Bioballs

[nouvellechef]

The answer to hydroton? I am hearing it knocks it out of the park for ease of cleaning and aeration for roots. Look on Ebay. What ya think?

 

[burnin123]

is this your system?

 

[hugs4nuggs420]

they had these at the pet store i used to work at and they were running in an aquarium fish filter system. For ease of cleaning their is no better.

We had heavy sludge probs in our tank system for a long time and when we eventually cleaned out the entire system, those bio balls were the easiest thing to clean. Just gently ran them over some water and they were spotless.

Interested to see how well they work in a hydro set up, I'm sure the roots will take very well in them.

 

[ishnish]

interesting... i might see if they got something like that at petco and give it a try in a bucket...

 

[nouvellechef]

Now I just found out they have weighted ones also, even better.

No thats not my set up.

 

[LEFTHAND]

The answer to hydroton? I am hearing it knocks it out of the park for ease of cleaning and aeration for roots. Look on Ebay. What ya think?

Neat.. how is it for retaining moisture/water??
LH

 

[nouvellechef]

I dont know if it does or not. Do we need it to? It would increase floods in Ebb, which is good and in a dripper system that recirculates, not really needed.

 

[AcesUp]

These will not hold any water as they are made of plastic. They are used in outdoor KOI ponds for beneficial bacteria to colonize. They basically have alot of surface area.

 

[jmansweed]

Hey - hey,

My buddy Greener Pastures is a long time aquarium enthusiast. A real good one I might add. As soon as I mentioned these to him he told me about Ehfisubstrat Pro. It's composed of smaller balls, made of primarily glass I think. It's extremely porous, naturally creating tremendous surface area - very similar to the BioBalls. Might have to try a few different types - eh?

Not much in the way of water retention either but w/ a top feed bucket - it may be a solid alternative to hydroton........:hubba:

hXXp://www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4136+8983&pcatid=8983

peace.................Jman

 

[nvthis]

Wouldn't 'extremely porous' cancel out the benefit of easey cleaning?

 

[dirtyolsouth]

Yah all that's just peachey... BUT what do they feel like when you STEP on one...?

 

[Growdude]

why would these be any easyer to clean?

 

[nouvellechef]

Do we need water retention on top drip or Ebb for that matter? Top drip there is no need. Ebb, it just would increase floods with less retention which is a good thing for uptake, no?

NV, how would it cancel it out? They are like a see thru ball homey. So easy to clean. Wont make you want to smash something in your room when you step on one with bare feet compared to hydroton.

Grow, They dont retain anything or maybe a tiny % of moisture. makes it easy as they dont retain salts and they are see thru.

I have not tried them first hand, just hearing this and now I will for sure pick a few up and follow up. Oh and IMO, they look wayyy more bad azz then hydroton. I am sure you will need a styrofoam insert around the top of the plant base to cover light from getting down there for those that run open top, until a heavy canopy is created, well hopefully.

 

[zem]

i have some biogel balls they retain a lot of water in them, they initially look like tiny little balls but they expand when soaked in water and they hold the water and ferts for long time in them they have a gelatine touch a bit disgusting like the touch of a frog's skin lol, they are very easy to clean since theyr extremely slippery. i never tried them on MJ i just have a bamboo stick in them and it stays alive for so long without any watering, the balls shrink down in size and should be sprayed or flooded with water to swell again. i am interested in using them sometime with my mother plants dunno if i will do it tho

 

[pcduck]

:confused2: I use these in my aquarium filter. They do not seem any easier to clean then hydroton. Mine are not made out of plastic, but some kind of pumice? maybe, but I know they are not plastic.

 

[JBonez]

blue growing media would at the least look cool.

 

[Locked]

Looks like they come in different colors as well....google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=opB&rls=com.ubuntu:en-USfficial&resnum=0&q=Bio+Balls&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=11705142990461635292&ei=bg2dS5aCKsP88Ab-gYWtDg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ8wIwAA#ps-sellers

 

[zem]

Ebb and Flow will out-perform DWC every time because of the increased oxygenation of the roots. This is a proven fact in the hydroponic scientific community.

im sorry i dont mean to contradict your info just that i dont think so, i did flood and drain for years and just now i switched to dwc and i never seen the root structure i saw in dwc, so i think that dwc once done right could at least be as good or better than flood drain, the key is to get a very powerful airpump and to set the water level low so that roots get misted with oxygenated water, this gives em too much O2 and roots will become thick like stems IME

 

[LEFTHAND]

im sorry i dont mean to contradict your info just that i dont think so, i did flood and drain for years and just now i switched to dwc and i never seen the root structure i saw in dwc, so i think that dwc once done right could at least be as good or better than flood drain, the key is to get a very powerful airpump and to set the water level low so that roots get misted with oxygenated water, this gives em too much O2 and roots will become thick like stems IME

the question is did you do ebb right.. alot of people think a couple waters a day is fine.. when in reality its not.. you have to flood as much as possible.. like 1hr on 2 off 24/7 ...not saying you dont or didnt know how to run ebb..
LH

 

[zem]

i used to flood every 2 hours when lights on and only 2 times when lights were off, i dont know which is better but what i personally experienced is that dwc is at least as good once done right i did mess up couple of times when i had the misconception that a submersible pump is enough to air my res but once i got my new airpump it was a different story