Aqua Man
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I thought i would make a post that might save some hydro growers some money and provide some information on the product to the best of my knowledge.
Hydrogaurd contains a bateria called bacillus amyloliquefacien. This bacteria acts as a fungicide and antibiotic for the plants. In fact this particular species has been studied in agriculture for its ability to kill plants cells infected with fungus
These Bacteria need food, oxygen and basically surface area or a home per se and will compete life and death for it. They produce enzymes that help make nutrients more available to plants like several other bacteria species do. So after inoculation all we need to do is keep them thriving.
People in aquaponic and aquatics know very well and understand the benefits of beneficial bacteria. If you pop in some advanced fish keeping, planted tank, aquaponics sites you will see a wealth of information on it (in hydro this has not seem to have yet caught on, the dirt guys most likely understand all of this). Things like pythium generally are rarely seen in these systems once beneficial bacteria are established in comparison to hydroponics. Typically we do whats called a cycle in our systems (referring to the nitrogen cycle) it usually takes 4-6 weeks (you can google it to get an understanding if you like). How we get around that time frame is to inoculate new tanks with bacteria from another established tank (called seeding) or inoculating by taking a filter from an established system and putting it on the new one so that a good sized starting culture of bacteria can colinate relatively quickly (days not weeks). Adding hydrogaurd is the same thing.
These bacteria grow on any surface area in constant contact with your water including your roots and will provide a symbiotic relationship with your plants. They provide a kind of protective layer that protects the roots. The plant in turn secretes sugars and amino's from the roots to feed the bacteria that are protecting them from disease, fungus and other bacteria. In the process of consuming this food they produce enzymes that help break down nutrients into smaller molecules thats are easier to uptake by the plants.
So how do we keep them alive and happy after they are established... we need to change the way we perform certain tasks like water changes and be very mind full of the changes we make and how it will affect these bacteria.
If you change out all of your res water at once you are severely reducing the population, that is why hydrogaurd's directions are to add with each water change. If you combine a 100% water change with tap water that contains chlorine you are all but eliminating almost all the bacteria this level of chlorine usually doesn't create an issue with the plant itself. By the time the population recovers you can see other bacteria, fungus take over or pythium take hold. So what do we do? use the same method used in other systems excluding aquaponics (i won't explain this part).
We change 25% of the water each week and do not steralize our systems. I always get a chuckle when I see ppl add something like hydrogaurd then add h202. Its no wonder they say hydrogaurd doesn't work. With a 25% water change we are reducing the salt build up from our nutrients by 1/4 you shouldn't see a lockout due to salinity throughout your grow. With the reduced amount of water changed we reduce the stress of the plants in several ways (large change in salinity, drastic reduction in beneficial bacteria etc.) If using chlorinated tap water will not will not significantly reduce the population if you look around at the sites i mentioned you will see this is of major importance and you will see its strictly to prevent the loss of bacteria and minimize stress of both plants and livestock. You can do it less often but i found for myself in hydro 25% a week is the sweet spot for a dummy proof application in reducing salt build up and keeping the bacteria population healthy.
Next we create a safety net for ourselves as sometimes we may need to replace parts or clean out our systems between yields. Its pretty simple we just need to give them a home that we can move around. A simple aquarium filter with the right media, this can be as easy as a $10 sponge filter. It provides a lot of surface area since its porous and a great home, is easily moved and we generally already have an air pump to run it. You never wash a filter under the tap water you only clean it in drained res water and lightly just swish it around this will ensure the bacteria are not killed off. You can simply plop it in a 5 gal pail of old res water and feed it a tiny amount once a week most of our nutes provide the sugars and amino's they need. Then refil your system treat it for chlorine/chloramines if needed and once the water temp is good plop the filter back in and the colony will reestablish itself relatively quickly (within days).
I am not a microbioligist and this information was self taught through research and experience over 20+ years of aquatics. There are lots of bacteria that will provide a symbiotic relationship with you plants. Hydrogaurd seems to be the most common in hydroponics and since i have experience with it I figured I would try to help fellow growers understand about it and save some money as the way this product is marketed you are led to believe you need to purchase a constant supply.
Hope that helps explain some and save you some money i welcome all feedback positive and negative. hopefully this can start some discussions on beneficial bacteria in hydro.
