Get rid of “The Slime” aka “Brown Slime Algae” aka “Cyanobacteria”!

[Snype]

Thanks a lot for sharing your knowledge Snype, I really appreciate your posts! Keep'em coming
I never had big troubles with slime and using a chiller it's enough in my setup but...I have a question if you don't mind.



Making it simple the question is: are you sure a living organism can develop a resistance to an oxidizing agent like chlorine?
I think it's very difficult for a bacteria develop a strategy to protect himself from such a kind of elements. Chlorine is like oxygen and it literally burns things like in a process of combustion we can see every day in our house.
How can a bacteria develop a resistance to that? Did you already think about it?


And one more thing: I know you put in the trash all the clones and it's ok, the safest way....but how about residual antibiotic within the plant? Usually this kind of things are really short lasting. It could be useful to know for how long it keep microbes away and how long it remains in the plant's tissues. Any input on that?

If you do a search on google, you will find Chlorine resistance bacteria. You can also find articles about it in drinking water. The fact is that I would pour a whole gallon of Bleach into an 10 Gallon EZ Cloner and scrub the shit inside and out. The slime would come back and go even crazier than they did before. In fact here's a link for you talking about chlorine resistant cyanobacteria in drinking water. It's not the best article but you can search for more:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22137293

I don't have any input on the last question but it doesn't really interest me to grow plants with antibiotics in any form. Even if science shows that there is no trace in the plant it's not something that I would be comfortable doing. It kind of feels like an ornamental pesticide (florimite, avid, forbid) half life conversation to me.

 

[Raziel819]

If you do a search on google, you will find Chlorine resistance bacteria. You can also find articles about it in drinking water. The fact is that I would pour a whole gallon of Bleach into an 10 Gallon EZ Cloner and scrub the shit inside and out. The slime would come back and go even crazier than they did before. In fact here's a link for you talking about chlorine resistant cyanobacteria in drinking water. It's not the best article but you can search for more:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22137293

I don't have any input on the last question but it doesn't really interest me to grow plants with antibiotics in any form. Even if science shows that there is no trace in the plant it's not something that I would be comfortable doing. It kind of feels like an ornamental pesticide (florimite, avid, forbid) half life conversation to me.

Hi guys,

This is my first grow and I am using DWC method, being that I'm new at this I alowed my water temp's to get Way to high and I developed that slime on my babies. What got rid of it for me was to plain water rinse and use H2O2 several times on my roots.

But the question I have is this: Can the slime develop by any other means other than water temps being to high? Is there something else that I need to monitor to help prevent the problem?

Thanks for your replies I need all the help I can get from guys with "Been there, done that" experience.

Raziel819

 

[olyippie]

"Brown Algae Slime"aka"Cyanobacteria"!

"Brown Algae Slime"aka"Cyanobacteria"!

they call me Ol'Yippie, I have been reading thru your post on this "BAS"Cyanobacteria crap... I can't get rid of it... I had never heard of it. I made the mistake of thinking it was an Algae & hit it with H2o2o, man I screwed up! I have done the bleach thing, the Pysan20 thing, cleaned everything. But it keeps coming back. thought I had it wiped but it came back. one evening my roots were fine, 24 hours later Slime City... I just got today the E.M.Erythomycin you talk about. I will start it tomorrow, but I wanted to run it by you, "if you got a little time"?
Are there any trix you have learned or anything new to add sense the last post? Is there somewhere a method to use that is better than just going for it? or is that the best way, to just jump in & get it done. clean everything, "EVERYTHING" new hose, new airstone, change any & all filters. I am even going to put in another 33in UV light where the water comes into the building, this shit is BAD SHIT... I live in the Mtn's of Montana & never seen nothing like this... I'm have a well, & there has been no type of water treatment here ever. So I thought Bleach should kill it, WRONG AGAIN!!!
The Pysan20 kills it, does a good job, but it keeps coming back. so now the E.M.WRYTHROMYCIN...
And was hoping for some instruction? I have read most all I can find on it, but it's, as you know, for Aquariums...
And you are about the only 1 that has any smarts for Hydro, apps!
any help I would be so Grateful...

