Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
You can get great white and aquashield and add it directly to the res.
DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes
- Thread starter Heisenberg
- Start date
Not having much luck with the tea They were looking great in the very first pic, that was 5 days ago.
used gognats then did a water change with fresh tea. 3 days later I had to pull off a lot of dying root matter.
I probably messed up somewhere. I have 2 systems running The one pictured above went to complete crap. The one below is on its way. It could be the go gnats because the below didnt get the treatment. But it still looks like it is taking a turn for the worse. I'm doing a water change and using some fresh tea.
Maybe in under currents the dose is way overkill, Im not sure. But I have some stand alone tubs that I only gave 1 treatment 10 days ago ant thier roots stayed pearly white..
I also light proofed the tubs because that might be causing the problem as well. But my stand alone buckets aren't lightproofed and still look great
I keep my water temps at 69
I did use roots excelurator so that is part of the brown stained roots.
Is RE not supposed to be used with the tea??
H&G aqua flakes, tea, calmag, and roots excelurator is all im using in my solution.
UV treated RO water
Is it possible to use 2 much tea?
I really hope I can pull this grow off, so I can swich to krusty buckets
Maybe the cedar oil in the GOGnats is what messed everything up...
When I pull off some of the roots and rinse them off the brown stuff comes off pretty easy,
Is this a result of 2 much tea in the tubs?
After I added the gognats it was hard to keep the ph down.
Maybe they will be fine after few days, Im changing the water again tonight and adding back weak A B and 1 gallon of tea only.
I don't see the slime growing anywhere it looks like just the gunk from the tea that is covering the roots.
This last pic is a plant in a stand alone tub that I treated with the tea 10 days ago and gets no attention at all, I dont even check the ph, I just fill it back up when the water gets low, The water temps are much lower though, like high 50's low 60's
It looks awesome
What do you guys think I should do?
georgeforeman
Well-Known Member
anyone have opinions on easier to clean airstones. I found a few, did not know which ones are better
Bonded Glass Bead Coarse Airstone
http://www.marineandreef.com/Mist_Air_Coarse_Airstone_Kordon_p/RKO62501.htm
Silica airstone
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8121
alumina airstone
http://www.123ponds.com/as337.html
trying to keep it simple, but also trying to keep it clean and easy to clean. My current blue air stones (round ecoplus cylinder) seem to build up biofilm and are difficult to clean.
Bonded Glass Bead Coarse Airstone
http://www.marineandreef.com/Mist_Air_Coarse_Airstone_Kordon_p/RKO62501.htm
Silica airstone
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8121
alumina airstone
http://www.123ponds.com/as337.html
trying to keep it simple, but also trying to keep it clean and easy to clean. My current blue air stones (round ecoplus cylinder) seem to build up biofilm and are difficult to clean.
georgeforeman
Well-Known Member
gettogro, that is exactly what happened to me. When i lifted my 1 plant, the bottom chunk of roots just fell off. I also am using the tea in UC. As much as people think DWC and UC are similar, they are not. UC requires a significantly less amount of nutrients than DWC because of the recirculation effect.
CaliMackdaddy
Active Member
That is some amazing results my friend!!! Show some root pics in a few days with your full results. You can use a much weaker tea solution now that your slime is gone, deffinatlty destroyed the problem.
Not having much luck with the tea They were looking great in the very first pic, that was 5 days ago.
used gognats then did a water change with fresh tea. 3 days later I had to pull off a lot of dying root matter.
I probably messed up somewhere. I have 2 systems running The one pictured above went to complete crap. The one below is on its way. It could be the go gnats because the below didnt get the treatment. But it still looks like it is taking a turn for the worse. I'm doing a water change and using some fresh tea.
Maybe in under currents the dose is way overkill, Im not sure. But I have some stand alone tubs that I only gave 1 treatment 10 days ago ant thier roots stayed pearly white..
I also light proofed the tubs because that might be causing the problem as well. But my stand alone buckets aren't lightproofed and still look great
I keep my water temps at 69
I did use roots excelurator so that is part of the brown stained roots.
Is RE not supposed to be used with the tea??
H&G aqua flakes, tea, calmag, and roots excelurator is all im using in my solution.
UV treated RO water
Is it possible to use 2 much tea?
I really hope I can pull this grow off, so I can swich to krusty buckets
Maybe the cedar oil in the GOGnats is what messed everything up...
When I pull off some of the roots and rinse them off the brown stuff comes off pretty easy,
Is this a result of 2 much tea in the tubs?
After I added the gognats it was hard to keep the ph down.
Maybe they will be fine after few days, Im changing the water again tonight and adding back weak A B and 1 gallon of tea only.
I don't see the slime growing anywhere it looks like just the gunk from the tea that is covering the roots.
This last pic is a plant in a stand alone tub that I treated with the tea 10 days ago and gets no attention at all, I dont even check the ph, I just fill it back up when the water gets low, The water temps are much lower though, like high 50's low 60's
It looks awesome
What do you guys think I should do?
Great info in this thread! Still trying to go through all of it 
I'm about to brew my first batch, just want to make sure I get the details right.
In my recirculating DWC system, I currently have dutch master grow nutrients, with add 27, silica, and zone. I'm using tap water, but the water here is good, ppm is 40.
