[abuldur]

I have already brewed ACT compost teas with great results on my outdoor crops.I feed them all sorts:guanos ,compost, seaweed,raw minerals and sugars in the form of molases and agave honey.

I also run an indoor hydro setup with beneficials (aquarium type bio filters) and am really happy with it.
But it always takes a while to put it back on after the summer break.
This is to build back the beneficials before putting some girls in.
I usually run my system empty for a week or two but it really seems to be a wast of time.

My question is the following:
Is it possible to brew commercial beneficials such as AN tarantula or GH subculture in a tea (external to my system) in order to speed up the process ?

I would use dechlorinated water in a 5g bucket with suficiant air flow
and a mesh bag full of lava rocks dipped in subculture or such.
To feed those i would only use raw sugars molases...

Or should i just brew a regular tea containing compost.For some reason i am not confortable with the idear of using my outdoor teas on my indoor clay and lavarocks hydro setup.

peace

Not exactly the answer you want to hear, but the water from your last grow should have a fair amount of biological activity. I would think that adding some to your new grow would speed up colonization. In the same way sourdough is used.

[abuldur]

Thanks 1q, but unfortunately that water is long gone since i break down my indoor system during summer (cause its to hot and requires more maintenance than i am willing to put in) and grow outdoors instead.

Does anyone know how they reproduce those beneficials in labs ?

PEACE

[abuldur]

I don't get it. How can sourdough promote beneficial bacteria(aerobic).
Sourdough is lactic bacteria (anaerobic) .
Starch,molasses, raw sugars i thought this was the way to go to promote beneficial bacteria.Putting in some competitive anaerobic bacteria might be detrimental to my goal.
But then i read some stuff about people starting their compost piles using bokashi compost (anaerobic).Go figure.

peace

[abuldur]

I started a 5 gallon bucket with biggest air pump i could find (500 L/h).Left it bubbling overnight to get ride of the chlorine.

Inoculation was made buy dipping a mesh bag of lava rocks in a solution of GH subculture.

I also gathered earth worm casting (little less than a pound) from nearby forest and dumped them in the bucket (free floating).

To feed those i used a table spoon of molasses and another of agave honey.

This mix has been brewing for 48 hours.

I am going to use this to top water my recycling hydro system (before putting the girls in ) in order to speed up colonization.

peace

[abuldur]

Still bubbling,i am going to leave it another 24 hours.

Checked ph last night it was 6,5 little bit of foam.

Added another spoon of agave honey (to provide food for this long brew).

Results seem to vary a lot even with accustomed ACT users.

I have no microscope, so i figured a long brew and monitoring ph was my only option to check if thing were running smoothly.

If ph is still rising, i am going to top water my hydro system tonight and hopefully beneficial colonization will be achieved in a few minutes.

peace

Very cool...I'm anxious to see how you do with this. Thanks for sharing it...peace

[abuldur]

Ok, so i finally pored the tea in on the 12th.I also scattered the lava rocks that where in the mesh bag into my hydro setup.

I did monitor the ph it was 5,8 when before i used the tea.

Left it overnight.

Next day ph was 6,8.

As far as i can tel mission accomplished.

PEACE

[Scrogerman]

facsinating bro, so how did it go? Ive been looking at bio filters for a while. excuse my ignorance but what is ACT?

Seems your going to fair lengths to create your own bene colonies for hydro. Im starting to read more & more on the subject.

[Horsemanrocks]

I'd hate to see this thread moving below the radar....A shamless bump.

HMR