Hydrogaurd contains a bateria called bacillus amyloliquefacien. This bacteria acts as a fungicide and antibiotic for the plants. In fact this particular species has been studied in agriculture for its ability to kill plants cells infected with fungus
These Bacteria need food, oxygen and basically surface area or a home per se and will compete life and death for it. They produce enzymes that help make nutrients more available to plants like several other bacteria species do. So after inoculation all we need to do is keep them thriving.
People in aquaponic and aquatics know very well and understand the benefits of beneficial bacteria. If you pop in some advanced fish keeping, planted tank, aquaponics sites you will see a wealth of information on it (in hydro this has not seem to have yet caught on, the dirt guys most likely understand all of this). Things like pythium generally are rarely seen in these systems once beneficial bacteria are established in comparison to hydroponics. Typically we do whats called a cycle in our systems (referring to the nitrogen cycle) it usually takes 4-6 weeks (you can google it to get an understanding if you like). How we get around that time frame is to inoculate new tanks with bacteria from another established tank (called seeding) or inoculating by taking a filter from an established system and putting it on the new one so that a good sized starting culture of bacteria can colinate relatively quickly (days not weeks). Adding hydrogaurd is the same thing.
These bacteria grow on any surface area in constant contact with your water including your roots and will provide a symbiotic relationship with your plants. They provide a kind of protective layer that protects the roots. The plant in turn secretes sugars and amino's from the roots to feed the bacteria that are protecting them from disease, fungus and other bacteria. In the process of consuming this food they produce enzymes that help break down nutrients into smaller molecules thats are easier to uptake by the plants.
So how do we keep them alive and happy after they are established... we need to change the way we perform certain tasks like water changes and be very mind full of the changes we make and how it will affect these bacteria.
If you change out all of your res water at once you are severely reducing the population, that is why hydrogaurd's directions are to add with each water change. If you combine a 100% water change with tap water that contains chlorine you are all but eliminating almost all the bacteria this level of chlorine usually doesn't create an issue with the plant itself. By the time the population recovers you can see other bacteria, fungus take over or pythium take hold. So what do we do? use the same method used in other systems excluding aquaponics (i won't explain this part).
We change 25% of the water each week and do not steralize our systems. I always get a chuckle when I see ppl add something like hydrogaurd then add h202. Its no wonder they say hydrogaurd doesn't work. With a 25% water change we are reducing the salt build up from our nutrients by 1/4 you shouldn't see a lockout due to salinity throughout your grow. With the reduced amount of water changed we reduce the stress of the plants in several ways (large change in salinity, drastic reduction in beneficial bacteria etc.) If using chlorinated tap water will not will not significantly reduce the population if you look around at the sites i mentioned you will see this is of major importance and you will see its strictly to prevent the loss of bacteria and minimize stress of both plants and livestock. You can do it less often but i found for myself in hydro 25% a week is the sweet spot for a dummy proof application in reducing salt build up and keeping the bacteria population healthy.
Next we create a safety net for ourselves as sometimes we may need to replace parts or clean out our systems between yields. Its pretty simple we just need to give them a home that we can move around. A simple aquarium filter with the right media, this can be as easy as a $10 sponge filter. It provides a lot of surface area since its porous and a great home, is easily moved and we generally already have an air pump to run it. You never wash a filter under the tap water you only clean it in drained res water and lightly just swish it around this will ensure the bacteria are not killed off. You can simply plop it in a 5 gal pail of old res water and feed it a tiny amount once a week most of our nutes provide the sugars and amino's they need. Then refil your system treat it for chlorine/chloramines if needed and once the water temp is good plop the filter back in and the colony will reestablish itself relatively quickly (within days).
I am not a microbioligist and this information was self taught through research and experience over 20+ years of aquatics. There are lots of bacteria that will provide a symbiotic relationship with you plants. Hydrogaurd seems to be the most common in hydroponics and since i have experience with it I figured I would try to help fellow growers understand about it and save some money as the way this product is marketed you are led to believe you need to purchase a constant supply.
Hope that helps explain some and save you some money i welcome all feedback positive and negative. hopefully this can start some discussions on beneficial bacteria in hydro.
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