# HYDROPONICS : Getting Rid Of Slimy Roots



## THE BROTHER'S GRUNT

*Getting Rid Of Slimy Roots*

*Slimy roots are a sign of algae growth. To get rid of algae just follow the instructions and any algae should be gone in a few days. *

*Make a solution the size of your container with plain water and 10 ml H2O2 (HYDROGEN PEROXIDE) added per gallon of water. Empty the container that has the algae and scrub well. Pour the H202 mixture into the container through the top of your net pot. Let this set for about 1/2 hour. Then dump and rinse through the top of the net pot with plain PH adjusted (PH 5.5) water. Dump again then fill with your standard nute solution with 5 ml of H202 added. After a few days when there are no longer signs of slime visable dump your container and fill it back up with your normal nute solution. *

Stopping Algae From Growing In Your Container

*It's very important to keep light from getting to your nutes. it's recommended that your containers be dark. If your containers are clear or white you can use black duct tape or anti-corrosion pipe tape. Be sure that the top is also taped that no light can get through. *

*Algae needs light in order to grow. Making sure no light gets to your nutes through the container is the best way to prevent algae growth. Algae also thrives in anaerobic conditions (meaning lack of oxygen). Be sure that plenty of air is being pumped into the containers. 600 cc's / min per gallon will ensure plenty of oxygen is being introduced into the nutes. *

*Please do not respond to this thread it is for educational purposes only. If you want to add something send me a PM and i will toss it in. Thank You, TBG*


----------



## Useless

Just a quick heads up for everyone - 

It should be noted the dilution ratios above are for basic 3% hydrogen peroxide. The same stuff you buy at the pharmacy. 

However, if you buy your H2O2 at your hydroponics store, most of them sell food grade H2O2 which is 35%. If you use the dilution ratios above i.e. 10 mil/gallon, with the food grade H2O2 you will fry your roots. Might as well try hydroponics with pure bleach for a nutrient solution.  
So, if using food grade/35% H2O2 to cure pythium or other bacteria and fungii that can plague a hydro grow,  use only 10-15 DROPS (from an eyedropper) per gallon. As a preventative add 5 drops per gallon of solution each week.


----------



## moses781

is algie from ;ack of cleaning thetank or resovwar????


----------



## Smoker

Useless said:
			
		

> to cure pythium or other bacteria


 

Cure Pythium?


----------



## Useless

Smoker said:
			
		

> Cure Pythium?


 
Ahh, I should have been more specific in that post. 
You can not "cure" pythium. It is a bacteria. It is always present. 
You can prevent and "cure" the symptoms of a pythium infection. In this case, "cure" simply means ridding the plant of infectious symptoms. The actual bacteria will still be present. 
The key is to make your root zone hospitable to the roots, not to bacteria, usually caused by low oxygen levels in the solution or high temp solutions (which also causes low O2 levels). 
Cool nutrient solution temps (68-73 F) and proper aeration will not allow pythium to grow. 

Hope that clarifies, havent finished my coffee yet this morning.


----------



## 215zealot

What do you mean by keeping your nutrient solution aerated?

Doesnt the water pump do this regulary?  Or do i need to use Air stones or air pumps to stir up the nutrients.


----------



## That crazy vancouver guy

you need the put some airstones in there... the more the better.


----------



## santacruzgardener

215zealot said:
			
		

> What do you mean by keeping your nutrient solution aerated?
> 
> Doesnt the water pump do this regulary?  Or do i need to use Air stones or air pumps to stir up the nutrients.



Not to contradict van guy but if you have a big enough pump for circulation you shouldn't need any air stones at all. Keep things clean and make sure your pump circulates well and you should be fine


----------



## HydroManiac

santacruzgardener said:
			
		

> Not to contradict van guy but if you have a big enough pump for circulation you shouldn't need any air stones at all. Keep things clean and make sure your pump circulates well and you should be fine


 


Wrong what you said didnt make sense on so many levels its not funny


----------



## santacruzgardener

oh really? lol your an idiot, why don't you break down these multiple levels for us then!


----------



## IRISH

go back and read the rules scg. #2, to be specific. there is no need to attack anyone here. were here to help each other with one thing. growing pot...bb...


