ttystikk
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- Jan 4, 2011
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I've had all the slime troubles in my RDWC system, so I'll give you the rundown on what worked for me. First, get the water temps down. Nothing else will work- especially beneficial bacteria- until the water temp is at least in the mid 60s, and preferably between 60 and 64. If it rises during your day cycle that's okay, but it needs to get that cold every day at least once.
The cooler the water, the MORE dissolved oxygen it can hold, which encourages bennies including aerobic bacteria, micchorhyzae and so fort, and discourages pathogens, which are generally anaerobic and don't do well in highly oxygenated environments. That's why you need the water to be colder- but not too cold, as below 60 degrees will slow the growth of your plants and provides no additional oxygenation or pest control benefits.
Just as you can't stir much sugar into cold tea but you can easily dissoolve a bunch into warm tea, you can't oxygenate warm water enough to keep the nasties down. H2O2, DM Zone, Regen-a-root, I've tried them all in high temps and they just don't work.
If you can't cover the expense of a chiller right away, then find other sources of cold water, and if you live north of 60 like your tagline says I'll bet your house water is nice and cold right now, so try this; run a coil of copper or aluminum pipe in your reservior, and pass house water through that coil. You could even run that house water back into your household water system afterwards with no ill effects other than a bit of pressure drop. Or run to waste as needed. The water will not mix with the nutes in your res but it will suck heat out, fast. Circulating the water in your res will speed up this process. If your res is smaller, this won't take long, and it will work until your household water warms up in the summer.
Once your res temp is where it should be, a little DM zone OR beneficials (not both!) will keep everything humming along smoothly.
Lastly, I would not add anything into your reservoir that pathogens might see as food, so no molasses or carbs. If you need to use them to grow a batch of bennies, do that before adding to your res.
The cooler the water, the MORE dissolved oxygen it can hold, which encourages bennies including aerobic bacteria, micchorhyzae and so fort, and discourages pathogens, which are generally anaerobic and don't do well in highly oxygenated environments. That's why you need the water to be colder- but not too cold, as below 60 degrees will slow the growth of your plants and provides no additional oxygenation or pest control benefits.
Just as you can't stir much sugar into cold tea but you can easily dissoolve a bunch into warm tea, you can't oxygenate warm water enough to keep the nasties down. H2O2, DM Zone, Regen-a-root, I've tried them all in high temps and they just don't work.
If you can't cover the expense of a chiller right away, then find other sources of cold water, and if you live north of 60 like your tagline says I'll bet your house water is nice and cold right now, so try this; run a coil of copper or aluminum pipe in your reservior, and pass house water through that coil. You could even run that house water back into your household water system afterwards with no ill effects other than a bit of pressure drop. Or run to waste as needed. The water will not mix with the nutes in your res but it will suck heat out, fast. Circulating the water in your res will speed up this process. If your res is smaller, this won't take long, and it will work until your household water warms up in the summer.
Once your res temp is where it should be, a little DM zone OR beneficials (not both!) will keep everything humming along smoothly.
Lastly, I would not add anything into your reservoir that pathogens might see as food, so no molasses or carbs. If you need to use them to grow a batch of bennies, do that before adding to your res.