So then what's the thinking on cleaning the airstones? I read somewhere to boil them? I read to throw them away and buy new ones every harvest ($5 a pop, run 2 per bucket at least). Hydro shop guys obviously say to buy new ones and replace all the air tubing as well. I just soaked them in a strong h2o2 solution for 30 minutes or so. No idea if this was the correct method. But if you are saying there is so much bacteria anyways regardless of how you clean it, does this apply to the airstones as well?
I just run my stones in the peroxide solution circulating in my system while cleaning it. I pull them all out and drop them into 1 site. They look good as new after the soak. I left some sitting in some water for a while once and they were absolutely disgusting, same h2o2 soak for a couple days cleaned them right up.
I usually run 2-3 day cleaning cycles. It cleans all my pipes out well and leaves all the gunk settled into the bottom of the sites for easy vacuuming out.
I guess the question remains if H2O2 is the most economical way of cleaning, but for most of us home growers we can afford to not do things that mass production economics requires.
Its not, but imo it takes less work for me than bleach would. I fill the system add h2o2, run for 2-3 days, drain and shop vac all the settled shit out, from here I feel comfortable filling it where as with bleach id be rinsing it further and maybe wiping buckets down.
If I run h2o2 right after im finished with the system, instead of waiting until the next time I need it to clean it, I dont have to any other wiping down or cleaning. I use iso to wipe down sites if the gunk sits and needs to be wiped off.
Bleach leaves bleach smell. If you can smell it, its still there somewhere. H2O2 and ISO alcohol dont leave any odor after a much shorter period than bleach. I take these precautions because I use beneficial bacteria and dont want to kill them.
If youre sterilizing with h2o2 or any type of chlorine, it doesnt really matter much.
