Anyone have first hand experience on running a "dead reservoir"?

[anferneybra]

Hi guys and gals, just like the thread says, I'm interested in anyones fully run experience with a UV water sterilizer used in a recirculating hydroponic setup with GH nutes.

I run GH micro/grow/bloom and kool bloom in 12/12. Small amount of drip clean per 40 gallon res, and ph of 5.8

I have been having a issue with some algae and rot at a new house with country water. I have given up on the bacteria war and wish to just sterilize and run the 3 part like I used to do with better municipal water.

I circulate my res. with a pump and water every 4 hours in veg and 3 hours in bloom. I would be running a 5 watt Submariner UV sterilizer in about 40 gallons of water at 65degrees. PPM around 1500 and no other additives.

I guess the main question is:
How did the whole grow go with no bacteria in the reservoirs?

 

[GrnAlien]

What is the temperature of your res? I'd start there, as maybe it's too warm...

ga

 

[krunchbubble]

Hi guys and gals, just like the thread says, I'm interested in anyones fully run experience with a UV water sterilizer used in a recirculating hydroponic setup with GH nutes.

I run GH micro/grow/bloom and kool bloom in 12/12. Small amount of drip clean per 40 gallon res, and ph of 5.8

I have been having a issue with some algae and rot at a new house with country water. I have given up on the bacteria war and wish to just sterilize and run the 3 part like I used to do with better municipal water.

I circulate my res. with a pump and water every 4 hours in veg and 3 hours in bloom. I would be running a 5 watt Submariner UV sterilizer in about 40 gallons of water at 65degrees. PPM around 1500 and no other additives.

I guess the main question is:
How did the whole grow go with no bacteria in the reservoirs?

i had major root rot problems till i found out about bleach. 2 mils per 10 gallons for initial killing of anything bad. then 1 mil per 10 gallons every other day works perfectly for maintenance......root rot gone!

 

[gardenbug]

Physan 20 to sterilize between runs. Hydrogen peroxide in the res during. Avoid sugars/carbs. GH with lucas formula using big bud and moab. That's how I started out, and that's what I'll be returning to after trying fancy nutes and beneficials. The beneficials seemed to kind of make a mess of things, and I got better looking roots with the h2o2. While slime and sediment in the res like I see a lot of people have may be fine, I just prefer it to be perfectly clean. I plan to add a UV light at some point.

 

[anferneybra]

is running with H202 killing all bad/good bacteria also?

 

[Sam the Caveman]

Using uv light in hydroponics will precipitate out manganese componds and iron chelates.

UV is not effective at sterilization but will keep root diseases to minimal levels, not effecting plants.

source, link below

 

[toohighmf]

Bleach or 29% h2o2 will oxidize your res and kill pathogens. People complain about h2o2 locking out micros but I have yet to experience this and I use a ridiculous amount.

 

[Sir_Nugget]

Do u have a glacier water machine nearby? 5 gallons is $1.25 for me... I have a 5 gallon clear water jug that I fill up.. The water that comes of that machine goes thru several processes including UV.. If you only have a 1-2 light operation this could be a doable solution... get 2-3x 5gln jugs and start fillin em up... light proof and sanitize your system/room and use lower ppm's

w/ a 600w I only go thru 5 gallons once a week

 

[anferneybra]

I dont really have access to ROed water.
My temps are now 64F because I went out to buy 2 chillers for my veg/bloom reservoirs. Screw the fresh flush temp for now

I havent had this issue in 8 years of growing, and boom I moved to the country about 3 months ago and the brown slime/root rot made its appearence. Im going to use the UV sterilizer in a closed system with 1 veg plant, then run the other 7 on the normal setup and see the difference.

I do myself bleach the equipment on a 2week regular schedule, but I think its the actual tubing sitting on the warm concrete floor that actually accumulates the crap I dont want, since its the only water really sitting for long periods of time. I have my buckets sitting on tiles about 1 inch off the floor to drain the buckets completely.

