Help with RDWC establishing roots

[tobh]

i would say whatever light is getting through those pipes is insignificant. Those pipes are pretty thick. I'm more convinced the slime is due to a lack of true sterility or true live friendly cultures. UC roots doesn't sterilize anything, at least not based on what i read of it. none of the other additives offer any sterility either. even treating the solution with uv-c will only go so far, you still need something more proactive as a true preventative. My concern with the slime not being the typical brown we see with pythium is it could be grey algae which i've read can be a real motherfucker to contend with.

 

[login]

i wonder what you guys think of the white pvc pipe and the amount of lights that is going through it. only thing i can think of if you are running your enzymes and nutrient schedules properly.
cuz if the enzymes are not working correctly that can cause problems

Its vinyl tubing its black on the inside. I'm not using any enzymes.

Theres a pool store next to me could I just get some pool shock and throw that in the system tomorrow?

 

[PK1]

i would say whatever light is getting through those pipes is insignificant. Those pipes are pretty thick. I'm more convinced the slime is due to a lack of true sterility or true live friendly cultures. UC roots doesn't sterilize anything, at least not based on what i read of it. none of the other additives offer any sterility either. even treating the solution with uv-c will only go so far, you still need something more proactive as a true preventative. My concern with the slime not being the typical brown we see with pythium is it could be grey algae which i've read can be a real motherfucker to contend with.

ok perfect, I wasn't sure if UC was enzyme or anything beneficial to keep the rez clean.

Its vinyl tubing its black on the inside. I'm not using any enzymes.

Theres a pool store next to me could I just get some pool shock and throw that in the system tomorrow?

I dnt know about that, but what i do know is that if you get z9 A+B and add it to your system after all nutrients, ph, epsom salt is mixed.
But before going there, it might be good to remove all the plants, clean their roots, than clean the entire system with bleach and H2o2 and hydrogen peroxide, then run a clean water just to remove any remaining bleach and peroxide.

Once all the cleaning is done, then make a new batch of nutrients, ph to your liking anywhere between 5.5 to 5.8 add your Z9A+B (Do keep count how many gallons) and start focusing on plant.
that stuff has done miracles for me.

 

[PK1]

also, make 100% sure all the air stones, pipes, pumps is sterilized.

 

[login]

Where do you get z9?

 

[PK1]

Where do you get z9?

Welcome to Flying Skull Plant Products - Start Growing with Tomorrow's Technology Today!

Z9 in canada and Z7 in usa

 

[login]

Let's see how the pool shock does. Just added 3 grams into my system after res change and cleaning.

 

[tobh]

Let's see how the pool shock does. Just added 3 grams into my system after res change and cleaning.

that might not have been enough. when i used pool shock, the general consensus i gathered across multiple forums was 5 grams pool shock powder into 1 gallon of distilled water, then apply 5ml per gallon in the system. Basically the same treatment as a heavy dose of h2o2

 

[login]

It's 20 mg per gallon of pool shock is what I added. My system is filled to around 150 gallons
The ORP went to 510 from 380 that's with 1 ml per gallon of uc roots too.

I dont know why people mix the pool shock into a concentrate, I just weigh out three grams of shock and mixed into a five gallon bucket and dumped it.

 

[AnselAdams]

So I think his grow is going fine thus far. I run 6 strains in the same system and usually one looks a little different, but always grows. I see great white roots, excellent root structure, and no deficiencies up top. I wouldnt be keeping my ppms that high, but other than that it seems like you will be fine. None of your lower fan leafs are dying or showing issues. . .like you dont have root rot. . .

Are you sterile or live??? Are you running bbs?

Generally you have to decide up front if you want to go sterile or not. The investment and process is totally different and requires different equipment and focus.

Good Luck

 

[mojavegreen]

Generally you have to decide up front if you want to go sterile or not. The investment and process is totally different and requires different equipment and focus.

Good Luck

For sure. I ran bennies in my hydro before, but seemed like more work than sterile. I was brewing my own Benny tea though. It seemed to work pretty good but definitely more biofilm development. Course I think air and lots of it to the roots is the best preventative measure.