----------



## reality

How much is 10 mL of h2o2? a tablespoon?


----------



## reality

stupid question...easily answered by looking at a measuring cup.
sorry

-Reality


----------



## reality

another quick, maybe less stupid question.  I am rinsing my plant now with pure ro water.  My question is...is it a problem that I am using the same gallon jugs that i mixed the hydrogen peroxide in to rinse my plants.  Is there going to be a small amount of h2o2 in the "pure" ro water that i am rinsing with that is going to **** up my plant?

Thanks in Advance,

Reality


----------



## reality

*I have a question about this part...Do I add 5mL of h2o2 total or this that per gallon of water???

 Dump again then fill with your standard nute solution with 5 ml of H202 added. After a few days when there are no longer signs of slime visable dump your container and fill it back up with your normal nute solution. *

Thanks


----------



## DonJones

I'll start with the most obvious fallacy in relying on a circulatoin pump to aerate solutions.

First if you cavitate a pump, you're NOT ADDING gases to the solution even though you get bubbles -- you are just pulling the dissolved gases out of the solution and letting them bubble around.

Second, the only way to oxygenate solutions is to either let the solutin free fall through the air or to introduce air into the solution.  Air stones are actually not designed for this but will work.  The aeration needs of a fish tank are completely different than for a hydro tank.  An simpler and less expensive way is to just but an open ended air hose in the bottom of the tank and let the bubbles come right out of the end of the hose.  A large air pump will agitate and aerate the solution at the same time.  Just be sure the air pump is providing clean air of the proper temp for your solutio0n or it will introduce dirt and change the temp of the solution.

Have a great day!


----------



## 3rdbase

you need air... in the water.....for the roots


----------



## BUDBHOY

hi guys i,m going to be running these two systems my question is will i need airstones in both reseviors also how many plants do you reckon i,ll get in a 240mtr by 120mtr & 2 mtr high i plan to veg under 2x600watt hps & keep my mothers & a couple of veg plants in my 120mtr x 120mtr + 2mtr high i,ll also be doing some soil & hydro pots maybe a bubble bucket in my cupboard also i just cant stop growing it,s on my mind constant 24/7 Do any you guys or girls have a good link for advanced nutrients the whole line up as it,s hard to get in the U.K especially budignitor budcandy kushie kush. I currently use vitalink grow & bloom with Advancedboostaccelerator pk 13/14 hygrzyme biopac cannazym rhizotonic superthrive carboload bigbud overdrive finalphase i get good results about 2.oz per plant & that,s under a 600watt son t plus & a 250cfl i got some good strains & dont wana lose em so i plan to keep bonzai mothers does anyone no is there a nack to this?all help is really appreciated i no i,ve been of the site for a while internet was down.I,ve got la woman,greatwhiteshark,whitewidow,kingskush,bubbakush,alaskanice,bigbang,lemonskunk & loads more seeds to be popped i,m doing a sort of perpetual crop just now so i,ve defo got a smoke & something to pull every couple of wks but if i get this large tent i,ll keep a couple coming in & out every few wks just need to be vegged elsewhere but the rest can go in & come out at the same time most of my strains take 9wks so i figure 3-4wks veg under 1200hps if i have the funds for mhbulbs also that would help i,m sure my digital ballast takes both kinds it should anyway i hope this gets read & i get a few pms as this site,s always good for an answer or 2 let me no wot you think about the nutes p.s 1 light will be an aircooled sputnik the other is an adjustashade just for my temps also when i close my window just now the humidity shoots up in the tent so it,s gona be worse in a bigger 1 aint it should i think about a dehumidifier as 75rh is a bit much especially in flower eh do you,s think i,d be able to purchase 1 of ebay also what can i use for c02 in my tent i was thinking would spraying the c02 you get nowadays to pump up car tyres ect be of any use i had a m8 said he done it & said it helped failing that where can i get c02 in the u.k Thanks for listening it was great to get that out now let me no what you think asap peace growers kp it up :hubba:


----------



## GuyGalaxy

How do you transfer the plant without killing it, while you are cleaning the basket and tank?


----------



## pawpaw

The two texts on hydroponics that I have read recommend maintaining an H2O2 level of ~ 50 PPM as a prophylactic against Pythium.  According to my reading once you have it the whole system needs  chemical sterilization.  Test-strips appropriate for maintaining 50 PPM H2O2 are available on line. A UV sterilizer will take care of everything else, or so say the texts.


