Smelly hydro water
- Thread starter stevew420
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ÑÏЫiмiиλ[Å]â¢
New Member
After some days the water starts smelling bad cause it is infected with bacteria. You should Replace the water and mix a solution of 15 parts water/1 part bleach to keep the bacteria of the plant. Did you put any nutes in it?
herbose
Well-Known Member
Definitely bacteria, hopefully it's beneficial bacteria. I don't leave it to chance, I add General Hydro Subculture. Provides good bacteria that help the roots absorb nutes while protecting against bad bacteria that will ruin your roots. At least that's what GH says. Good bacteria smells just as bad as bad bacteria though.
Hey SUB, I'm not sure that much chlorine is a good idea, pot doesn't like chlorine. Maybe if you flush with plain water for a day after the chlorine? What do you think?
Hey SUB, I'm not sure that much chlorine is a good idea, pot doesn't like chlorine. Maybe if you flush with plain water for a day after the chlorine? What do you think?
ÑÏЫiмiиλ[Å]â¢
New Member
Dont take a chance and kill the bacteria.
ÑÏЫiмiиλ[Å]â¢
New Member
Like i said.
dont take a chance and kill the bacteria.
If the water smells i would say its bad.
dont take a chance and kill the bacteria.
If the water smells i would say its bad.
stevew420
Active Member
ya it might be good,i did everything to the T.
how could i tell if its good or bad?
my plants look great with lots of fresh green nodes.
i added a air pump to the res and upped the air flow.
i would think its good bacteria,i used hydroguard in my res also.
thanks for all the replies,keep'em in the air for me
how could i tell if its good or bad?
my plants look great with lots of fresh green nodes.
i added a air pump to the res and upped the air flow.
i would think its good bacteria,i used hydroguard in my res also.
thanks for all the replies,keep'em in the air for me
herbose
Well-Known Member
Good idea, and the plants like hydrogen peroxide (I think it increases oxygen in the water).
herbose
Well-Known Member
Check the roots occasionally, if they turn brown start to worry.
Dipsomaniac420
Well-Known Member
Stevew420, are you still having problems with smelly reservoir water?
First...if your reservoir smells unpleasant to you, then you might have Anaerobic bacteria which are the bad type (for the most part). Aerobic bacteria, the good guys, enjoy highly oxygenated water. So, my first easy suggestion would be to add more oxygen to your reservoir. (btw- 1watt/gallon is my minimum recommendation for an air pump.) The beneficial bacteria, the aerobic guys, usually make your reservoir smell like compost tea or kinda earthy, but not sour or rotting...if you ever smell something rotting, get rid of it, that's a sign of anaerobic bacteria.
What sort of additives do you put in? Any sort of 'zymes? Items like Hygrozyme break down organic material into stuff that the bacteria can eat. While the bacteria do this on their own, the 'zymes speed this process up. Zymes are great so as long as you don't have the bad bacteria thriving off of the food they produce, naturally you would want beneficials to be eating the food you're producing for them since they eat the same foods as the bad bacteria. In sum, on the 'zymes, you'll want want to avoid using them until you know for sure that you don't have bad bacteria in your reservoir.
Are you knowingly adding any beneficial bacteria like sub culture b/m, aqua shield, or rhizotonic? Sub Cultures b/m and Aquashield go very well together to create a diverse set of beneficial bacteria. I actually have been brewing my own tea for some time now. This is one of the best posts in the entire Rollitup.org forum, it may take you an hour but if you read the whole thing I'm confident the solution to your problem is in there. Most everything I'm saying will go along with what's in that post.
But really you have two options as to what you can do...you can either attempt to go for the sterilization route, which entails the thorough cleaning and a crossing of the fingers while you hope you killed all the living bacteria, fungi, virii, etc etc. That's your first option...I did attempt this strategy that for a long time, spent a lot of money on H202, 91% isopropyl, bleach, Physan 20, etc etc.
I currently use the tea concept now of breeding my own beneficials. In this approach, you still want to do your best to sterilize everything. I use a combination of a strong h202+Physan 20 solution and soak stuff for 24 hours if possible including all pumps, airstones, tubing, spray heads and any non-scientific testing equipment. After you feel confident everything is sterile, be sure to rinse thoroughly too...any residual Physan 20 or whatever you decide to use could keep the benies from thriving.
First...if your reservoir smells unpleasant to you, then you might have Anaerobic bacteria which are the bad type (for the most part). Aerobic bacteria, the good guys, enjoy highly oxygenated water. So, my first easy suggestion would be to add more oxygen to your reservoir. (btw- 1watt/gallon is my minimum recommendation for an air pump.) The beneficial bacteria, the aerobic guys, usually make your reservoir smell like compost tea or kinda earthy, but not sour or rotting...if you ever smell something rotting, get rid of it, that's a sign of anaerobic bacteria.
What sort of additives do you put in? Any sort of 'zymes? Items like Hygrozyme break down organic material into stuff that the bacteria can eat. While the bacteria do this on their own, the 'zymes speed this process up. Zymes are great so as long as you don't have the bad bacteria thriving off of the food they produce, naturally you would want beneficials to be eating the food you're producing for them since they eat the same foods as the bad bacteria. In sum, on the 'zymes, you'll want want to avoid using them until you know for sure that you don't have bad bacteria in your reservoir.
Are you knowingly adding any beneficial bacteria like sub culture b/m, aqua shield, or rhizotonic? Sub Cultures b/m and Aquashield go very well together to create a diverse set of beneficial bacteria. I actually have been brewing my own tea for some time now. This is one of the best posts in the entire Rollitup.org forum, it may take you an hour but if you read the whole thing I'm confident the solution to your problem is in there. Most everything I'm saying will go along with what's in that post.
But really you have two options as to what you can do...you can either attempt to go for the sterilization route, which entails the thorough cleaning and a crossing of the fingers while you hope you killed all the living bacteria, fungi, virii, etc etc. That's your first option...I did attempt this strategy that for a long time, spent a lot of money on H202, 91% isopropyl, bleach, Physan 20, etc etc.
I currently use the tea concept now of breeding my own beneficials. In this approach, you still want to do your best to sterilize everything. I use a combination of a strong h202+Physan 20 solution and soak stuff for 24 hours if possible including all pumps, airstones, tubing, spray heads and any non-scientific testing equipment. After you feel confident everything is sterile, be sure to rinse thoroughly too...any residual Physan 20 or whatever you decide to use could keep the benies from thriving.