for hydroponics,the dye golf courses use for algae prevention can be used in hydroponics safely to naturally not let light penetrate the water.its safe for fish and plants. the type i use is aquashadow canada, aquashade u.s. its common sense to protect your water from hid light penetration. a small pinhole in a stationary 1000w system will infect.got EVERY little hole covered....are you sure? btw have you ever blamed pythim for turning your roots brown algae does the exact same thing, i figure many times its algae killing the roots with pythium setting in secondary when the roots start to decompose. i use dye in conjuction with mm2000 and h2o2 and step 3 pond algae reducer. no problems at all now. i used the last 3 products together with mediocre result not until i dicovered the dye was i able to enjoy trouble free growing