Help me please! Cloudy water and pH raising constantly.

[Bellsprout]

Thats what’s happening to my water in the past 2 weeks, I changed the full tank of water already 3 times and scrubbed the box with bleach, rinsed and filled with fresh tap water and distilled, plus the nuts and ph- solution, but once a week the water condition reaches this point. I’m afraid it’s something like a microorganisms but I really don’t know what to do.. plants seems fine for now but the roots haven’t reach the water yet. If somebody understand what’s happening here please let me know, changing the water hasn’t changed the situation.. maybe clay pebbles are infected too? I’m looking for a solution myself but I’m a new grower that’s my 2nd cycle of hydro ever.. thanks in advance for your help guys, one love

 

[JKD]

Thats what’s happening to my water in the past 2 weeks, I changed the full tank of water already 3 times and scrubbed the box with bleach, rinsed and filled with fresh tap water and distilled, plus the nuts and ph- solution, but once a week the water condition reaches this point. I’m afraid it’s something like a microorganisms but I really don’t know what to do.. plants seems fine for now but the roots haven’t reach the water yet. If somebody understand what’s happening here please let me know, changing the water hasn’t changed the situation.. maybe clay pebbles are infected too? I’m looking for a solution myself but I’m a new grower that’s my 2nd cycle of hydro ever.. thanks in advance for your help guys, one love

My first thought was limescale.

I think it’s White algae. Searching that term should give you some answers into whether that’s correct or not, and how to treat & prevent it if it is.
Good luck!

 

[Dr.Dutch]

What products exactly do you use for your nutrient solution? Something like this should actually not happen, especially with such small plants.

 

[DARKSIDER]

Thats what’s happening to my water in the past 2 weeks, I changed the full tank of water already 3 times and scrubbed the box with bleach, rinsed and filled with fresh tap water and distilled, plus the nuts and ph- solution, but once a week the water condition reaches this point. I’m afraid it’s something like a microorganisms but I really don’t know what to do.. plants seems fine for now but the roots haven’t reach the water yet. If somebody understand what’s happening here please let me know, changing the water hasn’t changed the situation.. maybe clay pebbles are infected too? I’m looking for a solution myself but I’m a new grower that’s my 2nd cycle of hydro ever.. thanks in advance for your help guys, one love

Same as what i had in my wilmas years ago slimy to the touch like wallpaper paste i used food grade hydrogen peroxide 35 percent and bleach it was everywhere think it came into my systems through tap water only ever seen it once and now i use peroxide as a precaution but have to say it was in the pipework too i cleaned everything from drippers to pumps to pebbles and a week later its ugly head showed again but got on top of it eventually flush them pipes or your ladies will suffer even if you have to go down the route of soil for this run also check your water temp some can get away without a chiller like myself others cannot so worth looking into hope you get it sorted as it is a ball ache for sure,.

 

[troutman]

Clay pellets and bacterial blooms also cause cloudiness.
Don't allow light to reach nutrient rich water if you don't
want algae blooms.

 

[Bellsprout]

What products exactly do you use for your nutrient solution? Something like this should actually not happen, especially with such small plants.

I’m using Hesi hydro products, biobizz ph-. Im thinking that spores are coming from the water and the air pump, because I washed them but I haven’t run the system with the bleach solution before using them again

 

[troutman]

Im thinking that spores are coming from the water and the air pump, because I washed them but I haven’t run the system with the bleach solution before using them again

What kind of spores?

 

[Ca++]

Well it's certainly biological, so needs killing.

Your not using yeast based co2 generation are you? That's the only time I have seen growth you can see so easily.

I would be looking how much pool-shock I can use. The pebbles need cleaning, not just the tank. You need to start running the system with some bleach like stuff constantly. Pool-shock is used commonly, so you will get search results

Edit: Looking at the pics properly (I get slow load times) I see what looks like PM or a relative. I have not heard of PM in the tank though.

 

[Dr.Dutch]

I’m using Hesi hydro products, biobizz ph-. Im thinking that spores are coming from the water and the air pump, because I washed them but I haven’t run the system with the bleach solution before using them again

Ok, as i thought, at least one of your products is the problem. BioBizz pH down is citric acid, a nice food source for microorganism. I had also such things in the tank with my citrates and citric acid tests. Absolutely unsuitable for hydro.

 

[Bellsprout]

Ok, as i thought, at least one of your products is the problem. BioBizz pH down is citric acid, a nice food source for microorganism. I had also such things in the tank with my citrates and citric acid tests. Absolutely unsuitable for hydro.

Thanks I’ll change it with phosphoric acid

 

[Ca++]

Ok, as i thought, at least one of your products is the problem. BioBizz pH down is citric acid, a nice food source for microorganism. I had also such things in the tank with my citrates and citric acid tests. Absolutely unsuitable for hydro.

