Sediment buildup.

Howdy. I am using hydorton rocks . One of my reservoir's keeps getting a fine buildup of sediment. I am using Micro nutes. I have cleaned the rocks well, so i thought. I have exchanged tubs once and cleaned the shit out of the old one. I cleaned the pump, airstones and tubing. Dam it is happening again. I see the roots have a reddish brown tint. First i thought i had root rot, but upon closer inspection all looks well. The girls are health as shit. There is a reddish tint on the side of the plastic left on the rockwool. Any ideas? The shit does not come off of the airstones. What should i clean them with? Should i soak them in peroxide? Please help. Thank you.

Back when I used Hydroton I would fill all the pots I needed then run water over them to washout as much of the dust as possible. There would always be some sediment left that would show in the rez. I don't think it bothered the plants. After a few rez changes the sediment will be gone. I wash my rez's with a sponge and everything from dish soap to simple green. Some elbow grease will take care of most of it, don't know about your airstones. Never dealt with them.

Thank you much for the input. I will keep a close eye on them. Question. If you were not using air stones, how were you oxygenating the water? I am buying some FOOD GRADE peroxide today. Have you dealt with it? And if so what was your methods and results? Thanks for your response.

I use a powerhead to keep the mix stirring and I point it upwards slightly to create some surface turbulance. I keep a few saltwater tanks and airstones are a big no-no with them. I have used Gro-tek 35% peroxide, when I had some slimey algae funk build-up. It didn't get rid of the problem, only kept it from getting worse. What are planning on useing it for, to clean your airstones? Make sure you wear gloves when messing with the stuff.

Yes, cleaning the stones as well as douching the system between growths. I hear it does an awesome job of killing bacteria. I talked with the guy at the hydro store. He also
cautioned me about handling it. I have all the proper gloves and glasses. He also talked about just growing on slabs of rock wool. I found some that come in 35"1/2 x 8". Four of those would fit perfect in my 3x3's. He cautioned about how it can be tricky getting the water cycles right. It would only need be watered 1 time per day during clone rooting. and then twice a day for 15 min. for veg. It sounded cheaper and much easier as far as cleaning and recycling the old stones. What a hassle that is. I can get a case of 12 that would do 3 trays for the price of a big bag of stones. I am thinking seriously about it for the next grow. Any input on that? Again thank you for your help.

I switched over from hydroton to rockwool growcubes. Just filled my pot's up with the cubes. Only problem with rockwool is if light is hitting it algae will grow on it, so you have to keep it covered and you have to pretreat it with water ph'd to 5.5. Other than that it is easier to work with, cheaper too.

What are you covering your rockwool with? It also never occurred to me to pretreat it with 5.5 ph solution. I will from now on. I always made a 1/2 strength solution that i use for rooting in a neutral base of 7. I will put the soaked cubes with the clones in them off to the side of the HPS. In several days i rotate them into the mix. So far i have had no adverse effects. But i have seen some of my older cubes get green. How do i control that once it started?

Right now i use the rocks in 6" baskets. I place the cubes in them and Bam. But i am open to any advice on how to tweak it better. How often do you water and for how long? Is it different from veg to bloom?

brwnhornet said:

What are you covering your rockwool with? It also never occurred to me to pretreat it with 5.5 ph solution. I will from now on. I always made a 1/2 strength solution that i use for rooting in a neutral base of 7. I will put the soaked cubes with the clones in them off to the side of the HPS. In several days i rotate them into the mix. So far i have had no adverse effects. But i have seen some of my older cubes get green. How do i control that once it started?

Click to expand...

Once it starts I'm not sure you get rid of it, but some h2o2 will keep in check and blocking light from it. I cover my pots with these light-proof sguares that are black on one side white on the other. Sorry can't think of name of them. Also, I've used scrap panda film and black painter's plastic. The algae feeds off the nute's and light, once you block the light it should start to die.

brwnhornet said:

Right now i use the rocks in 6" baskets. I place the cubes in them and Bam. But i am open to any advice on how to tweak it better. How often do you water and for how long? Is it different from veg to bloom?

Click to expand...

That's about the same size pot's I use. For bloom in the beginning I flood once a day, in the morning. When the pot's do feel as heavy towards the end of the day, I know the plants are feeding more that's when I flood them twice in a day. Seems to happen sometime in the last four weeks of flowering.

Can't say about veg, I keep my mother's in soil and I don't really veg my clones. I would guess you can water once a day then as the plants get more developed roots, water twice in a day.

how long are you letting you clones grow roots for b4 you transplant em to veg or bloom? i keep hearin how ppl bloom clones without vegin. i take 6 ta 9inch clones.. not tryna change the subject but i was followin along because i too was thinking of switching from hydroton to cubes or maybe a coco perlite mix. good informational convo goin here.

GreenBully said:

how long are you letting you clones grow roots for b4 you transplant em to veg or bloom? i keep hearin how ppl bloom clones without vegin. i take 6 ta 9inch clones.. not tryna change the subject but i was followin along because i too was thinking of switching from hydroton to cubes or maybe a coco perlite mix. good informational convo goin here.

Click to expand...

I wait until I see plenty of roots growing out of the starter cube and begin seeing the clones get a little vertical growth. Anywhere from two to four weeks.

I grow Sea-of-Green (SOG) style. Where you go for a high number of plants that you keep short.

Different strokes for different folks. This is what works for me and my set-up.

