Strange Slime buildup on roots

[Getawaymonkey!]

ANy updates on the control of this shit with ZONE?..
Still working..???
Not working???

 

[jarff]

as a side note:I just finished a show and for the first time in two yrs I never had any root rot(DWC)...I did nothing special except wash everything with Physan20 prior to planting.I guess all my problems were associated with the Grozyme and Floralicious,and a few other additives.Just three part GH,with some Bud Blossom at week three and Kool Bloom last three weeks.I do believe that the Physan helped kill any shite I mighta had .Had a quick strain this time at 48 days.
I just got things working good and had to tear down my room due to the extra pressure being put onto Cdn growers by the new rules of the Gov,t. I know at least a dozen ppl. who have been busted in the past thre months. We had it good for yrs until the goon squad kicks your door in with little or no evidence of what a guy is doing in his basement....seems a new street crime unit has been budgeted to crack down on all the hard drugs,but they seem to be hitting the growers heavier then the crack pushers.Oh well summer, here and I can put some plants in the woods.

good luck all with the slime...hope you can get a handle on it..It,s a nightmare
peace out
jarff

 

[Cranberry]

microbe lift pl or ensure from your pond store has been working great for me, but stick to the basics and leave the additives for non bio systems.

 

[Capn]

Dutch Mater Zone worked for me. I cleaned all equip with a slight bleach solution and then applied DMZ at the recommended dosage and haven't had any probs with the brown algae yet. My res temps are pretty high too, 78F usually.

 

[Getawaymonkey!]

Well. My battle with the slime ended before I even got the Physan or the ZONE.
Good thing its the summertime

 

[richyrich]

I'm back and I have the itch for hydro again. I knew I couldn't stay away for too long. Growing in soil gave me a good basic understanding of the plant and, also, the importance of maintaining a microherd in the soil. I never grew in soil and hopscotched right past all of that basic information.

I ain't going all hydro, but I am going to dedicate one part of my bloom room to a flood and drain. I am going to do something that I first did when I barely began growing. I never changed out the resevoir. I just did add backs and I grew some of the best plants back then. Then I got all into it and couldn't leave good enough alone. Went kind of OCD on it instead of keeping it KISS. I want to find out what will happen if I maintain a resevoir full of heavy beneficial microbes through out. I am not going the sterile route on this one. And the reason why I am not changing the rez is because I don't want to kill the colony of benes that will be in the rez. If I changed rez's every week like before I wouldn't be able to establish a very large ever growing colony as in not changing the rez. I theorize that the colony will get bigger and bigger and out compete any of the nasties from getting started including the hydro herpe. So, I want to see if this little experiment works. I think my thoughts ride along very similar to the bio buckets.

Going to see what happens. They will start veg in a couple of weeks. I'll update.

 

[jarff]

Good to see you back RR ...good luck with your idea of not changin,the res.Somtimes the simlest things do work..
I been doing soil mostly last while,but goin,back to dwc soon...I AM not going to use any Grozyme...It is / was poison in MHO.....Haven,t had a problem since I stopped usin,it along with a few other adds....
I,m stickin,with GH three part with some powdered Kool Bloom at the end.
Also switched to some electronic ballasts n,cause of the pretty purple color lol...also the weight and heat factor..The 600 electronic just don,t compare to the 1K magnetic tho,but they are cheap and a full three yr.warranty..I am still usin, some magnetic K also...Just change the ballasts every three shows and they work great,..... use good bulbs in them too.I can get raw 1K for $85 .( af started a small hydro shop and I am getting 10% above cost..
NE how keep us up to date....hope you are successful....
good luck
jarff

 

[Chaghatai]

One of us needs to look at a sample of slime under a microscope. The brown scuzz on res walls, brown and/or slimy roots and the light-colored gel stuff that suffocates clones and very young plants. Then we can positivly identify whatever it is that is plaguing us once and for all. I'm gonna have to check craigslist.

edit: looks like 1000X or greater is nessessary to identify some bacteria. Fungus and cyanobacteria can be identified at 400-600X. Diatoms can be identified with less than 100X.

 

[GET MO]

So, whats the best solution for gettin rid of this stuff? Does the fishtank stuff work from walmart?