Interesting. I havn't seen that, but it caught my eye for raising the pH. I realise it's 'down' but for us it was 'up' by the next day. Making it seem useful for daily mixing, but the twice we have tried organic stuff, we poured it away.


I have just sat here about 10 mins trying to join some dots from the past. It may of clouded the tank , and was itself cloudy. When I poured it away, months later, there was stuff in there strung together. Like veins though it. Which looked snotty and at there thickest were near black.
The suggestion here, is that the acid bought in the gunk. Rather than just helped it.


It was one of the few products that made it past useless, and into damaging. Twice.
I realise this can't be a regular occurrence, yet twice. One bottle a friend took, and just thought it weak. That was long before the second bottle that was worse. Around a time I briefly had tank snot, though I can't relate that directly to the acid. It's too long ago.


It's very interesting you would go straight to the acid as an issue.

 

[G.O. Joe]

A good way to hydro is to minimize potential issues, operate within parameters, and all that. None of these were originally mentioned, some still haven't.

Without knowing any parameters, I suspect that changing only the selection of this Hesi product to something without "vitamins and amino acids...to quickly form a healthy microfilm" and "carbohydrates" would be a positive. Whether the precipitate itself is bio or nute or both.

My experience with lemon juice (to test grodan.101 directions, from when it was a better site) was not negative until rapid growth, although there are several issues that could be brought up, maybe including slight cloudiness. There is some lit saying that organic acids are not great for plants (worse with longer chains), but it did no harm for me.

There is nothing actually wrong with having a very active res, as long as it's managed correctly, in several ways.

 

[Ca++]

Could look at floating UV lights. Pretty cheap, and not bad for a bit of tank maintenance. You just get it circulating well, and give it half hour or something. Do not look at the thing. It's dangerous. We are not talking LEDs here, it's a fluorescent tube giving doses of light with germicidal effect.

Getting in the stones, means a water borne fix. Seeing whatever on that leaf is concerning me most. I'm not sure if the problem has left the tank, or just been watered onto the plant.

Seems a couple of fixes have been suggested, and I would choose... all of them.

 

[Dr.Dutch]

I have tried a lot with citric acid in my recent grows. From an experiment with rainwater (white slime after two days) to experiments in the reservoir with Bennis (a product with humic acid, kelp, B. subtilis, and T. harz), which also led to strong slime in the reservoir, to my test bucket now, where I test my stuff side-to-side before it goes into the reservoir. So, I have seen this picture often enough, and it looked familiar to me.
The dose is also the "problem". Small amounts can still work, but if you constantly work against a rising pH with citric acid, you are adding a lot of carbon to the nutrient solution. And the more food for microorganisms, the worse it gets.

With the Hesi fertilizer, I would be less worried. If the amino acids/vitamins in it are dosed the same way as in the SuperVit, then it is more like homeopathic doses. In larger amounts, they can also cause problems, which I can confirm through my tests and research.
The statement from Hesi about this is somewhat nonsensical. In fact, amino acids and vitamins should be given to the plant (very effective as foliar applications, for example). To ensure a positive colonization of MOs, one would also need to add Bennis. I also don't understand why Hesi has separate hydro and soil fertilizers if they also put organic matter into their hydro products.
But, if possible, I would replace the fertilizer as well. Canna or General Hydroponics do not contain organic components, or you could get something like Peters, Jacks, etc. that are reasonable in price.

UV and other measures should not be necessary if there is no food for microorganisms in the nutrient solution. Bugbee's paper is also very interesting in this regard. They only top off their nutrient solution throughout the entire cycle, without any oxidizers or other measures.

Principles of Nutrient and Water Management for Indoor Agriculture

Mass balance principles are a cornerstone of efficient fertilizer use and can be utilized to optimize plant nutrition without discarding or leaching solution. Here, we describe the maintenance of closed hydroponic and soilless substrate systems based on mass balance. Water removed by...

www.mdpi.com

 

[Longtimecoming]

I use a Grow1 collapsible reservoir for my coco and had to deal with this during the veg part of my current grow. I started seeing what looked like white snot and cloudy water in the reservoir every morning, and the pH would rise from say 5.8 to 6.1 or so every night. I used a pump in the reservoir with a wand to water the plants at the time. For me, I just cleaned the reservoir, took out the pump and wand (wasn't sure if it was light getting through the walls of the reservoir or nutrient solution hanging out in the wand/tubes that was getting old so got rid of them and wrapped the reservoir in that thick plastic that is black on one side and white on the other and just water by hand now. Took care of it right away. Haven't had the snot/cloudiness back and the pH doesn't fluctuate at all now. So for me, it was just light getting in to the reservoir.

 

[Bellsprout]

Well it's certainly biological, so needs killing.

