Help/Advice Needed Please

Hello all, I’ll get straight to it.

ISSUE: Grey Roots (above water line only)

Setup:
-DWC 120L Coleman Cooler (filled with 30 gallons of RO water)

-3” net pots

-160L/min of air pumps. 3 active aqua pumps. With 8 air stones and 2 air discs.

-Bluelab Guardian PH, PPM, Temp

-TrolMaster Temp, Humidity, VPD

-12k BTU AC

-450cfm CanFan/filter exhaust

-5x5 Gorilla tent

-Growers Choice ROI720 LED Light

-Scrog net

Nutrients:

-Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow A&B
-Bonticare Cal-Mag
-PH down & Up
- I added Roots Excel at 1/10 the recommended dosage.

Data:

Ambient Temperature: 75-78f
Relative Humidity: 30-50%
PPM: Currently 300ppm
PH: 5.6-6.2
Co2: 800ppms


History:

6 clones in 3” netpots in a 30 gallon res. Water level is 1-2” below the net pots.
Water temperature never goes above 69f
Foil tape was used to cover anywhere light could potentially leak.

At first everything was going smooth. While waiting for the roots to reach the water, the ph was rising daily and needed to be adjusted once every 24hours to keep it within 5.6-6.2.

2 of the 6 plants rooted within the first 2 days and took off like rockets. Nice green leaves, roots doubling in size daily. Only issue at this time was purple stems.

Also at this time, the ppm were not rising or falling, so I did not want to up the nutrients.

After a week all plants had rooted besides one. But I still was having to lower the PH daily. So I changed out the res, cleaning with h202 and refilled with slighted lower ppm of 150ppm consisting of Sensi grow A&B, and Calmag only.

By week 2 all the clones had rooted. The one that was behind still failed to grow. While most of the others were coming alone great.

The PH become stable by week 2, and the PPM began to drop. So I upped the PPMs to 300ppms.

I lowered the water level to about 2-4” below the net pots. However, I read that may not be needed and I noticed some browning above the water line.

So I raised back up the water level to about 1” below the netpots. I also added 1ml per gallon of h202

Water temp 65f
PPMs 300
PH 5.9

I come to check on them after 24 hours, and the roots are GREY. No brown or black, they are grey. They are also only discoloring above the water line.

The roots seem to have gone from a nice stringy white, to clumped up Grey. It’s not slimy, it’s actually hard to remove the grey matter. The roots have appeared to of surrounded this material.

What could this possibly be? I thought I had everything dialed in?

Plants also look to be suffering since the Grey roots. Wilted leaves, odd rust spots.

A few leaves initially died, and I thought that was due to the roots establishing themselves. But most of the roots look fully established now, and its seems to be getting worse rather than better.


Please help, let me know if you need any other info.

More current photos of plants, I suspected some of the issues were taking place when clones were rooting, maybe I was wrong

Photos from 24 hrs before noticing issues

Roots throughout the first 2 weeks

does AN sensi grow have organic stuff in it? and what is in roots excel?

rkymtnman said:

does AN sensi grow have organic stuff in it? and what is in roots excel?

Click to expand...

My apologies, it’s Rapid Start.

I’ve just got off the phone with AN. They said of course there is organics. They started rambling off the chelates, N, P, K. Ext... can someone chime in on the AN Sensi line, I was under the impression I was using synthetic nutrients. As I was trying to run a sterile system.

I’ve run Sensi line before and had great results with nearly the same setup.

Keep in mind, this is a brand new setup. Everything 100% brand new and sterilized with h202 solution before introducing the clones.

Additionally you can see in these photos, during the first 2 weeks, that there was a brown/reddish ring above the water line.

Once I raised the water level from 2-4” below the net pot to 1” below the net pot, that ring seemed to disappear.

I attributed this to the color of the nutrients, and the plants still footing so not taking up much of anything.

so the pix that you took 24hr prior, i see some nutrient issues in them for sure.

but you have to fix roots first or you'll never get it right up top.

can you get different nutes quickly? if yo u like AN, get their 3 part . if not, GH 3 part?? i use organics in hyrdo but it took me a few years to get to this point. start with pure synthetix

i would make a separate bucket with water and h202 and take each net pot out and dunk it in that bucked like 5 times. kill any rot issues you got up by the stem/netpot.

