Resevoir has a pond smell, whats a plant friendly remedy?

[Merfolk]

Hey guys, i change my res about every 3 weeks, just changed it tonight and i see what looks to be a dirty slimy cover at the bottom of res - And when emptied, it smelled like pond....


i tried doing a advanced search for this, i got nothing -

Any suggestions ?

 

[Abomablegrowman]

I had close to the same thing,when I wiped my rez with water in it white floaties appeared. I just cleaned out my rez with bleach really well! Then I bought a 100 uv sterilizer (I don't uses benes or organics) and picked up some pond dye thats safe for plants and fish. A little goes a long way! a bottle does close to 320000 gallons so you don't need much. It blocks out light so nasties can't thrive. A bottle was something like 35 bucks. Hope that helps bud!

 

[opt1c]

dutch master's zone works great to prevent that stuff from happening

 

[!!!]

Smelling like a pond/swamp is not good. What's your res temp?

Search for "dead res"

Abomablegrowman: Never heard of pond dye. Interesting!

 

[Squire5683]

I use a little hydrogen peroxide in my rez's and my EZ-Cloner.... It keeps down all the nasty brown slime and smell! I eyeball my amounts, but search for it on here and someone will give you dilution rates for your size rez

 

[Abomablegrowman]

!!! Yeah Iwas reading an article in a magazine a while back, can't remember which one it was, but a guy had been running his system for quite a while geting good to great yields, then he upgraded from a 400 watter to a 1000 watter and he would end up with brown slime and and dead plants and everything was light tight, so after 2 years of fustration, some told him to use this pond dye, it's used primarly at golf courses to keep algea from growing in the ponds there.

 

[CrumpleZone]

Keep it Moving!

Keep it Moving!

Consider getting a small pump to keep things moving. If all your shit falls out of solution and to the bottom of the reservior you can develop an anaerobic (oxygen poor) area underneath all that sludge. Anaerobic layers are great places for nasty (smelly) bacteria to grow. A circulating pump will help to ensure that doesn't happen.

Some people also like to use aeration stones with air pumps for similar reasons. I find that a small circ pump provides all the aeration i need to keep my res sweet.

 

[highonmt]

Bleach at 1/2 ml per 5gal of solution 2x a week keeps things sterile, to kill the rez and keep the plants happy use 1ml/5 gal for a couple days. Bleach dissipates rapidly so 2x a week is needed. Chloramine products like Zone last longer but I prefer the bleach. 5$ worth will last for years.
HM

 

[CrumpleZone]

Don't Kill Everything..

Don't Kill Everything..

The problem with things like Bleach and Peroxide is that it will kill the beneficial bacteria as well. Not all bacteria are bad for your babies, some are quite helpful.

Making sure that the res is well aerated should be all you need.

 

[BPJR]

I would use a pump to circulate the res and an air stone to keep it oxygenated if your not already. Maybe change your res sooner too.

Cheers

 

[Haps]

I use air, and I do not get this problem.

 

[Merfolk]

Might add that its a ebb and grow, added a pump to move the water -



H202 will kill off my Nutes ? Why is it that so many people use it with positive results?

 

[opt1c]

it will kill beneficial bacteria; if you're running an ebb and grow you don't want bacteria in there in the first place so it's no problem.... the people who run with beneficial bacterial either grow in soil; an organic soiless mix; coco; or are the tools of marketers selling products for hydro companies.... if you go hydro go sterile; or u can check out all the awesome huge yielding grows in the organic hydro forum j/k.... but i'd look into using zone or something to that effect if you're only doing change outs every 3 weeks

 

[growshopfrank]

I use air, and I do not get this problem.

lots of air the best solution