 

[tobh]

For sure. I ran bennies in my hydro before, but seemed like more work than sterile. I was brewing my own Benny tea though. It seemed to work pretty good but definitely more biofilm development. Course I think air and lots of it to the roots is the best preventative measure.

eh, i think that's debatable. roots don't need air. they need dissolved oxygen. in an RDWC system, so long there's enough turnover of the solution, supplemental air in unnecessary. if adequate circulation cannot be attained, h2o2 provides more than enough O2 if used in the right concentrations (3ml - 5ml per gallon in the system). Conversely, there are multiple resources out there purporting that running air stones actually introduces CO2 to the solution, increases heat in the solution, and traumatize root structures -- all of which inhibit optimum growth. plus, air pumps are noisy bastards.

 

[PK1]

. plus, air pumps are noisy bastards.

No argument with that, i am soooooo happy the air pumps are going off soon

 

[AnselAdams]

No argument with that, i am soooooo happy the air pumps are going off soon

which is why mine is in the garage on the other side of the grow room wall (primary line runs through the baseboards about two inches off the floor to avoid the floor plate)

 

[login]

Generally you have to decide up front if you want to go sterile or not. The investment and process is totally different and requires different equipment and focus.

Good Luck

I setup to run sterile. I just didn't know I had to dump bleach in every 3 days

 

[login]

I do have mycostop, kangaroots, southern AG fungicide, and z7 ordered in case the pool shock dont work.

 

[Cashmeh]

I setup to run sterile. I just didn't know I had to dump bleach in every 3 days

You can easily convert it. . . I would order hydroguard online right now. Everyone will recommend all types of BB's, but I have actually been testing my hydroguard and it lasts forever. I added 2ml per gallon, 60ML hydroguard in a 30gallon system, cost me like 5$ in hydroguard. . . That was 2 months ago. Since then I top off with nutrients once a week and ajust ph, I have only added my original dose of hydroguard and never dumped the res. This water has been sitting for prolly 2 months now, with only its original dose of hydroguard. The roots are perfect as usual. . . Growth up top is fast as hell. . Hell last grow I never even checked my roots in my flower room. I even cut the hell out of them and had tons of loose roots in my system. It works perfect. . .Ill never use anything else.

If you want to convert I imagine it would be super easy for you. I use flora trio, calmag and hydroguard for veg. Once I transplant, supercrop and flip to flower I add silica blast and "massive" Pgr. Pretty simple. . and I got a lb in 3.5months off one plant lol. When I flip to flower and defoliate everything, I can literally watch the growth double per day.

The only reason I get good growth rates is due to 72f water temp, I could not sustain that temp without hydroguard. I myself created the perfect ecosystem for roots, in my opinion that is.

 

[MagicNative1]

I don't top feed, I have airstones running 24/7. Until roots poke out bottom I keep water level at bottom of rockwool. I allow the rockwool to wick it up. Yet once the roots are blasting out of the rockwool, I completely submerge the rockwool.

No top feeding is nice and I have yet to see it cause an issue.

Yeah that's kinda what I was gonna mention... I have been tweakin a 3 gal soil / dwc mixed system I've wanted to do for a long time and to me in a way (especially since my soils bottom half is constantly doing the wicking thing period)... I'd just rather always have the air pumping to roots... More moisture to the substrate and not enough oxygen and your basically flooding you roots out...
But I also agree with those saying better to top fee until your root run out a good amount to not need it as often anymore..

 

[login]

Southern ag fungicide is the same thing as hydroguard.

The kangaroots has many different beneficial bacteria and fungi. it's made from earthworm castings I believe.

The mycostop is what current culture sales and last for weeks.

I dont know anything about the flying skull other than its some kind of two-part enzyme cleaner.

Below my water filter setup, source water --->UV---> Sediment---> Carbon--->RO---> UC roots

 

[Cashmeh]

I mean its the same bacteria but not really. Different strains of bacteria are patented and if isolated not allowed to be used by others. Saying its the same strain is like saying all apples are the same. Some are quite different than others but overall work the same. If seen plenty of sealed systems fighting root rot that southern ag couldnt fix. I have yet to see a sealed system that hydroguard didnt fix. All in the strain. It reminds me of people who pheno hunt here. The only issue ive every heard about hydroguard is its hard to get or its expensive. Ive heard plenty of bad things about southern ag lol. Not saying it wont work, just saying you get what you pay for. I wouldnt be mixing the bacterias either, like adding as many as possible. The more bacteria you have the more 02 you will need in your water.