Hydrogen Peroxide & Beneficial Bacteria

Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
"Hydrogen peroxide is useful in hydroponics in several ways: it purifies water; destroys mold, bacteria, fungi, and algae; raises the oxygen level in the water; helps roots; and stimulates growth in general. Simply mix it into a 3% solution and add it directly into your reservoir". - https://whyfarmit.com/hydrogen-peroxide-in-hydroponics/

I'm sampling these Blumat Classics for a weeks use while I'm away on vacation soon. And already see why you'd want a reservoir outside of the tent. it quickly attracts algae. And in turn the algae clogs the lines and ceramic cones that make up the majority of the Blumat design. I read the above link and thought well, a few drops of 3% benzoyl peroxide shouldn't hurt, but will it? Will there be enough benzoyl peroxide in the water by the time it gets to the plants to kill all beneficial bacteria? My reservoir is two 32 ounce plastic bottles inside the tent. The easy fix is to set them up outside of tent. But for the meantime I'm really curious about this hydrogen peroxide killing off beneficial bacteria.
 
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FirstCavApache64

FirstCavApache64

Well-Known Member
I used a 20% ratio of 3% hydrogen peroxide to attack fungus gnats in my organic plants and never saw any issues. I'm not sure if it hurt the microbes a little or not but it didn't kill them off as far as hurting the plant. I also was adding in recharge at the time weekly though so they were being replentished.
 
Billy the Mountain

Billy the Mountain

Well-Known Member
Week4@inCharge said:
I'm sampling these Blumat Classics for a weeks use while I'm away on vacation soon. And already see why you'd want a reservoir outside of the tent. it quickly attracts algae. And in turn the algae clogs the lines and ceramic cones that make up the majority of the Blumat design. I read the above link and thought well, a few drops of 3% benzoyl peroxide shouldn't hurt, but will it? Will there be enough benzoyl peroxide in the water by the time it gets to the plants to kill all beneficial bacteria? My reservoir is two 32 ounce plastic bottles inside the tent. The easy fix is to set them up outside of tent. But for the meantime I'm really curious about this benzoca peroxide killing off beneficial bacteria.
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Benzoyl Peoxide is used for treating acne, stick with hydrogen peroxide for hydroponics
 
Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
FirstCavApache64 said:
I used a 20% ratio of 3% hydrogen peroxide to attack fungus gnats in my organic plants and never saw any issues. I'm not sure if it hurt the microbes a little or not but it didn't kill them off as far as hurting the plant. I also was adding in recharge at the time weekly though so they were being replentished.
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I'm wondering if it's the same as watering with tap water, not that I'm recommending that. The chlorine will kill of some beneficial bacteria but the idea is that it's replenished quickly. So 15 minutes after posting this I moved the bottles out of the tent. And that in itself presented some new challenges that I won't get into here but the main purpose was to get it out of the intense lighting inside the tent. I might move them back inside and give the hydrogen peroxide a chance to do its thing. Or not. Dazed and Confused One.
 
lusidghost

lusidghost

Well-Known Member
Put them in a box of some sort or cover them in panda film. My 30 gallon res and a little box for automated runoff removal are both in my tent. They were both getting algae until I wrapped / covered them in panda film.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
lusidghost said:
Put them in a box of some sort or cover them in panda film. My 30 gallon res and a little box for automated runoff removal are both in my tent. They were both getting algae until I wrapped / covered them in panda film.
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I didn't think you grew organically.
 
Wastei

Wastei

Well-Known Member
Don't use dirty organic amendments in a system designed for sterility and hydroponics. Blumats classic doesn't work well for your intended use, you need the "troph" system.

Do your homework next time and don't try to mix different growing methods. Every single problem and issue is easily found on this forum if you have the patience to search for answers.
 
PadawanWarrior

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
Wastei said:
Don't use dirty organic amendments in a system designed for sterility and hydroponics. Blumats classic doesn't work well for your intended use, you need the "troph" system.

Do your homework next time and don't try to mix different growing methods. Every single problem and issue is easily found on this forum if you have the patience to search for answers.
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This is the organic section bud. Nothing wrong with Blumats to water organic soil. You might be lost.
 
Wastei

Wastei

Well-Known Member
PadawanWarrior said:
This is the organic section bud. Nothing wrong with Blumats to water organic soil. You might be lost.
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Sure it works but a chlorine based sterilizing agent would work better for keeping microbes alive and has residual effect compared to H2O2. H2O2 is to strong of a oxidizer for microbes while they can easily handle adequate amount of chlorine.

