Has anyone tried Cocowet or another type of soap in their res (sterile system)? I have HEARD that's what Dutch Masters Zone is but can't confirm the hearsay.
I just recently had an issue with brown slime. It wasn't pythium, it didn't smell like sulphur or swamp poo. It smelt like nice dirt. I believe it was just an algae buildup as I didn't run covers on my tubs this run to see if I needed them or not (long story short, you need covers, light in res is bad). My tubs are home depot 27 gallon strong boxes, yellow lids,
panda film cover.
The only other time I have seen this type of brown slime was about 8 years ago when I had one of these stupid things that let a ridiculous amount of light into the system.
I taped up the reservoir with black duct tape and it cut the problem way back but didn't fix it completely since the white "fence post" sites still let some light in.
Anyway, my RDWC system was crashing pretty hard a couple weeks ago (serious yellowing of fan leaves, slime) and I used 2.5ml per gallon of 34% peroxide initially to clean it up. I then added about a tablespoon of cocowet (in 250 gal system) and that seemed to make them bounce back in a few days. I have been adding 1.5ml per gallon of peroxide every 2-3 days and it has gone away/stopped and hasn't returned. Haven't drained the res yet. New root growth as well. The cocowet initially made a bit of a foam party for a minute but it went away in a couple of hours.
I ran molasses in a sterile system and that might be what caused it to brown up as well. I don't think I will run molasses again in a sterile system. I have run it before with the covers and not had a brown slime issue but the combo of light and sugar wasn't good this time.
What I run:
GH maxi powder nutes
GH diamond nectar humates
Maxicrop seaweed
grotek silica
cal mag
snowstorm at finish (I have seen white slime from this product in live resevoirs and it recommends to use it with peroxide)
I reuse my airstones but soak them in a pint of 34% h202 per 5 gallon bucket for a few hours after I have scrubbed them with simple green. It needs to be clean first, then you can sterilize it. no clean, no sterile. Goes for everything else.
Lesson learned for sterile systems; No molasses in system, no light in system, 1-2ml per gal 34% peroxide twice a week, and a little soap seems to be the best combo I have found to date.
Anyway, thoughts on using soap in a sterile system?