Well dang, i have been over watering. It does not seem to have hurt them, but i must wonder if i am slowing em down. I oxygenate the water heavily. I also have them on an aggressive veg and bloom regime. I will cut back on the flooding and follow the results. Again t/y.

GreenBully said:

how long are you letting you clones grow roots for b4 you transplant em to veg or bloom? i keep hearin how ppl bloom clones without vegin. i take 6 ta 9inch clones.. not tryna change the subject but i was followin along because i too was thinking of switching from hydroton to cubes or maybe a coco perlite mix. good informational convo goin here.

Click to expand...

I let my clones veg for 3-4 weeks. They are coming from mature mothers so they could be flowered right away. My cloner does not allow 9"-12" clones in it. However i am going to experiment with it. I want them 18"-20" when i put them in 12/12. I have been averaging 6' clones. I am using 4" cubes in a 6" basket with hydroton. I also covered the tops of the cubes with foil for now until i figure out a better way.

Hey Surphin. How high are you growing yours? What is the average Height in your trays? What size trays are you using? How many do you get per tray? I am training the out side plants all around the tray. The inside i am keeping vertical. I use as much space as possible. It does seem a bit crowded. So i am wondering what you do? Thanx.

Here is a link for the block cover's I was talking about.

http://www.discount-hydro.com/productdisp.php?pid=414&navid=34

brwnhornet said:

Hey Surphin. How high are you growing yours? What is the average Height in your trays? What size trays are you using? How many do you get per tray? I am training the out side plants all around the tray. The inside i am keeping vertical. I use as much space as possible. It does seem a bit crowded. So i am wondering what you do? Thanx.

Click to expand...

I shoot for 18-24 inches in height. I use 4x4 trays and between 16 and 20 plants per. Depending on how healthy the clones are.

What is your set-up? I'm not sure if you already stated it and I missed it or not.

I am using 3 3x3 trays and 2 2x4's. I am strictly cloning from two mothers. I assume you are cramming them in there. Do you train them? Is it strictly for the center cola? I am putting 9-10 in each 3x3. Roughly 1 square foot per plant. What kind of yield are you getting? I am growing Bubble gum. It is a short and bushy indica. It is very hearty. Are you using rocks at all with your cubes? Right now in flower i keep the cycles at 2 during light and 1 during dark. With veg i was doing it every 4 hrs. for 15 mins. Now i will do it every 6. Is that too much using the rockwool with the rocks? They seem fine. But i want the fastest growth. What do you think?

brwnhornet said:

I am using 3 3x3 trays and 2 2x4's. I am strictly cloning from two mothers. I assume you are cramming them in there. Do you train them? Is it strictly for the center cola? I am putting 9-10 in each 3x3. Roughly 1 square foot per plant. What kind of yield are you getting? I am growing Bubble gum. It is a short and bushy indica. It is very hearty. Are you using rocks at all with your cubes?

Click to expand...

Yeah, I lollipop them. I'm getting about a lb. per tray. I'm changing a few things now, so my yield is going to suffer 'til I get things sorted out.

No rocks. Just the grow cubes, more like croutons in 6' pots with the block cover on top.

Right now in flower i keep the cycles at 2 during light and 1 during dark. With veg i was doing it every 4 hrs. for 15 mins. Now i will do it every 6. Is that too much using the rockwool with the rocks? They seem fine. But i want the fastest growth. What do you think?

Click to expand...

What do you mean? Are you refering to watering cycle? If you are and that's how often you're watering and the plants aren't showing signs of over-watering then I wouldn't worry about.

Yes the water cycles. Well good it sounds ok. What would be the signs of over watering? Everything is plush. I just wonder if i am slowing their growth a little. I will consider your method. T/y for the link. Any other tips? Also please tell me more about how you lollipop. What strain are you growing? Bubblegum is more tiny flowers, but many of them. The person i got it from does not grow hydro. I asked him about lollipopping, he said to experiment. But he cautioned that cutting to much from underneath would take away
from the yield. Any thoughts?

brwnhornet said:

What would be the signs of over watering?

Click to expand...

Scroll down a little in the link, there's a pic that shows an over-watered plant. Looks similiar to be under-watered.

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/1469-marijuana-plant-problems-cures.html

Also please tell me more about how you lollipop.

Click to expand...

Lollipoping is where you trim the branches on the lower 1/3 of the plant. Here is a link for it.

https://www.rollitup.org/advanced-marijuana-cultivation/217736-lollipoping.html

What strain are you growing? Bubblegum is more tiny flowers, but many of them. The person i got it from does not grow hydro. I asked him about lollipopping, he said to experiment. But he cautioned that cutting to much from underneath would take away
from the yield. Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure what it is I'm growing, bag seed really. Lollipoping is just the style that works for me. Let's me keep a few more plants under the light. They're a few style's you should do a search on here for'em, Lst (low stress training) and supercropping.

Thanx for the links. I am doing a form of lst on the out side, 3 edges of each tray. It allows for the plants to hang over and more room for buds. I cut back on the watering cycles in the 12/12. The plants do not look nearly as bad as those in the pix, but there is a slight resemblance. Again t/y for the tips. I cut out squares of foil to cover all of the cubes. The shiny side up. It is a temporary solution until i can get some of those covers like yours. Is foil bad? I have bought some stuff from that site before. I just took a bunch of cuttings in the 6-9 inch range. The ones before were more like 4-6. I want to cut down on veg time. water temp is a constant 69. I let the ph swing between 5.5 and 6.2 over the course of several days.