Cleaning Hydroton
- Thread starter Quemado
- Start date
Dr. VonDank
Active Member
Wash with enzyme and let sit three days then wash with H2o2 soulution/ then rinse plain ph'd water/---reuse...
morrisgreenberg
Well-Known Member
get cheap rubbermade tub and drill holes in it, this way you can clean the hole thing at once, expect to rinse heavily, i also spray with h202, and i dont reuse, its not worth the trouble with left over dead smushy pieces of roots, even if enzymes are used
tat2ue
Well-Known Member
I have been using the same 2 x 50 liter bags of Hydroton for the last 2 years when i switched from soil to hydro. I normally have to wash and sanitize 40 liters a month from my perpetual grow. I clean mine by pre soaking for a day or two in Florakleen and a mild bleach mixture and then tumble and rince them in a portable cement mixerI got at home depot
Attachments
tat2ue
Well-Known Member
I believe that hydroton is ph neutral unlike rockwool. When I wash and rince mine, I just reuse after they are rinsed out. I have never had a problem from reusing them.
From what others have told me its not ph nuetral. Am i right or wrong?
laserbrn
Well-Known Member
Anything works really for cleaning the hydroton. I personally like to use smaller containers for cleaning because of my situation, but I have cleaned 2 big ass bags at once before. You are in for a real treat...it's a big ol' PITA. I used a plastic rubbermaid type trash can.
I drilled 5 or 6 LARGE holes in it. Probably good 2" or 3" holes and put some mesh wire at the bottom. I bought some mesh small mesh wire and cut a perfect circle the size of the trash can and just forced it into the bottom. I put trash can up on a couple of bricks and let the hose run through that shit for about 30 minutes. You'll know when you aren't cleaning the dust out anymore, the water runs clear.
You definitely need to soak the hydroton in ph 5.5 water and try to bring it down a bit, or you'll be fighting it all through your grow. I reuse some of my hyroton and replace it as needed. All of the hydroton that's all caught up in the main rootballs I throw away with the plants. I rinse and clean what's left and start a new. I have 50 gallon reservoirs that now just sit full of hydroton cleaned and ready to use. When I'm done with a plant I will immediately take the plant out, rinse out the hydroton in the pot it was in previously and dump that into the reservoir that's full of hydroton. When I need some, I grab it right out there and it's ready to roll.
I drilled 5 or 6 LARGE holes in it. Probably good 2" or 3" holes and put some mesh wire at the bottom. I bought some mesh small mesh wire and cut a perfect circle the size of the trash can and just forced it into the bottom. I put trash can up on a couple of bricks and let the hose run through that shit for about 30 minutes. You'll know when you aren't cleaning the dust out anymore, the water runs clear.
You definitely need to soak the hydroton in ph 5.5 water and try to bring it down a bit, or you'll be fighting it all through your grow. I reuse some of my hyroton and replace it as needed. All of the hydroton that's all caught up in the main rootballs I throw away with the plants. I rinse and clean what's left and start a new. I have 50 gallon reservoirs that now just sit full of hydroton cleaned and ready to use. When I'm done with a plant I will immediately take the plant out, rinse out the hydroton in the pot it was in previously and dump that into the reservoir that's full of hydroton. When I need some, I grab it right out there and it's ready to roll.
tat2ue
Well-Known Member
I did something similar..I took a rubbermaid tote (50 liter) and cut out a hole on the end of the tote at the bottom big enough to put in a 3" net pot from the inside. When I get done running my hydroton thru the mixer, I dump them into this tote. The dirty water drains out thru the net pot and I rinse and repeatas many times as it takes.