You will always experience problems not following recommendations regarding sterility running drip feeds and aero.
 
Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
Wastei said:
Sure it works but a chlorine based sterilizing agent would work better for keeping microbes alive and has residual effect compared to H2O2. H2O2 is to strong of a oxidizer for microbes while they can easily handle adequate amount of chlorine.

You will always experience problems not following recommendations regarding sterility running drip feeds and aero.
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Yeah thanks, I have the troph system coming in soon for a permanent solution and even that system sits in the soil the same way the classics do, any style you grow will have this algae problem in the reservoir if left to its own. I like the container and panda film idea I'll sort it out out before I take off on vacation in a few weeks, thanks guys.
 
Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
Quick update, Just saw that Blumat uses a regular black 5 gallon bucket as their reservoir (with a couple attachments included), but Home Depot has black 5 gallon buckets for $5. Fuck it. I can do the drilling myself when needed when the Troph system gets here and meanwhile the classics can draw water from the top (might drill some small holes through the lid for that) or just lift it enough for the water lines to fit through. Man...what a fun project. Stoked. #thelittlethings
 
Week4@inCharge

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
LordEnki said:
How's your bucket? I'm giving Blumats a try as well. I use a black, 8 gallon pail with a lid. No algae. ;)
Blumat bulkhead fitting is about $4 CAD

View attachment 5181733
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I lost that bucket yesterday (from the back of my truck in the highway). Had just used it to help with emptying an aquarium (rocks and sand). That's the short version.

Inside my 4x2 it was kind of crowded but working how I had it setup sitting between two 10 gallon pots. I'm not sure why but maybe I didn't clean the bucket out right before setting it up, but, I was getting a build up of some sort of red slime in the bucket. Might have something to do with small insects getting in there too, but it was slowly getting out of control. I didn't really notice until I just last week, when I decided to pull it out of the tent. a week or so to harvest. Wanted the lady's to have the whole tent to themselves last few weeks. And I was really intent on just using the Blumat Classics until my return from vacation. I had planned to use that bucket like your setup, outside the tent in a Blumat Tropf setup for the garage tent. I guess it was meant to be, because I kinda like your bucket better. Where did you grab that one?
 
LordEnki

LordEnki

Well-Known Member
Week4@inCharge said:
I lost that bucket yesterday (from the back of my truck in the highway). Had just used it to help with emptying an aquarium (rocks and sand). That's the short version.

Inside my 4x2 it was kind of crowded but working how I had it setup sitting between two 10 gallon pots. I'm not sure why but maybe I didn't clean the bucket out right before setting it up, but, I was getting a build up of some sort of red slime in the bucket. Might have something to do with small insects getting in there too, but it was slowly getting out of control. I didn't really notice until I just last week, when I decided to pull it out of the tent. a week or so to harvest. Wanted the lady's to have the whole tent to themselves last few weeks. And I was really intent on just using the Blumat Classics until my return from vacation. I had planned to use that bucket like your setup, outside the tent in a Blumat Tropf setup for the garage tent. I guess it was meant to be, because I kinda like your bucket better. Where did you grab that one?
Click to expand...
I purchased it at a local grow store...

indoorfarmer.ca

EZ Stor™ Container/Buckets

Buy EZ Stor™ Container/Buckets for only CA$ 9.95 at Indoor Farmer!
indoorfarmer.ca indoorfarmer.ca

a quick google search and I found the same bucket at a few different resellers
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Week4@inCharge said:
Woah..yet another reason to use Peroxide...

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Dumb ass only tells you how to dilute 16oz to 1% in a big batch. If you have 3% peroxide and want a shot glass of 1% which is about 30ml then just add 20ml water to 10ml of 3% and you got an oz of 1%.

Same formula as he used but using the final volume as your V2.

3% x Xml = 1% x 30ml
3X = 30
X = 30/3
X = 10ml of your 3%

I use 35% food grade peroxide and we keep a 500ml bottle of 3% by the utility sink for first aid, dripping on my toothbrush after use etc so to fill that bottle with 3%:

35% x Xml = 3% x 500ml
35X = 1500
X = 1500/35
X = 42.86ml

Easy enough to make just want you need. Peroxide starts breaking down faster the more dilute it is so the 3% you buy at the drug store has preservatives in it but the 35% food grade doesn't. Health food or hydro stores usually have it. Shipping is a problem as it is considered hazardous goods and the 35% or higher certainly is.

:peace:
 
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