Hi Heisenberg
First grow in DWC . Been fighting brown algea since 30th day of veg. Ph was rising from 5.5 to 7 in less than 5h. Plants ended up with brown slime on roots and pythium did manage to set it. ( Was using Hygrozyme at that time stopped using it after)
Following your directions ( physan then tea ) I was able to save my grow but ever since my plants have been infected ( lightly brownish roots) and its like if it was kept in control but just waiting to surge again. T
The roots in the water have always been pearly white but the roots in the airgap always stayed light brown until 3 weeks ago (brown stuff growing on roots ONLY in the air gap).
The problem I have now is that the tea i make doesnt seem to work. I noticed 3 things that were different in my 4 last batches of tea. No foam , weird sweet smell and the last batch had white slime covering the pantyhose with the ewc ???? Have you ever had this problem??
Im now 2 weeks from harvest ( wont be a big one but better than nothin...)
I also tried those new batches of tea in my ebb and gro to prevent problems. Ph was stable but the smell was really bad after 2 days and there was white slime covering the inside of the res.
My ingredients are the same except i had to buy a new bag of EWC. Tea is made with RO water / Subculture B / ZHO / EWC / Fancy Molasse ( couldnt find unsulphered but worked with same in the past ...)
Slightly different conditions can make a difference in which microbes dominate your tea. These may not even be conditions you and I are aware of or able to influence. In most batches of tea my air stones come out perfectly clean looking, while sometimes they are coated in a thick bioslime like you describe. I have moved these gunky slimy air stones into my DWC buckets after brewing with no ill harm. So long as the tea smells earthy/shroomy/mossy, or like bark it's fine.
If tea smells bad, even slightly like sweat, socks, rotting food, stagnate dish water, ect, something went wrong. The most likely cause is under aeration. Do you start with clean air stones each time? Is your air pump in good condition? If you are using a cheap walmart-type pump one isn't enough. I use four dual outlet pumps for two gallons of tea. You can also outstrip the oxygen by adding too much molasses initially, which causes an explosion of micro-life beyond what the water can support.
My questions to make it simple:
1) Ever had rot only in air gap??
2) Ever had similar results when making tea?
3) Ever had really bad smelling res after adding tea?
I have never heard of roots browning above the water line while looking clean below it. I can not think of a situation which would cause this, provided they are not simply drying out.
I occasionally have excessive gunk in my tea and it doesn't seem to hurt anything so long as it doesn't smell bad. Try making a batch without the EWC as that is the only thing you have changed recently.
I did have one bucket which developed an odor even after I added tea, but this was due to advanced root rot. The tea itself should never cause your res to smell.
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update here! Finally got all of my ingredients for the tea. ZHO, aquashield and ancient forest! I have been brewing for 24hrs so far. Of my 2 plants the one with the most established roots has been doing fine even after the res change. The other has new roots and starting to get a little brownish/blackish in some spots. I have realized that i used tap water that has been open to air for 6 days to get rid of the clorine, but just read my water report and it says there is cloramine used in it. is it okay to use this water in the tea? If not, can i use purified water? And can i use any of the ingredients in the res to help with the slime until i brew another batch? Thanks to all!