UPKEEPING MICROBES IN RDWC

[BDGrows]

Im running into the same issues as you fart. From my research, it seems if you add some kelp/seaweed additive, instead of sugar, and also back add in minute amounts; you can keep a colony alive and thriving without causing clogging issues. Ive also read that a majority of beneficial need a media to colonize around, such as hydroton/coco; so as long as your plant is "rooted" in such media, it can colonize successfully there. Whereas there are supposedly minute amounts of bacteria within the DWC reservoir (the water part). Not 100% sure on this, but it sounds logical.

- BD

 

[fartoblue]

Im running into the same issues as you fart. From my research, it seems if you add some kelp/seaweed additive, instead of sugar, and also back add in minute amounts; you can keep a colony alive and thriving without causing clogging issues. Ive also read that a majority of beneficial need a media to colonize around, such as hydroton/coco; so as long as your plant is "rooted" in such media, it can colonize successfully there. Whereas there are supposedly minute amounts of bacteria within the DWC reservoir (the water part). Not 100% sure on this, but it sounds logical.

- BD

I was thinking of some how incorporating some Biofoam eBay item number:142999428924 into the system to give the beneficials something to colonise into.

 

[BDGrows]

Out of curiosity, where would you put it? I assume the RDWC system your running is a DWC that feeds back into the main res then is pumped into the individual DWC systems again? If you're using net pots to hold your plants then youre most likely already using hydroton, Rockwool, or whatever to stabilize the plants in the pot; that should be good enough for a media for them to colonize on.

 

[Airwalker16]

All I can say is a chiller set at 67*F and using RO water with GH Flora Trio and Cali magic has led me to success every time. Root rot has never occurred.

 

[BDGrows]

All I can say is a chiller set at 67*F and using RO water with GH Flora Trio and Cali magic has led me to success every time. Root rot has never occurred.

I dont think OP is trying to prevent root rot, I think they're trying to have a "live" reservoir versus the standard sterile one. But yes, temp is key to preventing/stopping an overabundance of life from taking over your res. I run mine at 60 - 65 during late flower to envoke an anthocyanin response in my purple and blue strains. Chillers are super nice, but also super expensive...

- BD

 

[Airwalker16]

I dont think OP is trying to prevent root rot, I think they're trying to have a "live" reservoir versus the standard sterile one. But yes, temp is key to preventing/stopping an overabundance of life from taking over your res. I run mine at 60 - 65 during late flower to envoke an anthocyanin response in my purple and blue strains. Chillers are super nice, but also super expensive...

- BD

But they run forever

 

[BDGrows]

But they run forever

if you don't mind me asking, what brand and what chiller are you running? Mine is getting tired and im looking to upgrade from my DIY.

- BD

 

[JealousLeaf]

if you don't mind me asking, what brand and what chiller are you running? Mine is getting tired and im looking to upgrade from my DIY.

- BD

What's your diy? Do you have a link to the kind you made? I'm super interested.

 

[BDGrows]

What's your diy? Do you have a link to the kind you made? I'm super interested.

Sadly, I don't. The way I made mine was to make a simple kegerator with modifications of course. Instead of having beer in the fridge, you have a cooling vat (larger the better) with a simple pump in it which is wired to a thermocouple. The pump is also connected to a chilling wort which returns the warmed water back into the vat to be cooled. The fridge can be adjusted to raise or lower your temp of the vat inside which concurrently will adjust the temp of the main res when actively chilling. The thermocouple sits in the main reservoir and is programmed via an Arduino to turn on and off when certain thresholds are met. Ie, mine is programmed so that when it hits 22C, the Arduino turns the chilled water pump on. Once the thermocouple reads 18C, it turns off. Its a very simple set up but works quite well. Im curious to see how much more efficient a large (lets say 1/4hp) aquarium chiller is compared to my DIY.

 

[Logan Burke]

Stop adding microbes to a rdwc system. You are asking for problems.

Go buy you a bag of poolshock, burnout73 or similar (as long as it’s 73%). Add 1 gram of pool shock to one gallon of distilled water. Use that solution at 5ml per gallon in your system with every top off.

I've ran beneficial microbes for over 5 years and have never had root rot or any form of infection in the root zonewith temps above 72F on a daily basis. I don't think it's accurate at all to say that beneficial microbes = trouble in DWC. In fact, I only got root rot when I tried running a sterile system with H202. Distilled water also isn't the best option for PH stability. On the OP's note, I re-add beneficials (I use Great White, uses the same bennies as hydroguard + mychs) back about every 10 days as I don't even change my res but once every 2-3 weeks.

 

[BDGrows]

What's your diy? Do you have a link to the kind you made? I'm super interested.

I should probably make a DIY though... All together I think I spent around 150 - 250 in parts

 

[JealousLeaf]

Sadly, I don't. The way I made mine was to make a simple kegerator with modifications of course. Instead of having beer in the fridge, you have a cooling vat (larger the better) with a simple pump in it which is wired to a thermocouple. The pump is also connected to a chilling wort which returns the warmed water back into the vat to be cooled. The fridge can be adjusted to raise or lower your temp of the vat inside which concurrently will adjust the temp of the main res when actively chilling. The thermocouple sits in the main reservoir and is programmed via an Arduino to turn on and off when certain thresholds are met. Ie, mine is programmed so that when it hits 22C, the Arduino turns the chilled water pump on. Once the thermocouple reads 18C, it turns off. Its a very simple set up but works quite well. Im curious to see how much more efficient a large (lets say 1/4hp) aquarium chiller is compared to my DIY.

