Should i use my Tea?!

[ScrogMonster]

I made a 5 gallon bucket with an Air lift... 3 aquarium pumps and a hydroponic one... all together maybe about 10L/m... all in the bottom of air lift.

apparently its not quite enough... i put in about 4 gallons of water... 1/2 cup ewc, 1/2 cup shrimp compost (biomax) and about 1/2 cup of plant food all together (espoma flowertone and starter plus and some roots organic uprising bloom)

also a bit of Mycos and 25ml molasses... whole bucket not per gallon.

its only been about 3 days... and the water is probably 68 degrees or less.

there's plenty of foaming going on i know that doesn'nt mean its maxed or ready or w/e.... im sure theres ben bacteria and broken down organics ready to use.

thing is though.... the compost and food isnt staying in suspension its settling at the bottom probably only 1/8" thick at most... ive sturred it up a few times...

one time when it was settled i reached in and grabbed a handful and smelled it...

its really hard to tell if its starting to smell like bad bact. (slime) or if its just the smell of all the different things in the plant food... its a faint smell and kind of farmy but also kinda 'maybe' smells like slime.

not sure the uprising bloom plant food has a lot of different and weird shit in it. leongbanite or w/e i dunno what that smells like.

i used about half a gallon in two 5gal batches of my nute solution last night (ff big bloom). not sure if i should keep using it or err on the safe side and dump it... start over maybe with the addition of a power head or two. ( might have some laying around.

any knowledge or opinions welcome and appreciated

 

[Carbon.Chains]

1/2 cup of plant food all together (espoma flowertone and starter plus and some roots organic uprising bloom)

also a bit of Mycos

its only been about 3 days...

thing is though.... the compost and food isnt staying in suspension its settling at the bottom probably only 1/8" thick at most... ive sturred it up a few times...

one time when it was settled i reached in and grabbed a handful and smelled it...

its really hard to tell if its starting to smell like bad bact. (slime) or if its just the smell of all the different things in the plant food... its a faint smell and kind of farmy but also kinda 'maybe' smells like slime.

not sure the uprising bloom plant food has a lot of different and weird shit in it. leongbanite or w/e i dunno what that smells like.

Hi there,

From personal experience I can only say, if something went anaerobic you would notice it. It would stink.
On compost tea, I can only repeat what I've read here and elsewhere on the internet. I still have to build a damn brewer.
Mycos shouldn't be added, it's pretty pointless as they grow on roots and either don't perform well or die in water media.
Not sure about the plant food, - EWC or thermophilic compost, molasses and water is enough.
By leongbanite you must mean leonardite. It s a mineral and afaik doesn t have any noticeable smell.
It is better if the compost doesn t settle in the bottom as the purpose of an ACT is to knock off the microbes of the compost and reproduce them very fast via that environment.
Also 3 days seems quite a long time, 36h if I remember right is your safest bet without a microscope.

I doubt your tea will have negative effects on your plants but my knowledge is very limited.
Even if it isn t succesful as an ACT, it seems it would still be a nice nutrient tea.

Hope this helps, maybe someone with more experience could chime in,

Carbon Chains

 

[OrganicBuds]

You talk of making an air lift brewer. That to me would mean you are trying for a microbial tea, and not a compost tea. If I am correct in this assumption, you should loose all the extra crap you added. Just high quality compost/vermicompost and molasses are needed. Check out Microbeorganics.com for all the information you need on ACT's. (actively aerated compost tea) I have made hundreds of teas, from ten's of different company's, and Microbeorganics teas are the best by far. Good luck. Also, use the search function and look for Microbeman, he created Microbeorganics.com.

 

[ScrogMonster]

Hey carbon.chains, thx for info and suggestions. i think ill just top dress with the Mycos from now on. Also probably wont put all that plant food in. i better start making my own compost for this, as well as for adding to my mix. (promix, coco, ewc, shrimp compost, dry organics).


OrganicBuds, thanks for chiming in. Your post was reasurring and usefull. Ill check out Microbeorganics and Microbe man for sure.

At some point when i get a little more time ill have to start a journal and show you guys the scroggy girls (plush berry, GDP, Sensi Star, and 3 crosses i made.)waiting to drink some of this tea.

which ill probably dump to be safe and start again with out plant food.

 

[Bennyweed1]

smell the liquid, not the settled material. You are extracting the nutrients and cultivating a network of life. Like a cup of tea, you want to extract the flavor of the tea leafs and dispose of the bag and leaf material.

Throw the settle stuff in a compost pile or worm bin. If your liquid smells foul, then I would be concern, but not the sediment.