Not sure what happen but I had to make a new batch since I ran out so I clean my rez and added fresh nutes and PH'd tap water I also started a new brew to add as soon as it was finished. After a day I added a cup because I didn't want to run nothing at all then after 48 hrs I added another 2 cups. I check on them this morning and the brown slime blew up over night even with the tea.
Only thing I can think...maybe the tap water contains chloramine which will not evaporate out if I let water sit so the brew did bread any bennies. What do you all think....also maybe the brew temp was a little too cold mid 60's i I had to guess. Any ideas...anyway I had to completely clean the rez again and my roots are back to looking pathetic. How do you do rez maintenance with bennies. Do you clean and completely change the water every 7 days or do you do keep some of the water and top of with fresh?
This brown slime sure is a pain in the ass!!!
Mid 60's is pretty cold to brew a tea, but shouldn't make it completely ineffective. We have seen several reports of the tea being retarded when used with chillers and brewed in the cold. Afterall, the whole idea of chillers is to discourage micro life. I suggest trying to brew the tea at room temp and try again. Typical level of chloramine will not have a serious effect on your microlife if you use it to top off your res, however it is a good idea to brew the initial tea with pure water, especially if you are making small amounts. Get a couple gallons of from the store for the initial brew.
When I change my buckets I just throw in a hydro pump and empty all but about an inch. I then add a could more gallons to flush things out, pump that out, and then just refill. I inoculate the new water with tea after a few hours.
Someone also asked about the effects of adding too much tea. It is really hard to overdo it with this tea. If your tea is brewed correctly then all the molasses and other food should already be consumed. It is likely though that in our brews there are still some sugars left to consume at 48 hours. So if you add too much of these unconsumed sugars you could get a biofilm buildup as it gets consumed. Early on several people reported getting a slime like covering from using too much fungi, particularly sub-m from GH, but this slime seemed to have no negative effect at all and eventually cleared up. I have never had this happen to me. In short, you should have very little fear of adding too much tea, but don't over due it on purpose.