Hydroton, Baking to Sterilize?

Hello All,

Has anyone ever baked their hydroton to sterilize it?

I am considering some different ways to clean up my hydroton before the next grow and I am just curious if anyone has ever baked theirs.

IF so what temperature and how long?
Does it stink when it bakes?

I am currently using diluted a diluted hydrogen soak, which is fine but I would rather use something I can spray on and allow to evaporate off and I am a little to apprehensive about letting the hydrogen peroxide evaporate off the hydroton...

This is because hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer and I am not fully sure what the hydroton is made of but the outer layer appears to be iron oxide and the reaction of these can be dangerous..
I will post a link to a video showing what I am talking about in a subsequent post because Rollitup won't let me use a link in the main thread.

This is because the hydroton from back in the day is not the same thing as what we are using today.
What we are calling "hydroton" is actually ceramsite and like everything else in this world it is made in China.

I will post in another thread what I suspect it is made from as there are numerous things it could be made from, but I think this particular "recipe" needs it's own thread.

Let me know how you clean your hydroton

Here's a video showing hydrogen peroxide squirted into a bucket of red iron(III) oxide.

Well I never knew that Chris, always thought it was as its often called, clay balls..

There is some info on its chemical analysis below.
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/61/1/012036/pdf

@coreywebster,

Thanks for the PDF, it shows that I was right about the outer portion being Iron (III) Oxide.

This stuff should come with a warning to not use it with hydrogen peroxide above 3% and certainly to not allow hydrogen peroxide to evaporate on it.

Actually if you were to grind this into a find powder and add some more Iron Oxide, you would basically have thermite.
That is scary!!!


Thanks again.

10% bleach soak will take most organic molecules apart.

Try it on a few pellets, see how they hold up.

I actually soak a net pots worth in water and then drain. I then throw in the microwave for 1 minute. I can’t imagine anything surviving the steam and heat. They heat up great because of the high air/water ratios. Make sure you put the the hydroton in something that won’t melt.

When I used hydroton I used h2o2 or bleach solution. Soaked them for a day in big totes and then rinsed them thoroughly. Never had any problems. I reused the same hydroton for years. Never knew about the iron oxide. Regardless I just soaked them to sterilize and then rinsed them off.

ANC said:

10% bleach soak will take most organic molecules apart.

Try it on a few pellets, see how they hold up.

Click to expand...

Me too: half a cup of Bleach to some hot water
dunk
wash
rinse
...... done

ANC said:

10% bleach soak will take most organic molecules apart.

Try it on a few pellets, see how they hold up.

Click to expand...

@ANC,
Thanks.

Coalcat said:

I actually soak a net pots worth in water and then drain. I then throw in the microwave for 1 minute. I can’t imagine anything surviving the steam and heat. They heat up great because of the high air/water ratios. Make sure you put the the hydroton in something that won’t melt.

Click to expand...

@Coalcat, I would be careful doing this...
The outer coating on the hydroton is a metal oxide.

xtsho said:

When I used hydroton I used h2o2 or bleach solution. Soaked them for a day in big totes and then rinsed them thoroughly. Never had any problems. I reused the same hydroton for years. Never knew about the iron oxide. Regardless I just soaked them to sterilize and then rinsed them off.

Click to expand...

@xtsho,
I have done the soak in hydrogen peroxide myself, with a rinse after a few days.
Because of epilepsy I am sometimes stuck in bed for a little while, while I recoup from a seizure (or several that cluster) and the last thing I need is a vat of h202 evaporating in my garage and then starting a fire.

vostok said:

Me too: half a cup of Bleach to some hot water
dunk
wash
rinse
...... done

Click to expand...

@vostok,
I envy your ability to be so carefree...
I could never do that.
I am such a control freak, I have to measure everything out or else it drives me nuts.

That's probably why it takes me so long to get anything done...

Maybe it’s is. I’m pretty sure the outside coloring is just from clay being fired to 3k. I’m not sure an Iron oxide coating would last any length of time in a water application....but I honestly have no clue. In any event I have been using the same pellets for years and they look new.

Chris Edward said:

@Coalcat, I would be careful doing this...
The outer coating on the hydroton is a metal oxide.

Click to expand...

Chris Edward said:

@vostok,
I envy your ability to be so carefree...
I could never do that.
I am such a control freak, I have to measure everything out or else it drives me nuts.

That's probably why it takes me so long to get anything done...

Click to expand...

I learn my bleach cleaning from my Home Brew Days ...lol

like with weed making notes is good

but being accurate and tight is folly ...lol

so keep a diary and write write it down ...lol

good luck

I used to do all the h2o2 stuff with my rocks and stress about getting them "sterile" but now I just clean them out of the root ball then rinse on a screen in a bathtub with a garden hose and then re-use if I am going to use them or dry them out if I am going to store them. I use microbes to keep all the bad bacteria away and haven't had a problem doing it this way and my roots never looked better cuz I am using microbes.

@Bernie420,
What microbes are your using?

Chris Edward said:

@Bernie420,
What microbes are your using?

Click to expand...

The Raw brand bloom for veg and bloom

@Bernie420,

Do you mean

Raw Bloom fertilizer?
Or
Raw Microbes Bloom?

Chris Edward said:

@Bernie420,

Do you mean

Raw Bloom fertilizer?
Or
Raw Microbes Bloom?

Click to expand...

Raw Microbes Bloom

@Bernie420,
The only thing in that product that is useful to you is the trichoderma.

Unless you also have soil grows as well.
The other bacteria are useless in hydro or media.

They aren't saying how much is in there either...
To be honest companies that sell isolated trichoderma usually only have a concentration of like 1% to 2%.

It may be cheaper for you to get an isolated culture and grow it yourself.

Just saying.