I run my water thru a RO unit that goes into my UV chamber, it's a 33in UV light stainless steal, then it drips into my main res, plastic 55gal drum from my old Ebb& Flow. with air stones, then when I use the water it runs back thru the UV Light again. "at pump volume, so it goes thru the light the 1st time at a trickle, then it run thru the light again when I use it to mix nutes...
Is it air born? does it reactivate after it dries out & rehydrates?
It comes back even if my temps are below 72 degrees, WTF?
this is making me F~ing Crazy...
PLEASE ANYTHING HELP...
Thanx Ol'Yippie

 

[olyippie]

Sorry I use stand alone DWC, Chem Nutes, nothing organic I no of...
I was also reading that Aqua Shield is good? I also found Hydroguard, do you no anything about this product?
well thanx for your time, hope I gave you enough info.

 

[olyippie]

I really don't know how to get around on these computers, navigating these sites is not my best work... so please bare with me...
I no you are probly bizzy. and this is the only way I know of to contact you, I'm not real tecky... and I can't PM you cause I don't have the rights yet, I guess??? but if you get a chance please read this & if you can give me some pointer to do this the right way & safly. thanx Ol'Yippie

 

[doneit]

If you do not find the source of the problem it will keep coming back forever.

One thing most people over look is that once certain fungi evolve to spore form it is nearly impossible to get rid of. i have many friends with a similar problem that have been fighting it for a couple yrs now.. still nothing permanent.

Although they do not run dwc but do run a medium based hydro set up the Erythomycin
was tried on a group of plants at 3 weeks flower, it had a very negative effect on the plants, all growth stopped and started to turn new white pistil growth brown, this was with the recommended dosage.
it indeed started new root growth but only lasted a few days, the fungi came back immediately.

I would be very cautious using this antibiotic, run a tester first to see if it helps.

Good luck

 

[olyippie]

I no it's the water. and if I read it right, temp is what starts it. if's that the case then up here we only have to deal with a half dozen days in the 90's, so I can keep things cool, but those few days of over 90 and this year it got up to 99, 100 for 4 or 5 days straight and it got hot in my building. if I clean everything with the Physan20, then I have a 33in UV light system(Culligan) that then goes to my RO unit then thru another 33in UV unit, the RO is just a trickle so it should real kill everything, it then goes to my 55gal res, then when I use it to mix nutes it runs back thru the UV light unit again.
Don't you thing that should kill about everything. there will be no water in my building that doesn't go thru the UV unit at least once...
So now I clean everything with the antibiotic inside & out, replace everything soft, air stones, any filters.
it's really only in my Veg room, there is no slime I can find anywhere else. I have probly spread it all over, but no slime in my water res, or in my mixing res. no slime on the air stones like in the veg DWC room. It's got me going flipin crazy...
I have an original strain of AK-47 & I would FREAK OUT if I loss them...

 

[CoCoColaClassic]

Hi snype, i love your posts--amazing!

I wanted to mention there are now heat sterilizable cloning collars people can use rather than replacing collars.

Also, i was curious your final ppm's after adding flora/micro?

Thanks for all your time and experience!

 

[HeathBanks]

When i first started using ez cloners, i ran into this same problem. It happens even without tap water. I was using a merlin. For the most part, this stuff comes into play when your reservoir temps get warm. Usually from running the pump too frequently.

I am amazed at how hard of a time your having to get rid of it... If you dont clean every little crevice of the whole system, then yes, it will come back quickly. But if you get it all out, then theres usually not a recurring problem. I used to clean mine with concentrated h202 and a toothbrush. Gotta clean and flush the pump, flush the sprayer manifold, clean the recessed ares that each puck sits in real good, wash the cracks of the pucks very well ect and so forth. As a preventative during cloning, you can add bacillus t, and bacillus a which is what was in Hydroguard, which is now called aqua shield i believe. That helped me a lot. You can also go the other route and dose h202. Just be aware that it evaporates very quickly, so you will need to add it almost daily to see the benefit. Ive thought about sm-90, but never used it for that purpose. I dont do ez clones anymore.

If you keep your reservoir water around 68degrees, it just makes it that much harder for the slime to get a grasp.