----------



## HabitualConcepts

"As a preventative add 5 drops per gallon of solution each week."

Before I chlorinate everything, does this mean that it is ok to put the 5 drops per gallon throughout the plants entire life? Will this have any harmful side effects?


----------



## HabitualConcepts

Useless said:
			
		

> However, if you buy your H2O2 at your hydroponics store, most of them sell food grade H2O2 which is 35%. If you use the dilution ratios above i.e. 10 mil/gallon, with the food grade H2O2 you will fry your roots. Might as well try hydroponics with pure bleach for a nutrient solution.
> So, if using food grade/35% H2O2 to cure pythium or other bacteria and fungii that can plague a hydro grow,  use only 10-15 DROPS (from an eyedropper) per gallon. As a preventative add 5 drops per gallon of solution each week.




Would the 5 drops of the H202 have any harmful side effects throughout the life cycle?


----------



## pcduck

h2o2 will kill whatever is bad and once it does that it will start to kill the good stuff. Better just to keep your rez cooler then to keep adding h2o2. I like keeping my rez in the 65 to 68 range


----------



## HabitualConcepts

Thanks, really hadn't put much thought into my rez temp. I'm going to go google  some fish tank thermostat equipment. In the mean time, is there anything out there that you would recommend?


----------



## pcduck

I never have had problems with to cold of rez it is always the other way around, to warm. Between the heated room and the lights just never had that problem of to cold


----------



## jackm0na

can i use a digital ballast for this?


----------



## Hushpuppy

There is a digital ballast that can run 2 bulbs from the one ballast but not sure if the magnetics are set up to do that. I would recommend getting the digital ballasts anytime over the magnetic ballasts as they are more energy efficient and more versatile. The dual ballast is not any cheaper to buy though than single ballasts. The only advantage to having a dual is for space saving. The downside though is that if the ballast fails you lose both lights. Having 2 ballasts will allow you to have still one light should you have any kind of failure.


----------



## Sparkie

215zealot said:
			
		

> What do you mean by keeping your nutrient solution aerated?
> 
> Doesnt the water pump do this regulary?  Or do i need to use Air stones or air pumps to stir up the nutrients.




I use a 150w f/t heater pump with air stone & circulation pump in the nutrients tank' can't go wrong then


----------



## daddyo

hello, im back  been a couple years (been busy).
any 2 cents here.
i found that if in your hydro you are using nitrates to chelate and you introduce an electrical field to the nitrates, you will create a free chlorine generator.
i found this out after adding one of those fish tank heaters to my rez.
damn near killed everything. it was a good thing the batteries in my Ph pen had died and i used a pool test strip to test Ph, i never would have figured that out.
my buddy the pool guy filled me in on the details. 
i hope this may help at least one of ya.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_water_chlorination


----------



## 8planets8

I have this problem when my tank is full it seems to be way to high of a high tempiture, so me being me i added ice cubes to decrease the water tem was or is that a good idea? Also i had root rot and did what everyone is talking about scubing hydrogen peroide, and im not sure should i add bleach to to scub my tank before i reinstall it?plus i use at least 4 airstones for o2 circlation,i did do it i fond a remarkable improvement my roots started to grow norm again and i added the extra hydrogen 5 drops per tank after every clean out did i do it right,it seemed to take off with a good size outcome. 8 your help would be appreciated,as i'm going back to my hydro system i learned so much more in that situation that i could undertstand. Help


----------



## pcduck

Frozen water bottles work and will not change your ppm's


----------



## Hushpuppy

I never bleach my totes after use. I will just hand wash them with chlorox wipes and then rinse with straight water. I then allow them to dry out entirely before putting them back into service.

You may have had root rot from the water being too warm. The higher the water temp the less oxygen it can hold dissolved in it. You just about can't get too much oxygen in the water as it has a saturation point and when the plants are pulling the oxygen out fairly regular, you have to continually refresh it.

You can add a little H2O2 to the water to keep out pathogens and algae. The ice is ok to use but as PC said, it will change your PPM. Better to use frozen soda bottles of water. I use 2liter bottles and swap them out regularly. It is best to keep your water between 65f-72f for the happiest plants.