Maybe light is getting in through the opening at the stem of the net pots ? As you can see, there is a slightly opening.

If light gets to the base of the stem / Rockwool slightly, could this cause issues?

OhmBuddha said:

As you can see, there is a slightly opening.

Click to expand...

that should not be a problem at all. i have about a 2 inch by 2 inch opening in my covers. it will get a bit of algae (green stuff) on the hydroton but not much.

like i said, fix your roots first.

OhmBuddha said:

Hello all, I’ll get straight to it.

ISSUE: Grey Roots (above water line only)

Setup:
-DWC 120L Coleman Cooler (filled with 30 gallons of RO water)

-3” net pots

-160L/min of air pumps. 3 active aqua pumps. With 8 air stones and 2 air discs.

-Bluelab Guardian PH, PPM, Temp

-TrolMaster Temp, Humidity, VPD

-12k BTU AC

-450cfm CanFan/filter exhaust

-5x5 Gorilla tent

-Growers Choice ROI720 LED Light

-Scrog net

Nutrients:

-Advanced Nutrients Sensi Grow A&B
-Bonticare Cal-Mag
-PH down & Up
- I added Roots Excel at 1/10 the recommended dosage.

Data:

Ambient Temperature: 75-78f
Relative Humidity: 30-50%
PPM: Currently 300ppm
PH: 5.6-6.2
Co2: 800ppms


History:

6 clones in 3” netpots in a 30 gallon res. Water level is 1-2” below the net pots.
Water temperature never goes above 69f
Foil tape was used to cover anywhere light could potentially leak.

At first everything was going smooth. While waiting for the roots to reach the water, the ph was rising daily and needed to be adjusted once every 24hours to keep it within 5.6-6.2.

2 of the 6 plants rooted within the first 2 days and took off like rockets. Nice green leaves, roots doubling in size daily. Only issue at this time was purple stems.

Also at this time, the ppm were not rising or falling, so I did not want to up the nutrients.

After a week all plants had rooted besides one. But I still was having to lower the PH daily. So I changed out the res, cleaning with h202 and refilled with slighted lower ppm of 150ppm consisting of Sensi grow A&B, and Calmag only.

By week 2 all the clones had rooted. The one that was behind still failed to grow. While most of the others were coming alone great.

The PH become stable by week 2, and the PPM began to drop. So I upped the PPMs to 300ppms.

I lowered the water level to about 2-4” below the net pots. However, I read that may not be needed and I noticed some browning above the water line.

So I raised back up the water level to about 1” below the netpots. I also added 1ml per gallon of h202

Water temp 65f
PPMs 300
PH 5.9

I come to check on them after 24 hours, and the roots are GREY. No brown or black, they are grey. They are also only discoloring above the water line.

The roots seem to have gone from a nice stringy white, to clumped up Grey. It’s not slimy, it’s actually hard to remove the grey matter. The roots have appeared to of surrounded this material.

What could this possibly be? I thought I had everything dialed in?

Plants also look to be suffering since the Grey roots. Wilted leaves, odd rust spots.

A few leaves initially died, and I thought that was due to the roots establishing themselves. But most of the roots look fully established now, and its seems to be getting worse rather than better.


Please help, let me know if you need any other info.

Click to expand...

Root rot

rkymtnman said:

so the pix that you took 24hr prior, i see some nutrient issues in them for sure.

but you have to fix roots first or you'll never get it right up top.

can you get different nutes quickly? if yo u like AN, get their 3 part . if not, GH 3 part?? i use organics in hyrdo but it took me a few years to get to this point. start with pure synthetix

i would make a separate bucket with water and h202 and take each net pot out and dunk it in that bucked like 5 times. kill any rot issues you got up by the stem/netpot.

Click to expand...

I appreciate your help !!