 

[GET MO]

Heres a pic:

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Yep, thats the dreaded brown algae. Looks pretty bad already too. The best suggestions to fix it are either Physan 20 or Zone (Dutch Master? Maybe AN. Cant remember who makes it). A big dose of H2O2 will help slow it down until you can get one of those products. Resolve it asap or your clones will die from root strangulation.

 

[richyrich]

That be it. Anytime I used an EZ cloner that is what I got. And anytime they even looked like that they would not come back. I tried it all. I hope you the best, but they will most likely die. And if not you are going to infect the hydro system they will go into next.

Zone is made by Dutch Master. It's the best product that I tried that contains the algae. It will still be around just waiting to attack, though. It's the herpe of hydro. It will pop up when you least expect it and it never goes away completely. Battled it for years.

 

[Doug_Marsh]

This is my first hydro run and I am about 2 weeks from clone in a 7 gallon rubber maid with 3 clones. I got the root herp and was wondering is 77 to high of temps for the water? Would cinnamon powder work? I am going to change the res and add some h202 tonight.
For nutes I am using pbp grow and LK, as well and sensizym at about 600ppm and 5.8 ph. I was using gramas but I thought that was the problem at first so I did a rez change.

 

[CrystalsCrystal]

The CURE for root ALGAE SLIME

The CURE for root ALGAE SLIME

Take a lightproof/black 2.5 or 5 gallon GrowBag like the ones soil growers use and hydroponic stores sell and SLIP-IT-UNDER your netcup. This will protect your roots from light exposure and the ALGAE will start to die off imidietly and new growth will spurt out overnight.


Note* Since there are holes at the bottom of each grow bag, tie the bag off above the holes with aquarium hose or plastic pullties. Also your surrounding resevoir will still grow algae that will eat up ur nutes. I just suggest growing organic in soil =)

Light is a sneaky creature that will find its way into most hydro systems, for the lucky ones in nor cal this isnt for you.. but for so cal suburbanites, algae will grow wherevr light hits ur system. check your system for light leaks via algae growth. Don't use any sketchy hydro-organic product that says it will put slime in ur system for you.. goodluck.

 

[Hempster]

Brown algae? Really?

Brown algae? Really?

Hey all, I'm no expert...but I'm wondering why everyone thinks it's brown algae. AFAIK, brown algae isn't a slime like green algae, but is more like a plant. Plain old kelp is an example of brown algae, as are most seaweeds. Brown algae is mostly marine seaweeds (salt), with a few living in fresh water. All of the different kinds of algae need to do photosynthesis, and most people don't have much light at all in their root zones. If you did, you would see your roots turning green. If you had light getting in the root zone, wouldn't you be seeing common green slime algae some of the time, if not most of the time, rather than some unknown brown algae? I didn't have time to read all the posts in the thread so maybe I'm missing something, and maybe you know something I don't . If it's a bad case of the usual root rot, what is that? Bacteria? or fungus ? H2O2 has always worked well for me. An article I read said to use 11ml per gallon of 3% when starting a nutrient batch, and then add a quarter that much every day after. The article was on something called Quickgrow South, or something like that. I usually add it in the evening because roots use oxygen at night, I'm told, for growth. I also use more than the quarter amount for the daily re-up, because I'm using an air pump and stones, and I figure I'm using up the h2o2 faster that way (you're supposed to keep the lid on tight or it gets weak, so I figure aerating makes it go even faster). It has definitely taken roots from brown and rotting to new, white, and bushy for me. Anyway, please let me know if I'm missing something. Any microbiologists on here? This forum is awesome! It's helped me so much. Thanks,
Hempster

 

[Hempster]

I've been doing a little more reading, and it seems that pythium root rot doesn't cause the slime you've all been talking about, but just dead brown wilted roots. I guess you already knew that, but check this link:
http://www.gchydro.com/information_roots.asp
They don't go into which specific bacteria are involved, but it seems like they're talking about your exact problem. I don't think they're talking about cyanobacteria, or other photosynthetic organisms. Some of those marine algae are seriously toxic. I go the sterile route, with h2o2 and GH nutes, but am tempted to try the biological way one of these batches, and hope I don't get the slime! Gotta keep the fungus gnats away from the start (they carry pythium and other nasties), and keep any dirt away so the beneficials get a head start. But maybe, considering your experience, I shouldn't even try it. I get awesome giant buds, too big for some peoples' taste. Got almost four pounds from 24 buckets in an ebb&gro, laid out in four rows of six, about 4ft by 9ft under three 600w lamps in a 7ft by 12ft room. That seemed pretty good to me, but I'm new at this.
Hempster