----------



## 8planets8

thank you pc duck and hush puppy i would have never thought of that in a million years much more economocal and practable and i will use the handie wipes to very good ideas,boy you guys never fail to amaze me so easy yet so hard.thank you 888


----------



## sopappy

I'm not starting a new thread as this seems on topic: I've had pythium but I don't want to use H2O2. 
I think you call them bennies, beneficial something... Mycorrhizae, a soluble powder, pkg calls for 1oz in 12gals.
I read and watch tons o' stuff but no one sez HOW to use it. 
Do I just innoculate new plants (sitting in separate bucket) or run it all the time in the solution c/w nutes.
new batch every week is another 10 bucks a week :-(
In other words, anybody else using it? is there a thread? a sticky?
-thanks


----------



## pcduck

I only use Mycorrhizae in organic soil grows at ¼ teaspoon per 50 gallons as a soil drench. Otherwise I just sprinkle it into the hole when transplanting.

I used h2o2 in my dwc and it worked great.


----------



## sopappy

pcduck said:


> I only use Mycorrhizae in organic soil grows at ¼ teaspoon per 50 gallons as a soil drench. Otherwise I just sprinkle it into the hole when transplanting.
> 
> I used h2o2 in my dwc and it worked great.




I got pythium my first time out with these buckets. I tried to clean up with H2O2 but just lost my fingerprints 
if these two get it, I'll go back to trying H2O2 again but I'm rooting (sorrreeeeeee) for the Myco stuff.


----------



## bozzo420

I am not a hydro farmer, but I have been using EM-1 this year for mold prevention. But I have talked with several hydro growers that use it in their grows. they claim it keeps everything clean. These little microbes are amazing. If your dog gets skunked, it takes the stink away. some people drink it for the probiotic affects. I have used about 30% if the nutrients  I used last year also. It makes the plants absorb them better. I'm sold on it. made my own Bokashi with it.  But back to the subject. Them little microbes will do wonders  and is supposed to keep the reservoir clean also.


----------



## yarddog

I need to look into this em-1 stuff


----------



## Sweetmansticky

Me too.


----------



## B3henry

Let&#8217;s have a Eureka moment! 
Did you know that Pythium fungi are ubiquitous in DWC/RDWC life support system? They are like buzzards in the micro world. They only congregate, colonize and thrive when there is plenty of dead organic matter to feed their colonies (sick, dying, dead and decaying cannabis roots).
Why do the roots die? They usually suffocate because of low oxygenation, low DO in the res water. That happens when the grower fails to insure continuous minimal safe DO saturations in the reservoir water.
Who causes the fungal infestation? The lets the roots die/decay and the fungal outbreak occurs and the race is on to kill the fungi.
The fungi did not kill the roots, the irresponsible grower killed the roots, the grower fail to provide minimal safe dissolved oxygen and suffocated the roots.

Have any of you ever thought about how to prevent all this suffocation this from happening? 

Did you know that ambient air is not O2 and that providing plenty air does not mean nor insure that you are providing plenty oxygen (DO) in any DWC/RDWC life support system.


----------



## pcduck

Oxygen is written as O2 when there are two oxygen atoms in the molecule. Pure oxygen doesn't generally exist as individual atoms, two oxygen atoms bond together to form an oxygen molecule. This is because oxygen is highly reactive, disconnected atoms have a very strong tendency to form bonds.


----------



## B3henry

Trivia -
Yes, the oxygen all aerobes on earth must have continuously, minute by minute 24/7/365 and the same oxygen welders use to cut steel and iron is *commonly written simply as (O2)*, but let&#8217;s not forget these; O, O3, O4, O5, O6, O7, O8, O9, O10, O11, O12, O13, O14, O15, O16, O17, O18, O19, O20, O21, O22, O23, and O24.