Damn! That's tricky. Is a thermocouple a thermostat?

 

[JealousLeaf]

I should probably make a DIY though... All together I think I spent around 150 - 250 in parts

Is the 150-250 in USD?

 

[BDGrows]

Damn! That's tricky. Is a thermocouple a thermostat?

The simple is yes. And you can find out how to program them via youtube, its how I taught myself. Its honestly quite simple.

Is the 150-250 in USD?

Yes,

 

[JealousLeaf]

The simple is yes. And you can find out how to program them via youtube, its how I taught myself. Its honestly quite simple.

Yes,

Thanks bro!

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

I've ran beneficial microbes for over 5 years and have never had root rot or any form of infection in the root zonewith temps above 72F on a daily basis. I don't think it's accurate at all to say that beneficial microbes = trouble in DWC. In fact, I only got root rot when I tried running a sterile system with H202. Distilled water also isn't the best option for PH stability. On the OP's note, I re-add beneficials (I use Great White, uses the same bennies as hydroguard + mychs) back about every 10 days as I don't even change my res but once every 2-3 weeks.

Congrats. It’s just not how I’d ever recommend anyone run it.

As far as the distilled water goes, it’s 5 ml per gallon. That is not gonna do ANYTHING to ph.

A $13 bag of pool shock will treat 9,900,000 gallons of water. How much do your beneficials cost?

 

[Logan Burke]

I understand, but it's very misleading to flatout say something doesn't work, when it really just doesn't work for you.
*Edit* Lol are you really trying to compare prices of pool shock to prices of bennies? Comparing results would be better. As far as the distilled water goes, I mean that because it is stripped of everything but H20, it is less capable of holding a PH value. It can, it's simply more prone to PH swings. Even RO typically has very, very little levels of minerals. Plus, buying distilled water for more than a few 5 gallon bubble buckets isn't exactly price effective...

 

[Carolina Dream'n]

I understand, but it's very misleading to flatout say something doesn't work, when it really just doesn't work for you.
*Edit* Lol are you really trying to compare prices of pool shock to prices of bennies? Comparing results would be better. As far as the distilled water goes, I mean that because it is stripped of everything but H20, it is less capable of holding a PH value. It can, it's simply more prone to PH swings. Even RO typically has very, very little levels of minerals. Plus, buying distilled water for more than a few 5 gallon bubble buckets isn't exactly price effective...

Dude, at no point did I say to fill your dwc buckets with distilled water. Can you read? I said to put 1 gram of pool shock into 1 gallon of distilled water to make a stock solution. You use that at 5ml per gallon of water in your dwc system.

I’ll use the running of my 24 site undercurrent for “results”. Show what high DO, nutrient salts and a sterilizer can do.

 

[JealousLeaf]

Dude, at no point did I say to fill your dwc buckets with distilled water. Can you read? I said to put 1 gram of pool shock into 1 gallon of distilled water to make a stock solution. You use that at 5ml per gallon of water in your dwc system.

I’ll use the running of my 24 site undercurrent for “results”. Show what high DO, nutrient salts and a sterilizer can do.

You did and did not say that. Not trying to start anything,but read your above 2 posts,you'll see what i mean bro.

Also,from what I understand (with no experience at all,I admit!) there are other reasons to run Benificials,right?

We're all on the same team here dude! Let's not attribute animus to misunderstandings.

 

[Logan Burke]

Dude, at no point did I say to fill your dwc buckets with distilled water. Can you read? I said to put 1 gram of pool shock into 1 gallon of distilled water to make a stock solution. You use that at 5ml per gallon of water in your dwc system.

I’ll use the running of my 24 site undercurrent for “results”. Show what high DO, nutrient salts and a sterilizer can do.

Part of what you said was to use distilled water. As in a fragment of your statement was to put object a into object b, object a being pool shock and object b being distilled water. You said distilled, I simply responded. And you do that, but without a side by side your results are useless. Comparing totally different environments (from mine to yours, for example) is destined to be doomed because of unnacountable factors (difference in nutrients, difference in strains, difference in lights, difference in altitude, difference in air quality). I wouldn't trust the results even if my plants looked better, because it is inherently flawed and impossible to have an accurate result.

You did and did not say that. Not trying to start anything,but read your above 2 posts,you'll see what i mean bro.

Also,from what I understand (with no experience at all,I admit!) there are other reasons to run Benificials,right?

We're all on the same team here dude! Let's not attribute animus to misunderstandings.

Precisely. Half of bennies job is it protect the root zone. Like if dead leaf matter/roots gets in a res, and it breaks it down into nutrients rather than that leaf matter sititng there in a sterile system decaying and feeding colonies of bad microbes creating PH fluctuation. The other half is to enhance uptake of nutrients.