Well i think i figured out the problem. When i changed my water i didnt let it sit out and the ph got up pretty high. I lowered the ph and my roots are already lookin much better. Since there so deep in the water already i also decided to remove the sprinkler system. Do you think thats a good idea? Also as far as lowering the temp, im gonna put a fan in the room today and see if that does the trick.
Dood, the root in picture 3 looks like it is developing root
ROT. Has your plant started looking droopy like it has been over or underwatered? It looks like your roots were suspended in unoxygenated nutrient solution, and could not get sufficient oxygen so they have started to decompose (ROT). Think about it, would you be able to breathe if your head was dunked underwater? I think I mentioned the possibility of root rot in my last post to make sure your roots aren't suspended in oxygenated water. It looks like the top 80% of the root system is healthy and doing good, so it shouldn't be too severe. You'll need to pull off/cut off the bottom 20% of the root structure that has all the slimy looking roots that are growing into your water at the bottom of your resovoir. Root systems are prunable, so hack away if you have to;
You just need to get that water
highly highly highly oxygenated if roots are expected to be growing in the water. This can be solved with an inexpensive AIR PUMP & AIR STONE. It's simple, the airstone sits at the bottom of the res and bubbles air up to the surface to oxygenate the water.
Also it's very important that you don't let your water temps reach above 75 degrees. Colder water retains more oxygen and reduces the rate at which harmful bacteria could grow. So if you can't keep your temps below 75, I would highly recommend changing the resovoir more frequent (like every 4-5 days at least).
Also, I would highly recommend cleansing your resovoir with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide and running it through your system at diluted levels on a regular routine. Peroxide can be bought in higher concentrations at most cooking supply stores, or janitorial supply store. I use 7ML (1.2 TSP) of 17.5% peroxide per gallon of water. The stuff you get at the pharmacy is like 2-3% peroxide, which would require lower dillution to be effective. Peroxide is known for oxygenating the root structure as well.
Anyway DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR SPRINKLER, it's supposed to be ran 24/7 constantly or on a cycle timer (1 min on 4 min off). What do you think would happen to all those nice white roots if you turned off your sprinkler? Would they dry up? If they dried up, would conditions be different? If conditions change would the plants take time to adjust? I hope you get everything taken care of good luck.