Brown Slime Algae or Root Rot?

Hi Guys,

I have been having an issue with my roots that I cant seem to wrap my head around and need some advice.

I have been growing DWC for the last few months and seem to have this issue with my roots. I know at first glance it looks exactly like root rot but the thing is that I have no issue with plant growth. The plants are healthy and that is what I cant understand.

The issue arises straight after a Rez change and then seems to go away after about a week or so. Every Rez change I soak the roots in a 3% H202 solution @ 6ml to 1L for at least 3 hours and I am adding beneficial microbes into the rez, called Biodyne.

The room temperature varies from 66-71f. I am doing 20litre containers with a pump that is pushing out 150litre/hour of air into each container.

I have had no issues with the plants whatsoever and the only thing that seems to happen is this discolouration after each change. The roots start growing healthily after a few days so I really don't know what is happening so please any help would be great.

Here is a link to the products I am using with the recommended dosages.

Biodyne:

H202

If you are going to use peroxide then you need to run a sterile environment first until your roots are cleaned.

Prepare water with peroxide dosage, ph, and pour some over the hydroton to get the roots in the hydroton that are also rotting . Usually rot is below the netpot, but you may have had too much moisture getting into the net pot from the water level being to high. You really dont want the water level high and the hydroton getting wet once roots have touched water but to cleanse the roots, you unfortunately need the water to be at least an inch below netpot to cleanse as much roots as possible. You may need to cleanse the rockwool, but again you really dont want it to be wet at all.

Do not add beneficials and do not change the res for 7 days. During that 7 days, add 25% of the original dose every 1-2 days because the peroxide you initially added will no longer be effective. The roots dont need to be completely white, but you need to see a noticable difference and perhaps new healthy root growth.

If the problem has subsided, lower the water level to at least 6 inches below the netpot, higher if the roots are not touching water. Continue to use a res with peroxide if necessary and make a spray concoction with the same peroxide strength without nutes to spray the roots that are above water if they have any kind of slime once or twice daily.

Once you feel you have the problem under control, then you can switch to beneficials after 1-2 days of running your res without peroxide or sooner if you are sure there is no residual peroxide that will harm the beneficials and preferably only if you are able to keep the water temps down to 68F. If water temps are high then the problem may just keep returning forcing you to run a sterile res. Some people have luck with using hydroguard or something similar with high res temps and do just fine, but if that doesn't work, you might have to go sterile.

Also, when using peroxide, try to use food grade. It's recommended 35%, but all I can find is 12%. If using a higher percentage, obviously you must dilute further to get the same strength as when your using the 3% peroxide. Using peroxide periodically can be beneficial to plants, but I'm not sure about constant long term use. When I ran a sterile environment I used 3mL peroxide when I changed the res for 3 gallons of water and added 1mL everyday until the next res change. That was at the first sign of slime and the issue went away after a week. Im not sure what dose you should use or how long, but I hope you find a solution.

I feel like dead bennies can also cause slime, but that could just be coincidental in my experiences with growing. So maybe using something that also converts dead matter into food, like Sensizym, along with bennies might be more beneficial.

those roots look like seaweed, not MJ roots.

like Harper says, stop using the bennies and use peroxide from here on out. you probably need to dose a few times a week, not just at res change.

Plants may be healthy but they aren't at peak due to root rot

Thank guys... O really appreciate the advice.

I have started treatment with a 35% peroxide mix that I have made and am doing 4ml per gallon of water. Once the problem subsides I will lower the water level in the containers and then introduce new microbes.

I will add the above-mentioned mix @ 1ml per gallon each day and see what happens from there.

I have noticed that there is new root growth on the plants already which has been the case previously.

I think that the issue is the bennies dying when I am doing the rez change and soaking the roots in h202 cause of the fact that I have very healthy root growth before the Rez change and then this issue arises as soon as new nutes are introduced.

Next rez change I will not use H202 and observe what happens.

When I was trying to get rid of root rot it was a long battle and it kept coming back. I found it more effective using chlorine to be honest. I would give one day a dose of h202 to give it the oxygen boost, and the next day i would use chlorine. That worked for the longest time, but it eventually did come back. After getting root rot I don't think beneficial will help you. You need to totally get rid of it before benies will act as a preventative. You also need good flow and good o2 and good temperature.

I forgot to ask what kind of water you use. If you use tap water without dechlorinating, it can also kill beneficials.

I am using normal tap water. I will try dechlorinated water in the future and see what difference it makes.

How do I use chlorine?

Harper J said:

If you use tap water without dechlorinating, it can also kill beneficials.

Click to expand...

i think that's a myth. it will kill some but not enough to cause problems. chloramine is a different scenario