I start my grow thread soon so you guys can see my setup, have 4k watts in my veg room and 12K in my bloom room. No more than 36 plants at any given time.

Tony

PS: still lookin for someone that has run a UV sterilizer through a entire cycle!

 

[Andyo]

chlorine

chlorine

Had the same thing used hydroton ebb flo moved to new water no chlorine got problems .
i add bleach like krunch says .A

 

[YosemiteSam]

I now use bleach at Krunch levels in coco dtw. No problems at all. I sleep better knowing I have murdered any undesirable little bastards trying to sneak into my res/grow.

 

[krunchbubble]

I now use bleach at Krunch levels in coco dtw. No problems at all. I sleep better knowing I have murdered any undesirable little bastards trying to sneak into my res/grow.

i sleep better to! i really want some benny's like root excel for the roots, but im not going to risk my harvest for them......

kinda sucks running a dead res though, root benny's and anything organic to boost smell or flavor is dead....

 

[Metalhead419]

Been using bleach at krunch's recommendation, saved an entire crop of mine from root rot. Thanks Krunch.

 

[anferneybra]

ok thanks for the input guys
when running that bleach forumla, you dont put bleach into the nutrient mix do you and run it full time?

or just run the bleach every other day, then make up new nutrients and such correct?

thanks again fellas

 

[krunchbubble]

ok thanks for the input guys
when running that bleach forumla, you dont put bleach into the nutrient mix do you and run it full time?

or just run the bleach every other day, then make up new nutrients and such correct?

thanks again fellas

right in your nutrient! every other day.....

 

[anferneybra]

OK have to clarify little more.
Im running a recirculating ebb and flow system, I do res changes weekly and change the nutrient makeup weekly also. So I cant really afford to remix every couple days, but can make a bleach batch on the side and run the system off of it.

Better to run during the nighttime or does it matter?

Also, safe during bloom I assume? Do you think you could run the bleach with drip clean as a sort of cleansing flush for the hydroton?

Thanks again

 

[krunchbubble]

OK have to clarify little more.
Im running a recirculating ebb and flow system, I do res changes weekly and change the nutrient makeup weekly also. So I cant really afford to remix every couple days, but can make a bleach batch on the side and run the system off of it.

Better to run during the nighttime or does it matter?

Also, safe during bloom I assume? Do you think you could run the bleach with drip clean as a sort of cleansing flush for the hydroton?

Thanks again

im not saying a new mix every other day, just throw in more bleach every other day to your existing mix at the recommended strength! bleach dissipates....

i run it 24/7 all through veg and growth, dont want any bad guys in there.

i run drip clean and bleach, no problems......

lately i haven't been measuring out the bleach, just 1/4 cap full, still no ill affects, haven't had the bleach do 1 bad thing yet....

good luck!

 

[el Dream Reader]

Krunch is 100% right, bleach is the cheapest and best way to run a dead res. I ran some greenhouse tomatoes in perlite drip and RDWC that went through temps well over 100 and water temps in the 90's all summer long. The hydro guy recommended voodoo juice to me and I tried it with good success until the $50 bottle ran out in a month. Then I got a book called hydroponic food production that suggested the bleach, I'll never go back to the high dollar stuff again, bleach is the beez neez.

 

[anferneybra]

Ok well heres what im going to do:

Mix my veg nutrient like normal for 40 gallons at 15-10-5
About 15ml of drip clean and 5ml of bleach at 65degrees
Sounds about right to me
Im going to run it full time also since that seems to be what everyone agrees with.

Ill be back with results soon!
Tony

 

[krunchbubble]

Ok well heres what im going to do:

Mix my veg nutrient like normal for 40 gallons at 15-10-5
About 15ml of drip clean and 5ml of bleach at 65degrees
Sounds about right to me
Im going to run it full time also since that seems to be what everyone agrees with.

Ill be back with results soon!
Tony

perfection......