Your not using yeast based co2 generation are you? That's the only time I have seen growth you can see so easily.

I would be looking how much pool-shock I can use. The pebbles need cleaning, not just the tank. You need to start running the system with some bleach like stuff constantly. Pool-shock is used commonly, so you will get search results

Edit: Looking at the pics properly (I get slow load times) I see what looks like PM or a relative. I have not heard of PM in the tank though.

Interesting. I havn't seen that, but it caught my eye for raising the pH. I realise it's 'down' but for us it was 'up' by the next day. Making it seem useful for daily mixing, but the twice we have tried organic stuff, we poured it away.


I have just sat here about 10 mins trying to join some dots from the past. It may of clouded the tank , and was itself cloudy. When I poured it away, months later, there was stuff in there strung together. Like veins though it. Which looked snotty and at there thickest were near black.
The suggestion here, is that the acid bought in the gunk. Rather than just helped it.


It was one of the few products that made it past useless, and into damaging. Twice.
I realise this can't be a regular occurrence, yet twice. One bottle a friend took, and just thought it weak. That was long before the second bottle that was worse. Around a time I briefly had tank snot, though I can't relate that directly to the acid. It's too long ago.


It's very interesting you would go straight to the acid as an issue.

Thanks sir, I’ve changed ph- to a non bio just to be safe

 

[Bellsprout]

Same as what i had in my wilmas years ago slimy to the touch like wallpaper paste i used food grade hydrogen peroxide 35 percent and bleach it was everywhere think it came into my systems through tap water only ever seen it once and now i use peroxide as a precaution but have to say it was in the pipework too i cleaned everything from drippers to pumps to pebbles and a week later its ugly head showed again but got on top of it eventually flush them pipes or your ladies will suffer even if you have to go down the route of soil for this run also check your water temp some can get away without a chiller like myself others cannot so worth looking into hope you get it sorted as it is a ball ache for sure,.

Ok, i ran my system in water and bleach and peroxide for 4 hours and scrubbed both the water and the air pump, same with my reservoir, and my grow room.. I also washed and rinsed the pebbles, I changed again all the water and fixed my ph with phosphoric acid.. let’s see what happens now!! Thanks a lot

 

[Bellsprout]

I have tried a lot with citric acid in my recent grows. From an experiment with rainwater (white slime after two days) to experiments in the reservoir with Bennis (a product with humic acid, kelp, B. subtilis, and T. harz), which also led to strong slime in the reservoir, to my test bucket now, where I test my stuff side-to-side before it goes into the reservoir. So, I have seen this picture often enough, and it looked familiar to me.
The dose is also the "problem". Small amounts can still work, but if you constantly work against a rising pH with citric acid, you are adding a lot of carbon to the nutrient solution. And the more food for microorganisms, the worse it gets.

With the Hesi fertilizer, I would be less worried. If the amino acids/vitamins in it are dosed the same way as in the SuperVit, then it is more like homeopathic doses. In larger amounts, they can also cause problems, which I can confirm through my tests and research.
The statement from Hesi about this is somewhat nonsensical. In fact, amino acids and vitamins should be given to the plant (very effective as foliar applications, for example). To ensure a positive colonization of MOs, one would also need to add Bennis. I also don't understand why Hesi has separate hydro and soil fertilizers if they also put organic matter into their hydro products.
But, if possible, I would replace the fertilizer as well. Canna or General Hydroponics do not contain organic components, or you could get something like Peters, Jacks, etc. that are reasonable in price.

UV and other measures should not be necessary if there is no food for microorganisms in the nutrient solution. Bugbee's paper is also very interesting in this regard. They only top off their nutrient solution throughout the entire cycle, without any oxidizers or other measures.

View attachment 18841992

Principles of Nutrient and Water Management for Indoor Agriculture

Mass balance principles are a cornerstone of efficient fertilizer use and can be utilized to optimize plant nutrition without discarding or leaching solution. Here, we describe the maintenance of closed hydroponic and soilless substrate systems based on mass balance. Water removed by...

www.mdpi.com

I’ll keep this in mind, tbh I wanted to change already my nutes but I had so much of this hesi products left so I’m usin them until the end of this cycle and then I’m going to change to something more specific. I’m still learning all about nutrients that’s my 2nd cycle ever! Thanks for your help and also for linking me something to study on, bless you

 

[Hiddenjems]

I don’t recommend anything organic in the Rez to anyone. People that know how to run true organic hydro are rare, and better at it than me. I can get down with some mineral salts…..

 

[TNTBudSticker]

I just watched a video on Youtube last night about adding Your Nutrients into the reservoir,it made the water Cloudy.So the trick was to Diluted the Nutrient First in another water and pour that into the reservoir and it didn't cloudy up.