Hydro guard storage temp & reproduction

[jayjay777]

First off let me apologize for even asking this newb question lol.... Also I scour the Internet for about 10 minutes and found nothing so I figured somebody on here could help me out...

Now I have 6 gallons of Hydro guard. I’m getting ready for a new build in a few weeks in my storage unit is full, I’m excited, but I fear that the higher temperatures may cause the bacteria to go bad, even though a warmer temperature is probably more beneficial to the bacteria breeding imo.

It’s been exposed now for about 10 days , i’m going to guess that the high and low was about 59-88. And that’s me being hard on myself because that’s what our “ambient” temperatures have been.

Now I think I’m perfectly fine, but it was really hot out today and I almost considered putting in the spare refrigerator at 60*. But then I question if that’s too cold.

I always thought it said a cool dark space.
But 88 isn’t cool imo. but I doubt that the liquid itself got that warm.

Luckily my distributor Keeps a rather fresh supply. They are all marked 03/18. for those of you who don’t know that is the date of manufacture not the expiration date. The bottle says you have two years but I always believe the sooner the better .

I’m not really worried about the silica n calmag tbh

Anyone?

O ya... Also while we are on the subject, I wonder if you could create more hydrogaurd from hydrogaurd. ( like take a 5 gallon bucket full of water and using air stone, add some hydrogaurd and Karo syrup).

I would imagine the bacteria would replicate as long as it’s in a ideal environment, oxygenated and fed carbs....

I used to do this with mushroom spores.... it always worked.... but I’m not sure how this strain of bacteria differs.

It would just be nice to not have to spend all that money on it but then again it’s totally worth it, I Favor it over re-charge and great white.....

Opinions? Temps n reproduction

Thanks guys

Peace love & respect

Jay

 

[Airwalker16]

It's fine...

 

[OneHitDone]

I would just like to ask - what have you actually seen HydroGuard do for your garden? Ever ran with and without?

 

[Airwalker16]

I would just like to ask - what have you actually seen HydroGuard do for your garden? Ever ran with and without?

No, used h2o2 29%

 

[GreenTools]

I'm not sure about temp fluctuations for hydroguard, but you should be fine. Only product in the botanicare line I've seen go bad was Liquid Karma.. I use hydroguard in addition to liquid form of Great White, because they are a combination of different strain of bennies....haven' run a sterile rez in years, and no reason to now...

 

[Purpsmagurps]

I use hydroguard and I can leave my reservoir for 2 weeks at a time and come back and its NO SLIME. really needed. H2o2 is damaging to your roots and should only be used to kill pythium you let grow from not having it being innoculated with hydroguard.

 

[rkymtnman]

Opinions?

buy southern ag garden friendly fungicide instead. much much cheaper and much much more concentrated. same strain of bacteria as hydroguard.

 

[Larry3215]

buy southern ag garden friendly fungicide instead. much much cheaper and much much more concentrated. same strain of bacteria as hydroguard.

Thanks! Great tip!!

 

[Larry3215]

I git my bottle of Southern Ag today. It makes me wonder if I got a dud/fake bottle of HydroGuard?

My HydroGuard is crystal clear and looks just like pure distilled water with not a hint of color or odor.

This stuff is medium brown, and totally opaque, with lots of semi-solids in it. Its so thick its almost a jell, and it has a slight, almost sweet odor. Not bad at all, but its there.

My PH has been falling like a rock the last couple of weeks and I finally had to admit I had root rot. I treated with a big over dose of Hydro Guard a few days ago but it made almost no effect. I treated again with this new stuff about 12 hours ago and the PH is starting to stabilize already.

By the way, this stuff is several thousand times as concentrated as Hydro Guard. One drop of this stuff would probably make several gallons of Hydro Guard.

The only down side is the name. Way to long

 

[rkymtnman]

I git my bottle of Southern Ag today. It makes me wonder if I got a dud/fake bottle of HydroGuard?

My HydroGuard is crystal clear and looks just like pure distilled water with not a hint of color or odor.

This stuff is medium brown, and totally opaque, with lots of semi-solids in it. Its so thick its almost a jell, and it has a slight, almost sweet odor. Not bad at all, but its there.

My PH has been falling like a rock the last couple of weeks and I finally had to admit I had root rot. I treated with a big over dose of Hydro Guard a few days ago but it made almost no effect. I treated again with this new stuff about 12 hours ago and the PH is starting to stabilize already.

By the way, this stuff is several thousand times as concentrated as Hydro Guard. One drop of this stuff would probably make several gallons of Hydro Guard.

The only down side is the name. Way to long

glad you got it! and just to add a bit, i have to look at my old posts but i think it's a million times more concentrated than hydroguard.

i use 1 mL in 2 gallon waterfarms which is probably 100 times more than i need.

 

[Larry3215]

I started with about 1 ml in my 15 gal system and it actually seems to be working great. Im adding it in by a drop or two when I top off - usually 3 to 5 gals worth.

My PH situation is steadily getting better - unlike with the Hydro Guard. Im really wondering if I bought a bottle of water instead of Hydro Guard. Does it always look crystal clear?

 

[Larry3215]

As far as the concentration I guess it depends on which stat you compare.

The % by volume is something like .035% for Hydro Guard and 98.85% for So Ag, which works out to around 2800 times as concentrated. But if you look at the CFU's (Colony Forming Units), Hydro Guard has about 1x10^4 = 10,000 CFU's, but SoAg has 1 x 10^10 or 1 billion CFU's!! By that measure its 100,000 times as strong.

Either way, it sure makes Hydro Guard look like a scam

 

[GBAUTO]

glad you got it! and just to add a bit, i have to look at my old posts but i think it's a million times more concentrated than hydroguard.

i use 1 mL in 2 gallon waterfarms which is probably 100 times more than i need.