I figured the deficiencies originated while to roots were still getting out of the net pots? Maybe not though.
The ppm hasn’t gone down more than 10ppm since I started. Majority of the time, it’s either staying the same, or rising by 10ppm.

The largest ph jump I had was from 150 down to 130ppm. That’s when I upped the ppms to 300. As I saw the deficiencies, and now the roots were better established.

Since the rise to 300ppm, it’s gone to 330 in 3 days

The PH is very stable as well. I PH down to 5.5 and it takes about 3-4 days before it’s back at 6.2.

I have the Lucus formula available as well.

I can do a Res change tonight, I’m just trying to figure out what exactly caused this

SavageBull said:

Root rot

Click to expand...

Looks like it. Any ideas on why this might of occurred here ?

Thank you

OhmBuddha said:

Looks like it. Any ideas on why this might of occurred here ?

Thank you

Click to expand...

Light has penetrated somehow need black buckets or totes as well as the air lines they should not be the clear ones.... light penetrates through clear tube heating up water same for clear or white buckets/totes.

SavageBull said:

Light has penetrated somehow need black buckets or totes as well as the air lines they should not be the clear ones.... light penetrates through clear tube heating up water same for clear or white buckets/totes.

Click to expand...

Is your pvc UV rated?

OhmBuddha said:

I appreciate your help !!

I figured the deficiencies originated while to roots were still getting out of the net pots? Maybe not though.
The ppm hasn’t gone down more than 10ppm since I started. Majority of the time, it’s either staying the same, or rising by 10ppm.

The largest ph jump I had was from 150 down to 130ppm. That’s when I upped the ppms to 300. As I saw the deficiencies, and now the roots were better established.

Since the rise to 300ppm, it’s gone to 330 in 3 days

The PH is very stable as well. I PH down to 5.5 and it takes about 3-4 days before it’s back at 6.2.

I have the Lucus formula available as well.

I can do a Res change tonight, I’m just trying to figure out what exactly caused this

Click to expand...

and stop the CO2 until you get this resolved. hard to say what caused it. but even in perfect conditions, you still have to worry about root rot.

here's my 3 suggestions for dwc: pH good, don't overfeed, don't get rot.

SavageBull said:

Light has penetrated somehow need black buckets or totes as well as the air lines they should not be the clear ones.... light penetrates through clear tube heating up water same for clear or white buckets/totes.

Click to expand...

I am using black tubing. The PVC is UV rated.

The water temps are monitored 24/7 and are never above 69f. Usually they are at 65-67F.

Coolers have foam insulation in between each side of the plastic. There is no light leaking through the cooler material.

Maybe the net pots though, I will cover up the stem tonight.

rkymtnman said:

and stop the CO2 until you get this resolved. hard to say what caused it. but even in perfect conditions, you still have to worry about root rot.

here's my 3 suggestions for dwc: pH good, don't overfeed, don't get rot.

Click to expand...

The c02 is natural. I can create more negative pressure with the exhaust to possibly lower the ppm? Can I ask why you recommend lower c02 levels currently ?

Thank you

OhmBuddha said:

The c02 is natural. I can create more negative pressure with the exhaust to possibly lower the ppm? Can I ask why you recommend lower c02 levels currently ?

Thank you

Click to expand...

not sure where you are but normal CO2 levels are 400ppm

That is what my TrolMaster Hydro X Controller and Sensors are reading. Anywhere from 400-900 ppm. It Fluctuates all day.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the sensors were not 100% accurate.

I was starting to think the same thing about my BlueLab Guardian. Maybe the temp reading is off, even though the water is freezing cold. I used another temp probe and got the same reading though.

AN support suggested that the Grey roots are from leaving the large air gap between water line and net cup .

He stared grey is not root rot, and that grey is some sort of mold.

Just sharing what the AN support said. Not that he as right or wrong.

However, I have always ran with a 2-4” (often even more) of an air gap, and have always had beautiful roots.

I’m thinking maybe the clones I got, had some sort of mold or bacteria inside the Rockwool cube ? But would this have taken 2.5 weeks to show itself ?