The full richyrich hydro tea recipe for the slime and root rot are within this thread

I think I might have the slime...

I thought it was root rot. The aeroflo I was using had a small light leak into the growing tubes, and the temps climbed up,to 75 and we had the spray lines aimed wrong (so they were hitting the side wall, instead of spraying into the water on the bottom of the tube (which creates oxygen)). The long roots that were sitting in the water at the bottom of the tubes (which I assume became stagnant) journey black-ish.
So, I assumed it was root rot, taking into account all the above factors, all of which can lead to root rot. So I naturally started treating them for it. I started with FloraShield and SM-90 as I had both on hand. Everything looked like it was headed in the right direction. But I hadn't yet cut off the dead black root. So I did that the next day and went and got Hygrozyme and more FloraShield.
So I did a res change, added a whole bottle of FloraShield, some SM90 and I added the recently purchased Hygrozyme.
Then I also added a couple air stones to the reservoir, thinking the more oxygen the better (for root rot).

Then when I checked in the next day, wow... Never seen anything like that! The entire res and every grow tube was literally filled with nasty brown slime. You could see it attached to the bottom of the grow tube, waiving back and forth as the water flowed over it. The reservoir sides were covered in slime too. The water had turned brown and cloudy, with some brown things floating around in it.

From reading, it sounds like maybe the hygrozyme was food for the algae. That along with the air stones feeding the res tons of oxygen caused it to bloodline crazy I believe.

I am just not sure how it got there...? Where does it originate from? Like, what causes you to get it in the first place? I've never seen this and I've run aero's before.
The air stones I used had been used before, either to make compost tea or in another hydro system for a short time. I did soak them in bleach water first. But is this the likely cause? What are the other things that cause this?

Also, I ditched all the plants and I am starting over. What is my best course of action to disinfect my machine completely? I flushed it out as best I could and I am running a few cups of bleach in water thru it now. I put some DM Zone in there too.
How much bleach per gallon should I be using?
I plan to break it all down next and scrub it out as best I can.
Then fill it up with more bleach water. Drain it.
Fill it with Physan 20. Run it. Drain it.
Then fill with (hot?) water. Flush and drain.
Then fill again?

What about the parts that cannot be scrubbed, like the manifold and spray lines? I just replaced the lines, but should I do it again? (Hate to throw away $70, but will if necessary).
Can't replace the manifold though.
I bought a new pump that is a bit stronger. Also bought a water chiller (thinking it was root rot at first).

I just want to do whatever necessary to fully eradicate this NOW. This was a damn nightmare, I don't want to ever have to go through this again.

Thank you for any help. It will be greatly appreciated.

Tagged!

TedNugget said:

I think I might have the slime...


I just want to do whatever necessary to fully eradicate this NOW. This was a damn nightmare, I don't want to ever have to go through this again.

Thank you for any help. It will be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

i think you would be ok with going with hot water of around 140-150F & bleach, flush that through 2 times... then refill with bleach again and run for a day... rinse and start over..you should be good then..
hot water will kill nearly everything.. specially the slime with the assurance of bleach

Do you have a suggestion for alternative to ZHO. It does not look like botinicare makes it anymore. They now have something called rhizoblast(http://www.botanicare.com/Products/Roots.aspx), Is that a good replacement and if so how much would it take to replace zho powder?

I'm just getting started in Hydro & this thread came up at a perfect time !!! not that i have slime , but the last time i tried an areo cloner i did & now i know how to combat it if it happens again !!! Thanx Brutha !!!

What is best res temp for using tea? I keep mine at 68 though heard that higher temp is better for tea?

UberPooner said:

Do you have a suggestion for alternative to ZHO. It does not look like botinicare makes it anymore. They now have something called rhizoblast(http://www.botanicare.com/Products/Roots.aspx), Is that a good replacement and if so how much would it take to replace zho powder?

Click to expand...

I just tried Rhizoblast in place of ZHO. I will post.my results!!

I have used this in the past and it was amazing. Got rid of slime and had the best roots ever. Just about to go back to hydro after 2 years of suffering with coco.

Have not read entire thread yet, but found that making sure light does not come in contact with the hydro solution will prevent it. HID light passes through a lot of stuff you would think was opaque. Goes right through PVC, and some reflective tapes. I test everything that comes in contact with water.

Sweet cheers for the info, I am going to have a go at making a tea, But I only have the worm casting's, Great white shark, Roots excelurator and molasses. I bought some cheap bottled water and it has an ec of 0.4 lol.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Good info about the slime..
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