Black Mold on Top of Hydroton

I noticed today that I have what appears to be a little black slimy mold looking residue on top of the hydroton in my General Hydroponics Water Farm pots. It is the area directly under the drip rings... I turned up my fan assuming I need more air flow. I have two small clip fans now but will add two more for more circulation. I'm now concerned and not sure what to do next...

This is my first go with this setup including the tent and water pots. How do I get rid of what appears to be a black slimy mold? The last thing I want to do is pull cuttings off this garden and ditch the whole thing, clean and then start over.

Many thanks in advance.

i use panda film and make a square cover for my waterfarms. i still get a bit of green algae in the small areas where light hits.

Awesome, I'm in CO as well. =)

Can you snap a pic of your handy work? I ask because I'm curious how you fashioned it all together. You don't have issues with mold and/or the lack of air flow directly over top the drip rings?

I have a 10 x 25 black white sheet coming soon.

I can see the panda plastic helping the algae but mold likes the dark. This is the first I have ever heard of mold on hydroton or waterfarms, weird.

99% of the time that is caused by too much phosphorus and/or an overabundance of nutrients. I'd be interested in knowing what your water source is and what you PPM reads.

Vegs said:

Awesome, I'm in CO as well. =)

Can you snap a pic of your handy work? I ask because I'm curious how you fashioned it all together. You don't have issues with mold and/or the lack of air flow directly over top the drip rings?

I have a 10 x 25 black white sheet coming soon.

Click to expand...

i don't have a pic for ya but it's pretty easy to make: cut a square bigger than the top, cut a small hole in the middle and a slit from one corner to the hole.

and no problems with mold or lack of airflow. it actually helps keep spray from getting onto the leaves of the seedlings where it comes out of the drip ring and hits the hydroton.

Honestly, I'm not sure if it's mold or dark algae. I typically use Distilled water, however, this new setup I am using my tap water which is at 100ppms. Running the Botanicare Grow nutrients at 900PPM's. The pots are ran every 6 hours for 30 minutes.

Tap water could be the cause, especially if you're in the U.S.

Used to, we used primarily chlorine to kill bacteria in tap water. Years ago we found out that wasn't such a bright idea so we started using phosphorous more and more.

Using tap water in a fish tank virtually guarantees you an algae problem. It's no different in hydro systems.

Vegs said:

The pots are ran every 6 hours for 30 minutes

Click to expand...

run them 24/7 IMO.

i add an airstone and use it when the roots hit the bottom res. i bought dual outlet airpumps.

Ok, this was my first time using tap water (was trying to cut some cost). Aye, I'll drain them and replace with distilled water. I do use an 6inch airstone in each pot that is ran 24/7 but the drip rings run every 6 hours for 30 minutes. Both the air stones and drip rings are ran with GH 4 outlet dual pumps. I also modified the buckets by drilling a few larger holes as well as adding the hole for airstone pump line and a 1 1/2 inch pvp pipe so I can take samples, pump out or in...easy access baby. =)