 

[thatonedude]

Siamese algea eaters are reported to eat this stuff in the fish keepers world.

that is the only thing they are good for as they are very aggressive towards any other fish that swims slow enough fot them to latch onto

 

[thatonedude]

they are a sucker fish, and one cleared my 20 gallon fish tank in one week. the tank was completely covered in brown slime (cyanobacteria) prior

 

[thatonedude]

im sorry im referring to Chinese algea eaters, Siamese algea eaters are different and morew preferred because of their docile attitude against other fish

 

[Rolldaddy]

Hey Snype.

Thanks for these detailed procedures. I've noticed even with new cloners when water temps are high roots come out a few days faster but that is also when I noticed slime set. If your solutions keeps that away even at higher temps than more power to you.

I did want to ask if during you experiments with cloners if you've tried using food grade H2O2 instead of the chlorine? Or if you've experimented using both bleach and H2O2

 

[Snype]

Hey Snype.

Thanks for these detailed procedures. I've noticed even with new cloners when water temps are high roots come out a few days faster but that is also when I noticed slime set. If your solutions keeps that away even at higher temps than more power to you.

I did want to ask if during you experiments with cloners if you've tried using food grade H2O2 instead of the chlorine? Or if you've experimented using both bleach and H2O2

H2O2 didnt last long in the system.

 

[TrichCrazy5280]

Thanks for the info snype. I have had this come up in the past a few times. I have had the same 4 cloning machines(120site) and have had this problem before here and there. Sometimes the slime was so bad they were toast and other times they begin to slime, part of the stem dissolves but they end up rooting above the damamge. They never look that great when that happens.

Things that have currently help me having success with the same machines is:

Replacing the neoprenes every run to every other run. Just seems like to good of environment for bacteria to live

After running my machines over the weekend with a very stong dose of H2o2 i again completly take the machine apart and wash again. I like to get a 5 gallon bucket outside and put the pump/manifold in and have the hose running full blast so it keeps the bucket full. I then turn the pump on and let it run for awhile(without the sprayer tips in). I wish they sold just replament manifolds because i agree about the buildup inside and its very hard to get out.

I also run a much bigger air pump that is what provided with the machine. More o2 less bacteria was my hopes.

Thanks for the information. Im going to try this suggested technique after this run of clones is over. THanks again man!!!!

 

[Snype]

Thanks for the info snype. I have had this come up in the past a few times. I have had the same 4 cloning machines(120site) and have had this problem before here and there. Sometimes the slime was so bad they were toast and other times they begin to slime, part of the stem dissolves but they end up rooting above the damamge. They never look that great when that happens.

Things that have currently help me having success with the same machines is:

Replacing the neoprenes every run to every other run. Just seems like to good of environment for bacteria to live

After running my machines over the weekend with a very stong dose of H2o2 i again completly take the machine apart and wash again. I like to get a 5 gallon bucket outside and put the pump/manifold in and have the hose running full blast so it keeps the bucket full. I then turn the pump on and let it run for awhile(without the sprayer tips in). I wish they sold just replament manifolds because i agree about the buildup inside and its very hard to get out.

I also run a much bigger air pump that is what provided with the machine. More o2 less bacteria was my hopes.

Thanks for the information. Im going to try this suggested technique after this run of clones is over. THanks again man!!!!

You can buy new manifolds online. Google.

 

[TrichCrazy5280]

You can buy new manifolds online. Google.

Are you kidding me!!!!?? I asked my grow store and they lied to me saying you couldn't get those and i trusted them and never looked for myself.

Sweet, thanks.

 

[Snype]

Are you kidding me!!!!?? I asked my grow store and they lied to me saying you couldn't get those and i trusted them and never looked for myself.

Sweet, thanks.

Grow stores are like car dealerships.

 

[TrichCrazy5280]

Grow stores are like car dealerships.

No kidding. I have also overheard that same store say that pythium lives in the actual plastic of the machine. I just bought my goods and walked away. Ha

 

[TrichCrazy5280]

Just curious. Did you send in a sample to a lab to find this out?

Again, i am so happy to see some information on this topic. I know this has been a very common issue for people around my area for the last few years.