I'm seeing some rusty orange 'slime' in certain parts. So I don't want to kill the microbes, so I believe I should flush out the system and refill without using zone. Then brew my tea with distilled water. Will it be ok to add the brewed tea to my reservoir, even though I'm using tap water?
Also, is it ok to use honey in place of the molasses?
I'm about to brew my first batch, just want to make sure I get the details right.
In my recirculating DWC system, I currently have dutch master grow nutrients, with add 27, silica, and zone. I'm using tap water, but the water here is good, ppm is 40.
I'm seeing some rusty orange 'slime' in certain parts. So I don't want to kill the microbes, so I believe I should flush out the system and refill without using zone. Then brew my tea with distilled water. Will it be ok to add the brewed tea to my reservoir, even though I'm using tap water?
Also, is it ok to use honey in place of the molasses?
CaliMackdaddy
Active Member
Make sure you let your tap sit for a while, its known that any chlorine or h2o2 in the water can kill off the microbes. So yeah you can add it to straight tap water, wait some hours then add nutrients. Honey in not sure about, check if the microbes react to it within 24 hours.Great info in this thread! Still trying to go through all of it
I'm about to brew my first batch, just want to make sure I get the details right.
In my recirculating DWC system, I currently have dutch master grow nutrients, with add 27, silica, and zone. I'm using tap water, but the water here is good, ppm is 40.
I'm seeing some rusty orange 'slime' in certain parts. So I don't want to kill the microbes, so I believe I should flush out the system and refill without using zone. Then brew my tea with distilled water. Will it be ok to add the brewed tea to my reservoir, even though I'm using tap water?
Also, is it ok to use honey in place of the molasses?
So these roots look healthy?
This is what dwc roots with the tea should look like??
Covered with brown gunk from the tea.
I use a 400 micron filter bag, but still black gunk is in the tea that covers the roots. Is this normal??
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
So these roots look healthy?
This is what dwc roots with the tea should look like??
Covered with brown gunk from the tea.
I use a 400 micron filter bag, but still black gunk is in the tea that covers the roots. Is this normal??
These roots are not normal, yet they do not have the classic slime. These roots look like they are in recovery yet gunked up from the RE. I had the same results when I used RE directly in the res. You can use it in the tea itself, at 1ml per gallon, but only after the slime is long gone. Never use it directly in the res.
It does seem UC systems may need less tea, less often, but there are no ill effects from too much tea. You need to make sure the roots and crown are treated directly, and keep organics and known triggers of slime out of the res. Honey actually has an antibiotic enzyme in it, but this will eventually be diluted and wont kill too many microbes. Honey is also a less complex source of food, so certain microbes don't like it. Tea should be made with pure water, but adding it to tap-water res should not have a significant effect on the microbes.
georgeforeman
Well-Known Member
From my experience with uc, you must start with a 1/2 dose of everything. And after my first run, i would include tea in that. gettogro, i will be trying a 1/3 dosage of tea coming up, i will let you now the results. That will be 1 cup per 3 gallons to inoculate and 1 cup per 15 gallons every 4-7 days. That is 1 cup per plant crown-fed for me. And for now, i will do res changes every 2 weeks.
TruenoAE86coupe
Moderator
Make sure to leave out the zone, it will kill everything you put in.
Just a thought on the Dutch Master, I have found just as good of results using DM advance "MAX" (not max-fx thats a foliar spray) instead of Add .27 (calculator has option for this) you use far far less of the max, and it is cheaper to boot. That add .27 was adding up too fast for me....
Just a thought on the Dutch Master, I have found just as good of results using DM advance "MAX" (not max-fx thats a foliar spray) instead of Add .27 (calculator has option for this) you use far far less of the max, and it is cheaper to boot. That add .27 was adding up too fast for me....
Great, thank you so much! Good to know about the honey, I did end up getting some organic unsulphured molasses, and am at the 12 hour mark brewing the tea with the molasses, distilled water, worm wiggle ewc, aquashield, and ZHO. I'm using 2 large round airstones, and so far it looks like things are headed in the right direction. Nice to know once the tea is brewed I can add it to the reservoir using tap water.
TheNewGuyy
Active Member
hydroponic stores.
So I'm about to flush my RDWC system today, and will refill using DM Gold veg a+b, add27, and silica, no zone this time. I've been fighting pH, it keeps going up, I keep bringing it down, about twice a day. Tonight at about 2am I will be at the 48 hour mark for the tea. I checked the temperature a bit earlier, at about the 34 hour mark, and while there are plenty of bubbles, I don't see any foam forming. Temperature of the tea is 66.7* F. Is this too cold, or is it because I'm using worm wiggle instead of ancient forest EWC? I'm staying hopeful that it will still work properly Also if anyone has any tips for pH (should I just check once a day at about the same time, adjust and ignore it for 24 hours?) I would appreciate it! Thanks! I have some experience, but it's been awhile, and I'm trying to perfect things
Also if anyone has any tips for pH (should I just check once a day at about the same time, adjust and ignore it for 24 hours?) I would appreciate it! Thanks! I have some experience, but it's been awhile, and I'm trying to perfect things
TruenoAE86coupe
Moderator
Might be the worm wiggle, i use it too and no foam to speak of, dissapates pretty quickly. Mine is working very well so far and i am about to do a res change tonight.