 gal in hydro.

Hydrogaurd I believe is 2ml per gal.

2. take the plant in the netpot out of the system. You can put it in another pail of temp adjusted water.

Then do a full res change adding back the doses of bacteria i listed above.

3. Take the plant to the sink and use temp adjusted water and sprayer to rinse the roots. Massage them with your fingers gently. Don't be afraid to see some roots break off they are usually the most damage and decaying. Get every bit of slime off the roots as this is what suffocating the roots and is actually a mass of bacteria. The chlorine will aid in killing the pythium.

4 place the plant back into the fresh system. Then mix up a double dose of your bacteria with DISTILLED WATER. You want about 1 litre so can mix up 1 gal and that will last you the treatment. Pour i litre of this over the hydroton trying to cover everything. This is going to re inoculate the hydroton and roots in it and let the bacteria go to work.

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for 4 days. No matter how the roots look. Make sure each time to re inoculate the hydroton as you will be rinsing it each day so important to pour that litre over the top.

6. Now you should be in the clear and going forward your going to want to pour some res water once a week over thw hydroton to keep it inoculated and bonus rinse and salt buildup out.

Thats it... its that simple... and it works.

Click to expand...

ispy said:

on the bacteria, 1ml per 20 gal? not even sure how to break that down to 4 gal. not much ;)

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Aqua Man said:

Just add 1 ml and should be fine

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Aqua Man said:

Defgaurd would be the product of choice these days but nothing wring with SAG

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ispy said:

ok i ordered the SAG as soon as i saw this.

so am i reading this right?
1ml (per you) in my fresh water but also pour the litre mix over hydrotron in sink for the wash?

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Aqua Man said:

Do a res change add 2 ml then remove plants and wash roots with temp adjusted water. After you out them back into the system you can use the res water to too water 1 litre each

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ispy said:

ok so res change with 2 ml. put plant back in and use res to pour over. i think i got that

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Aqua Man said:

Yup my bad though… 1 ml i fat fingered the number 2 by accident

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ispy said:

Ugh. Too late… will 2 be an issue? Already put it in

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Deforced said:

Stumbled across this, got root rot running a sterile res, in 2days time my southern ag arrives. I've got a 250litre res would you beable to tell me how many ml I will be adding please and also how often to add to the res. Is it just like my ordinary nutes add when change or top up res. Thanks

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Aqua Man said:

65 ml at res chageout

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Deforced said:

Another quick question, I have 2 inline filters on my rdwc, will they effect the bennies at all? I can remove them if needed.

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Aqua Man said:

They will help if they are sponge or pretty much anything that provides a surface area for them to attach to they

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Deforced said:

They are mesh, I will attach a photo to see your thoughts.

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Deforced said:

They are mesh, I will attach a photo to see your thoughts.

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Moe.Red said:

So, here is my feedback. First, filters are great for growing colonies. They put structure right where the water is flowing, allowing the bacteria to hang on to something and stay right there.

The bad thing about filters is that they trap organic matter. This concentration in one spot, if there is a lot of decaying things in the system can actually overwhelm the bacteria in that spot. Again - my opinion only - but it's better to have those organics spread more evenly throughout, giving the bacteria lots of room to make colonies and convert the organics into ammonia, then nitrite, then nitrate.

Think of it this way - drop 50 mL of ammonia into the res. It's then spread through the whole system and bacteria on every surface takes a bite. IF there is a lot, those bacteria will grow exponentially to eat as fast as they can. This happens everywhere in the system.

If you put all that in one spot (your filter) the colony has less coverage, less area to reproduce, less everything.

The only reason I see to put a filter in a RDWC system is to protect the pump(s). I've never had a pump break because of detritus in the res personally.

It's just one more thing to maintain too.

All that said, it will be fine if you want to leave them on. Especially if you don't really have much organic waste in the system. But then what do you need them for?

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