Facts &#8211;
And there&#8217;s ambient air composed of a mixture of different elemental gas molecules -- According to NASA, the gases in earths&#8217; the atmosphere include 21% Oxygen O2 (a diatomic molecule, atomic number &#8211; 16), Nitrogen 78%, Argon 0.93%, Carbon dioxide 0.04% and trace amounts of neon, helium, methane, krypton, hydrogen and water vapor.
Ozone or Trioxygen O3
Oxozone or Tetraoxygen O4 

Did is you know that the earth's crust is made up of oxygen , * commonly written simply as (O), *actually 46.6 percent by weight (that&#8217;s nearly ½ the mass of the earths&#8217; crust we are standing on) and several other elements: silicon, 27.7 percent; aluminum, 8.1 percent; iron, 5 percent; calcium, 3.6 percent; sodium, 2.8 percent, potassium, 2.6 percent, and magnesium, 2.1 percent.

My home is already smelling real good this morning &#8211; you all have a great Thanksgiving feast and be especially thankful today if you live in America, the land of opulence and plenty FREE food.


----------



## Gorilla

THE BROTHER'S GRUNT said:


> Slimy roots are a sign of algae growth.


Hey Grunt Brothers! I hope you call yourself that because of all the great SEX you’re having and not from a lack of intelligence and the fact that you just learned to speak and type! Your post here was very smart and helpful to new hydroponics growers. I just wanted to add something to your words of wisdom. I hope anyone who has a “slimy root problem” follows your remedy to clear away the slime. After the slime is gone and you’ve flushed your system, start following some preventative measures to make sure this killer problem never raises its ugly head again.

Slimy roots may be a sign of algae growth but this is just a symptom of a handful of problems a new hydro grower can easily correct. There’s a really cool new hydro system I got just to experiment with called, “Current Culture-Under Current”. You don’t have to buy it, but if you go to their website they’ll teach you the basic good practices of hydro growing so you won’t ever have this problem again. (You can copy it and build your own system for real cheap!) Slimy roots and algae growth are caused by several factors you can easily prevent from ever happening in the first place. It’s called “Preventative Medicine”.

Thanks to simple technology, a healthy hydro system has these things happening:

*Your water/nut solution is always 10°F LOWER than the ambient air temp of your grow room.

* Your water/nut solution at the correct pH is always circulating through your system at a brisk pace like a clear mountain stream.

* Your water/nut solution is always bubbling with fresh air by putting ample air stones in your nute reservoir.

* Your grow room AIR is always fresh with good ventilation and at the correct temperature and humidity levels.

* And last but most importantly, your entire system *under* your plants where all the water is, is completely and I mean COMPLETELY sealed off from your light source. Your plants should be the only thing getting light.

30 years ago when I got my first hydro system I was stupid and didn’t know all this because I didn’t read and learn first and got MAJOR slime! It was so bad it killed off my plants and I ended up taking that system to the dump (thinking it was the system’s fault)! Luckily I realized I didn’t know what the **** I was doing and started reading how to grow right. The shock of my hydro failure was so bad I completely switched to growing in soil and that’s what I use now in my commercial operation and even with soil those same principles I listed above still apply.

New growers also screw up in the harvesting process. After spending good money on super seed strains with high THC and CBD values and they’ve grown an amazing crop, they think they’re in the clear when it comes time to trim their Buds. They either hand-trim or get a trimming machine with blades to make the trimming job go faster. Either way, they end up stripping those beautiful Buds they’ve grown of a lot of their potency by touching up their Buds like crazy, or pulling a lot of the resin and trichomes off as it sticks to their blades, either on their gloves and scissors or to the big bad blades on those bladed auto-trimmers.

As a large commercial organic medicinal grower now, I can’t afford to make these simple mistakes and that’s why I use my auto-trimmer of choice. It’s called a, “Tom’s Tumble Trimmer”--TTT for short. What makes it so special is that all my valuable resin and trichomes never stick to it. The TTT tumbles the Buds with a solid patented food/medical grade mesh that allows the Buds and trim to KEEP their good shit. The properties of the mesh doesn’t wear off onto my Buds either, so they’re always clean medical-grade certified. We got 5 of them to trim our 5000 plants every harvest (4 times a year!) and they never need cleaning or maintenance cause nothing sticks to them. So my whole operation is solid, healthy and organic from beginning to end thanks to Tom’s simple but powerful technology.