I dilute the GFF 20:1 with water-that still produces a much higher concentration compared to Hydroguard. I had a friend that added approx 10x the rec amount and she did have some issues with the roots. Good stuff though.

 

[Larry3215]

I just realized I cant to simple math. The GFF is 1 million times more concentrated than Hydro Guard if you count the CFU's - sorry rkymtnman!! Im an idiot!!

I like the GFF abbreviation and Im going to use it too

At 1 million times more concentrated, one drop of GFF would make somewhere around 8 gallons of Hydro Guard.

Im not sure its really that much stronger, but who knows.

I have root rot bad in my setup and its causing the PH to drop like crazy. I dumped about 1/3 of a bottle of Hydro Guard in the rez before I got the GFF, and it barely slowed down the rate of drop.

After I got the GFF, I worked my way up to adding about 1 ml to the rez every other day. That should be equivalent to 240 gallons of Hydro Guard! That much was able to stop the dropping PH - but will only hold it for about a day. Then it starts dropping like mad again. The last couple of days, Ive been having to add 1 ml every day to keep the PH from dropping, but even that is not working any more. Im starting to get some new root growth that is much whiter than the old stuff, but there is still a ton of brown crap roots.

Im worried about over doing it with the GFF, but I dont know what else to try. I wont be ready to harvest for at least another week. Im hoping I can keep the babies going that long.....

 

[projectinfo]

I just realized I cant to simple math. The GFF is 1 million times more concentrated than Hydro Guard if you count the CFU's - sorry rkymtnman!! Im an idiot!!

I like the GFF abbreviation and Im going to use it too

At 1 million times more concentrated, one drop of GFF would make somewhere around 8 gallons of Hydro Guard.

Im not sure its really that much stronger, but who knows.

I have root rot bad in my setup and its causing the PH to drop like crazy. I dumped about 1/3 of a bottle of Hydro Guard in the rez before I got the GFF, and it barely slowed down the rate of drop.

After I got the GFF, I worked my way up to adding about 1 ml to the rez every other day. That should be equivalent to 240 gallons of Hydro Guard! That much was able to stop the dropping PH - but will only hold it for about a day. Then it starts dropping like mad again. The last couple of days, Ive been having to add 1 ml every day to keep the PH from dropping, but even that is not working any more. Im starting to get some new root growth that is much whiter than the old stuff, but there is still a ton of brown crap roots.

Im worried about over doing it with the GFF, but I dont know what else to try. I wont be ready to harvest for at least another week. Im hoping I can keep the babies going that long.....

Whats your res temps at maybe theres a deeper problem than just what bennys your using

 

[Larry3215]

Thanks for the help!

Rez temps stay at or below 72F. The last several weeks its been averaging right around 71F. My heater wont let it go below 70F, but of course it goes below that for a while when I top off the rez or do a rez change. By the way, I have done 4 rez changes in the last two weeks. The three plants are drinking right around 3 gallons per day and have been since I started 12/12.

Other than the root rot, and some tacoing on upper leaves, the plants look pretty happy to me.

 

[rkymtnman]

Im worried about over doing it with the GFF, but I dont know what else to try.

you need to make sure that you are getting the gff all the way up into the root ball. all the way to the stem. take out like a quart or gallon of res water that has the gff in it, and top feed if you can.. or remove the net pot and dunk it in the res with the gff

 

[Larry3215]

you need to make sure that you are getting the gff all the way up into the root ball. all the way to the stem. take out like a quart or gallon of res water that has the gff in it, and top feed if you can.. or remove the net pot and dunk it in the res with the gff

Thanks, Yeah, been doing that for the last week or so, but as of today, even that isnt working any more. Seems like yesterday it hit a tipping point. PH is now dropping .5 or more in like 4 hours no matter what I do.

At 1AM this morning the rez was at 5.6 (down from 6.2 at 9PM last night), so I added tap water to bring it up to 6.3. By 6AM it was down to 5.4 again. The runoff from the NFT tote was at 5.3 and the runnoff from the membrane tote was at 5.1. I added tap water and a big chunk of GFF and did exactly what you suggest - top feed all three plants plus flood the nft and membrane root balls with the extra strength mix. By 10 am the rez was down to 5.3 - repeat as above. By 1PM it was down to 5.4 again - repeat as above.

As of 5 PM the rez was down from 6.4 to 5.4 and the nft tote runnoff was down to 5.1 and the membrane tote runnoff was down to 4.3.

I think Im done.

My trichomes are about 70% milky with about 1% amber, so still a bit early to harvest, but I dont think I have much choice.

 

[rkymtnman]

I dont think I have much choice.

there's always a plan B.

0.30 grams of HTH pool shock per 10 gals of water gives 3ppm free chlorine. safe for plants and humans but will kill whatever you got growing in your system

 

[Larry3215]

Darn it! I wish I had seen your comment earlier, but its too late now. I cut them all down already.

I read a research study somewhere - I think on this board - that came to the conclusion that bleach did NOT work to kill root rot unless it was strong enough concentration to also damage or kill the roots. After reading that, I decided not to use any bleach and do the Hydro Guard thing. Of course, I have read plenty of reports from growers that say just the opposite. I have a tendency to go more with the scientific reports than with anecdotal reports.

This would have been a perfect time to test it though. The plant in the Membrane tote had stopped drinking completely, and the other two had slowed waaaaay down. All three had been drinking around 3 gals a day, but it dropped to barely 1/2 gallon by yesterday, so killing off the roots would not have made it any worse.

Thanks for the suggestion - even if I didnt try it!!