[Bird of Hermes]

Originally Posted by RockinRobot

I reused hydroton the first couple years I grew.

At the end of each grow I let it dry out well to make root removal easier. Once I removed the old roots I filled reservoir with fresh RO and Clearex let the pump run for 24 hours.

Never had an issue. Cleaning it got old and now I buy new each run. It's really no more expensive than rockwool croutons.

Sounds like a good idea I might try to build a res that I can soak the stuff and drop one of my small submersible pumps in to circulate my florakleen(or clearex/drip clean that I might order).

I'd love to get new media every grow but since I have to order everything online that would cost around $250 I plan on using around 128 liters of hydroton/perlite in a 50/50 or so ratio. Hydroton costs $50 per 25L to be shipped to my house. Even if I went straight perlite that would be $100 or so a run and my local home depot runs out of it all the time. I'll get the majority of the roots out after chop, then soak to clear out most the salt buildup and then let it dry out. Then I'll either bleach clean, pressure cook or do a combo of both.

And besides the cost of ordering new stuff every time I'd be looking at metric tons being delivered to my house every year lol and trying to get rid of 128L of media every 4mo would be a challenge in of itself. My local garbage company actually says online that we are not allowed to throw soil or anything like it in our garbage cans.

[Bird of Hermes]

Originally Posted by Absolem

Florakleen is nothing more then a mild nutrient solution. It contains P, K, and N. It would work better as a rinse than soaking for hydroton.

I would let my hydroton dry out. Then soak it in bleach water and agitate. The dried out hydroton will become fully saturated with the bleach water giving it a deep clean. Drill some holes in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket or bigger then rinse the hydroton in that bucket. Let the hydroton dry out again and soak in RO water then rinse again and your good to go.

If the hydroton is partially saturated the bleach water or RO won't be able to full soak into the hydroton due to it already containing moisture.

I've looked online and can't find anybody who knows what florakleen is made from but most think it's a sucrose/dextrose mix like clearex. Already have a gallon of it can run a test by soaking one bucket with plain ro and another with ro/florakleen and see if there's any difference with my mw802 meter. Could give clearex and drip clean a try too but ro water is only a dollar per 5 gallons so if that's all I need that's cool. I used to have a home ro system but our local water looks like urine if you fill a pitcher up. Filters constantly clogged and caked up with yellow sludge and eventually got rid of the system.

I'll consider using bleach some more I don't have to decide anytime soon it'll be at least 4-5mo until I have any dirty media. Depending on how easy it is after I try and what happens to the media afterwards I may stick to the pressure cooker for sterilization since it won't leave behind residues. Though I admit I'm probably being anal about that and from what I hear a h2o2 rinse should oxidize any residues. Ty for the tips and I'll make sure to dry stuff thouroghly between rinses.

[RockinRobot]

Originally Posted by Bird of Hermes

Sounds like a good idea I might try to build a res that I can soak the stuff and drop one of my small submersible pumps in to circulate my florakleen(or clearex/drip clean that I might order).

I'd love to get new media every grow but since I have to order everything online that would cost around $250 I plan on using around 128 liters of hydroton/perlite in a 50/50 or so ratio. Hydroton costs $50 per 25L to be shipped to my house. Even if I went straight perlite that would be $100 or so a run and my local home depot runs out of it all the time. I'll get the majority of the roots out after chop, then soak to clear out most the salt buildup and then let it dry out. Then I'll either bleach clean, pressure cook or do a combo of both.

And besides the cost of ordering new stuff every time I'd be looking at metric tons being delivered to my house every year lol and trying to get rid of 128L of media every 4mo would be a challenge in of itself. My local garbage company actually says online that we are not allowed to throw soil or anything like it in our garbage cans.

I just dump them in the flood tray and let the pump run constantly.

Also I have heard of people using an old washing machine to clean them. Dump them in and run on delicate cycle with Clearex (assuming floraclean is similar). This washes out the roots as well.

And as Absolem said if you want to sterilize you can first do a rinse in bleach water. Then use the floraclean or clearex.

[Bird of Hermes]

Originally Posted by RockinRobot

I just dump them in the flood tray and let the pump run constantly.

Also I have heard of people using an old washing machine to clean them. Dump them in and run on delicate cycle with Clearex (assuming floraclean is similar). This washes out the roots as well.

And as Absolem said if you want to sterilize you can first do a rinse in bleach water. Then use the floraclean or clearex.

I'll probably stick to a mild bleach cleaning like y'all have been saying most the time and resort to the pressure cooker if stuff ever looks likes it's getting really slimy or dirty. Since I'm going to be running a mix of 50/50 hydroton and perlite whatever I do I gotta be gentle so I avoid breaking the perlite up too much. I thought about going with straight hydroton in my hempys but have heard it won't retain moisture for very long so using a 50/50 ratio.

People from what I've searched online are pretty confident that florakleen and clearex are both sugar water as it says on clearex's label. That's not to stay it's ineffective people talk about the sucrose/glucose/dextrose bonding to nutrients and making them soluble. Kinda makes sense since it does that in our bodies and interferes with nutrient absorption. Though I'm no doctor lol and the mechanisms may be totally different for all I know. Thnx for the input robot

[Joint Lock]

Enzymes

[Bird of Hermes]

Originally Posted by Joint Lock

Enzymes

Yeah I already use cannazyme and have been looking into if there's anything better that could eat any tiny leftover roots during the cleaning process. If you or anybody knows of anything thats really effective I'm all ears. If there's a enzyme that I can soak the medium in to dissolve any remaining organic matter I'd be all over that.

[Ununionized]

it is true, that when clorox evaporates all that's left is standard table salt... bleach is Sodium hypo-Chlorite ... the chlorine evaporates leaving basically, table salt.

The amount of salt is pretty small - especially after a rinse.

In fact, one of the killing mechanisms of using bleach is that the truly tiny pores in perlite become temporarily filled with the chlorine as gas... thats something else specific to washing media in bleach.

[WHIPEDMEAT]

we re used hydroton(clay pebbles) this way, let it completely dry unfold it and use an air compressor to blow those dried material, than rinse it with bleach, than soak it with acid that is use to ph down and like the new one.

[noreason]

Originally Posted by WHIPEDMEAT

we re used hydroton(clay pebbles) this way, let it completely dry unfold it and use an air compressor to blow those dried material, than rinse it with bleach, than soak it with acid that is use to ph down and like the new one.

May I ask you how much acid you use, what kind and concentration, for how long and where the bath?

Why using bleach if you go with acid? Does it help somehow?

Thanks

[WHIPEDMEAT]

phosphoric-acid, overnight usually, i don t remember exact dosage 85% the highest you can buy, and the ghe powder form ph down is also very good
bleach for disinfect, and the acid bath for adjust its Ph,without this Ph fluctaute a lot and wider spectrum disinfection if using both.. maybe too much, but better twice than none