 

[richyrich]

"Bacteria slime and cloudy reservoirs
Bacteria can make the water cloudy, but tend to produce more of a slime or jellylike, smelly mass in the system.If you have it, you will notice slimy reservoir walls and perhaps an oily slick on the water. Another symptom can be a foamy buildup in the reservoir. If left to their own devices, these bacterial growths will smother the roots, depriving them of oxygen. Some species of anaerobic bacteria thrive in an environment deprived of oxygen and can produce chemical metabolites, such as alcohols, aldehydes, phenols and ethylene, that are toxic to plant roots and to other microorganisms.

Other symptoms of bacterial infections can be fuzzy, cotton like growths, or the growth of fur. Just in case you are wondering, that white fuzzy growth you see at the tip of your roots is desireable. That is not bacteria - That is the good stuff - you should see tiny fine white hairs at thje roots.

All of these nasties require organic matter to feed on. They may be there as the result of a buildup of dead roots and leaves in the root zone, but usually they are the result of adding an organic product to the reservoir. If the conditions are just right, the bacteria will begin to thrive.

One option is to use no organic additives at all and to rely strictly on chemical nutrients based on fertilizer salts. We think a better choice is to continue using organic material, but also using an enzymatic addtive like Hygrozyme that will break down the unwanted organic matter in the reservoir . If you would like to use additives such as bat guano, compost or fish-based products, you might consider run to waste instead of a recirculating system."

This would be the closest thing that describes it. I have tried everything to battle it including everything suggested. Hygrozyme actually made it worse as it broke down old material and fed the nasties even faster which made them explode in growth. The one thing right on is organic material seems to be food for them. I have done sterile, straight salt ferts, chillers, new equipment, every product on the shelf; beneficials to combat it; you name it I did it.

You may want to research into fish aquariums. A lot of info on all the several types of algae. Even ones that don't require any light if any, such as brown slime algae. Once you have it it does not go away. That is why it is the hydro herpe.

That read is from Green Coast. I buy my supplies there and have talked about this problem plenty with them. I just went to dirt instead and no more of it.

 

[CrystalsCrystal]

HOW TO RID OF ALGAE

1) TAKE 2.5 GALLON BLACK PLASTIC GROW BAG

2) PLACE UNDERNEATH NETPOT

3) ROOTS ARE NO LONGER EXPOSED TO LIGHT CAUSING THE ALGAE ON THEM TO DIE... YOU ARE NOW ALGAE FREE

-CRYSTAL

 

[richyrich]

You may want to research into fish aquariums. A lot of info on all the several types of algae. Even ones that don't require any light if any, such as brown algae.

Case in point: This stuff will grow in an EZ cloner that is black and covered from all light. There are no roots to grow on because I have had it grow right on the bottom of the cutting stumps. Read this entire thread you will see people with the same. It wasn't the heat because I plumbed a water chiller to one at 67F and it still grew. I, also, did complete sterile runs with it with H2O2. It still grew rampantly. It's not root rot because there were no roots. Same thing with the generic term pythium, there were no roots.

 

[richyrich]

Started reading things like the following. Aquariums...

View Full Version : Brown Slime / "Snot" Algae
Tech Support JR
11-30-2006, 15:17
I'm posting this given the importance of the information in hopes that should someone else have this trouble it will show up on an Internet search. This is an individual who e-mailed Seachem with regard to his experiences with this algae:

comments: Dear Seachem,

I thought you might be interested in hearing a story about my experience with a dreaded and tenacious form of algae/cyanobacteria commonly known as Brown Slime or "Snot" algae, and how it finally wound up being cured by one of your products. It seems that most people (and most pet shops) have never had the misfortune of encountering this stuff, which starts out as a brown dusting on the substrate, rocks, glass, etc, growing like crazy literally overnight, and developing a lot of air bubbles within it. It grows into long, filamentous form, filled with air bubbles, but lacks true hairlike structure or definition. In a matter of a few days to a week it can completely overrun a reef tank. It came out of nowhere in my tank, likely brought in on a piece of live rock, and I fought and fought to try to erradicate it (or at least control it) for the better part of a year. All the while, Phosphates and Nitrates read zero, and I tried to keep the tank very clean, limiting feeding, etc. But I still literally had to scrub all of the glass, rocks, etc. every single day, sometimes more than once, just to keep up with this horrid stuff. I have an external overflow on my tank, and the air bubbles from the brown slime algae would find their way up into the siphon tubes, causing the outflow to the sump to slow down, (and hence the water in the tank to rise). I had to siphon the air out of the tubes at least every 2 or 3 days to avert a disaster, and one morning I awoke to find the tank overflowing onto the floor because of this problem. The cyano finally choked out and killed all of my corals, and turned my 75 gallon reef tank into one big swamp.

Asking advice from various pet stores specializing in reef life (as far away as 180 miles), I tried tearing the entire tank down, scrubbing the rocks, rinsing the aragonite, and cleaning all of the equipment. A few days after I set it all back up again, the slime returned. I added a small army of various types of snails and hermit crabs, a stafish, etc. Even they couldn't keep up with the goo. I next was advised to use Erythromycin. This seemed to slow it down, but after the 4-day treatment, it returned with a vengeance. The pet store next advised to try doubling the Erythromycin dose, and to use it for 5 days. It still didn't phase the stuff. A really large reef store 180 miles away in Washington, DC told me that I should just bleach everything and start over! Several sources, both pet stores and online experts said that what I needed was a refugium with macroalgae, to outcompete the cyano/algae for the nutrients in the water, to control the source of the problem. I built one, stocked it with Chaetomorpha, and put it on RDP lighting. This did bring the brown slime more or less under control, but still did not completely irradicate it. It still would grow in places that the snails could not get to, (such as inside the aforementioned overflow boxes). Somewhere during all of this mess I also had a heater malfunction on me, and woke up one morning to find the water in my tank at 90 degrees F, which stressed my fish and caused an outbreak of cryptocaryon. I did Freshwater dips on all of the fish, treated them for 2 weeks (in a quarantine tank) with copper, and did a 6 week fallow period on the main tank, with no fish in it. During that time, sans fish, the brown slime algae remained mostly under control, but was still there. When I returned the fish to the tank following the 6 week fallow period, I thought that maybe I'd go ahead and run a canister filter with Seachem's Cuprisorb in it, just to be on the safe side - to be sure that the fish didn't bring any trace of copper back into the system with them. Within a week, two very notable things happened. My chaetomorpha macroalgae suddenly started to die off, and the tenacious-as-hell brown slime algae just up and vanished, gone without a trace. It took me almost a week of desperately trying this and that to save my Chaetomorpha, (thinking that its dying off had something to do with the fish coming back into the system), before it dawned on me that all of this had happened after I'd started to run the canister filter with the Cuprisorb in it. (I'd forgotten to order a micron bag to put the cuprisorb in, and had taken an old white handkerchief and sewn it into a small "sock", which I then put the Cuprisorb into)! I did some searching on the internet, and found on Seachem's FAQ page that the Cuprisorb, in addition to removing copper and heavy metals from the water, will also remove IRON and manganese! I bought a bottle of iron supplement, added a few small doses, and my Chaetomorpha sprang back to life. I'd just recently talked to the owner of a local pet store who said he had the same brown slime algae problem in his own reef tank at home, and hadn't been able to find a solution to it. After making my discovery, I ran down to his shop and told him I'd found a simple cure to the problem: Seachem Cuprisorb, in an old handkerchief in a canister filter for a week or so! The brown slime/snot algae is obviously dependent on iron for its growth, and taking the iron out of the water kills it quickly! Afterward, it's a simple matter to add a little iron back into the tank, to support any macroalgae that might be in the refugium. I have since also phoned the "experts" in the Richmond, VA store, (who'd first advised using the Erythromycin, and then later suggested the refugium), and broke the news to them. They seemed to be extremely interested.

So the story definitely has a happy ending, and I hope to share this discovery with other reefkeepers with brown slime/snot algae problems in the future. Thank you Seachem! Your Cuprisorb has literally saved a reef!