If you’re reading this and you’re just new to hydroponic growing please do your research first to learn the basics so you don’t get slime ever. Slime build up will kill your plants and all that light power energy money will have gone to waste. You’ll not only have wasted 3 months of time but your valuable plants too. Growing healthy means your plants will be huge in yield and as potent as the best pro growers' stuff out there. But it all depends on you with what ever hydroponic system you chose, to learn the simple technology behind it first, so your results will always be kick-ass powerful and potent!


----------



## JJ754

Useless said:


> Just a quick heads up for everyone -
> 
> It should be noted the dilution ratios above are for basic 3% hydrogen peroxide. The same stuff you buy at the pharmacy.
> 
> However, if you buy your H2O2 at your hydroponics store, most of them sell food grade H2O2 which is 35%. If you use the dilution ratios above i.e. 10 mil/gallon, with the food grade H2O2 you will fry your roots. Might as well try hydroponics with pure bleach for a nutrient solution.
> So, if using food grade/35% H2O2 to cure pythium or other bacteria and fungii that can plague a hydro grow,  use only 10-15 DROPS (from an eyedropper) per gallon. As a preventative add 5 drops per gallon of solution each week.


Will hydroguard work ?


----------



## Keef

JJ -- Welcome to MP I don't get out much but these guys won't steer U wrong !-- I'm in the process of shutting down for awhile but I run Aero under LEDS with a live res  -- I saw peroxide and hydroguard and had to comment -- peroxide is for a chemical Res -- I use some stuff called Voodoo Juice that has all kinds of beneficial microbes- -If I remember right hydroguard has beneficials in it so it would not be compatible with using peroxide --  The voodoo juice is expensive but U can get the same results with Richie Riches Hydro tea !--Do the research and don't take my advice on hydroguard  -- I smoke a little weed and have been wrong before !-- Best Wishes and again Welcome to MP !


----------



## sopappy

This is what's left of 8 BC big bud seeds that popped at least 2 weeks ago. The roots got slimey and i cut them off and cleaned the tub. I've also been battling thripps and sprayed these, the 2nd spray did them in i think (soap). Maybe the soap caused the slimey roots. In any case, I'm about ready to give up on these. I assume they are in shock. I do see some new roots but I'm thinking they will never recover now....
latest battle has been Ph.... keeps rising fast, I assumed more nutes, still no eating or drinking and pH up again!! I've dumped 30 mil down into a 60L rez in 2 days, something is way wrong.


----------



## sopappy

Useless said:


> Just a quick heads up for everyone -
> 
> It should be noted the dilution ratios above are for basic 3% hydrogen peroxide. The same stuff you buy at the pharmacy.
> 
> However, if you buy your H2O2 at your hydroponics store, most of them sell food grade H2O2 which is 35%. If you use the dilution ratios above i.e. 10 mil/gallon, with the food grade H2O2 you will fry your roots. Might as well try hydroponics with pure bleach for a nutrient solution.
> So, if using food grade/35% H2O2 to cure pythium or other bacteria and fungii that can plague a hydro grow,  use only 10-15 DROPS (from an eyedropper) per gallon. As a preventative add 5 drops per gallon of solution each week.




ANYBODY?
I read the first sticky post as cleaning infected equipment with the 35%
He mentions a net pot but nothing about plants or medium...
Is 10mL per gallon okay to run through an empty system (to clean it)


----------



## sopappy

There is a 60L tank under this tray and you can see the fountain at one end and the drain at the other where it falls and splashes. It seems to me that's plenty of oxygen and I'd rather not add bubblers but I got slime to form on the drain and pump (gross)... I'll clean again and rinse with H2O2 for a few days.

Is this enough oxygen ?


----------



## pcduck

@sopappy what is you reservoir temp?


----------



## sopappy

pcduck said:


> @sopappy what is you reservoir temp?



as usual, right to the heart of the matter.... 
18-22 (65-72) with frozen bottles, I thought I was okay to 24, (75) I guess not

I didn't want to overdo it with the H2O2 either, I use 10mL per 40L (10) initially and no maintenance doses. It's a 40-60L ebb and flow tub that I use as re-circulating, water level usually half inch below the pot.


----------



## JimmyDozen

Hydrogen peroxide or something to clean it while the system is running there is a few products hit your local hydro store


----------



## YYZ Skinhead

The title of this thread *always* reminds me of Calvin and Hobbes.


----------

