using bleach

[joe macclennan]

One of the most controversial subjects is using bleach in hydro. I have always been scared to try it personally.

Well i've been battling the worst case of slime I have ever experienced. I was up to 8oz of h202/50 gallon rez. a day. Getting damn expensive too. At these levels I was finally getting the best of the dreaded slime though and was on my way to being slime free. Or so I thought. Then I ran out of the h202, no big deal as I was gonna go to the hydro shop anyway. I went to my local hydro store to get some more and they were out and cannot get it anymore due to a change in state regulations. Well Fuck!

I went online and found a homeopathic store that sells it at roughly the same price I was paying so I ordered some but it was gonna take like a week to get here. This is an eternity w/this slime I have been dealing with. 4 days w/no treatment and my rez would be so funked up I would have to change.

So I had this bottle of hth pool shock. (calcium hypochloride) I bought the stuff a few years ago as a "break glass in case of emergency" option. I figured this to be an emergency so here goes. I did some reading on here and found someone who uses this stuff and followed his dilution rate.

2grams of pool shock per one gallon of water. Shake thoroughly until it all dissolves and use one oz. of this solution per gallon of rez. Re-dosing every three days.

Well been 5 days and my rez. looks as clean as ever. Better really than when dosing w/h202. The plants are doing just fine with it. I really see no downside here.

SOOOOOOOOOOO much cheaper than the h202

 

[Ninjabowler]

If that stops working or starts hurting anything and you need another option or some good info to read on try this....
https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-dwc-root-slime-cure-aka.html

 

[joe macclennan]

Yah, I should have added that I ordered everything needed to brew heisenbergs tea also. I really want to stay away from this route tho. I have more than enough to do everyday with 300 gallons of rez. Brewing tea would be a full time job. Waiting on bennies to bloom and what not is not really my cup of tea. haha see what I did there?

I have the aquashield,zho,and ancient forest if I change my mind later.

Honestly though if the pool shock is working ima run w/it.

 

[joe macclennan]

6 days now slime free everything is looking better. I'm gonna cut back on my dosage by 25% when I dose again tomorrow. so around 38 oz/50 gallons.. we'll see.

My h202 finally arrived today but that stuffs going to the back of the bus for now.

 

[cannabineer]

Sodium hypochlorite (bleach or liquid chlorinator ... note they are at different concentrations) works a treat. Welcome to the Bleached Side. cn

 

[joe macclennan]

I read somewhere that calcium hypochlorite is better than sodium. Is this not true? Iyo

You have used bleach successfully too?

It is working wonders for me right now.

 

[Mont@n@]

I read somewhere that calcium hypochlorite is better than sodium. Is this not true? Iyo

You have used bleach successfully too?

It is working wonders for me right now.

How many ml/gal you are using?

 

[joe macclennan]

• 2grams of pool shock per one gallon of water. Shake thoroughly until it all dissolves and use one oz. of this solution per gallon of rez. Re-dosing every three days.​
  
  
  
  

This is what I started with. I am going to lower the dosage gradually to see where I really need to be.

I had a terrible case of slime initially. So my dosage was intended to bring this in check. I do not know yet what dosage will be required for preventative maintenance.

 

[Mont@n@]

thank you bro. make sure after this grow you clean everything with bleach. Here is another formula that I copied from here in riu:
100 ml of Clorox bleach added to a gallon jug of RO water then 1 teaspoon per gallon initially then 1/2 teaspoon per gallon every other day after that.

 

[El Tiberon]

I am doing an outdoor aero grow and have been getting some high temps and some algae has started. Will chlorine bleach prevent this? What is the dosage I should use?

 

[joe macclennan]

It should.

I am by no means an expert on this subject.

I just wanted to post my results to give others an option if needed.

I run f&d and ebb and flow.

Aero is a whole nother critter. I would change the rez and add maybe 1/2oz of the solution/gallon of rez. See if this helps increase or decrease dosage as needed.

My 2 cents.

 

[flyingsteve]

I've used straight tap water and added bleach with no negative side effects. It also didn't cure my root rot issue. I tried SM-90, 35% h2o2 in large doses, and bleach... I eventually gave up on the plants and started a new patch (this time adding a UV sterilizer and chiller), during that time I let the root rotted plants go and didn't tend to their hydro system for about 2 weeks. The largest plant recovered fully, despite slimed up roots & lack of tending to pH/nutes. It grew out an entirely new set of roots and began thriving again!

In my opinion and from past experience, THE BEST WAY to deal with slime and keep it away permanently is with a UV sterilizer. I never once had an issue with root zone pathogens when using UV and had great results up top as well.

Just my 2 cents

 

[joe macclennan]

I've never ever had to run UV or chillers except in nft. Damn Fiddly systems.

Been doing this for ten years.

I think I figured out the cause of my problems. I put a minisplit in recently. The cool air from the evap is dropping directly on my tray keeping my girls cooler. I stretched out my floods to once every other day and it seems to be helping a lot.

 

[flyingsteve]

I've never had a problem until this last event. No matter how I sterilized and cleaned it just kept coming back. Yet I grew flood and drain melons outside last summer in 5g hydroton buckets and had no root issues lol

 

[joe macclennan]

It's in your roots. Try extending your time between floods.

 

[cannabineer]

I read somewhere that calcium hypochlorite is better than sodium. Is this not true? Iyo

You have used bleach successfully too?

It is working wonders for me right now.

If you'll pardon the expression ... it's a wash.

Weed doesn't like sodium, but the introduced amount is tiny.
What i like about bleach is that it's convenient to measure, it's already dissolved, and it's stable. Your working concentration of hypochlorite is established at once; no guesswork. jmo. cn

 

[flyingsteve]

It's in your roots. Try extending your time between floods.

My indoor grows are DWC, but yes, it's in the roots. I washed and washed and cut away lots of dead roots and changed out the hydroton in the net pots, etc. Anyway, I cannot lose a harvest so that is why I use mechanical filtration and UV along with a chiller.

 

[waterdawg]

I just started doing hydro this last year and have never had an issue with root rot or slime but do use H2O2 29% as a preventitive measure and am only running 2 100L res's at a time so cost is not an issue, I only go though 4 litres every 6-7 months @ $25. My temps in the rez never get above 21c (so far lol). Is it the temps that cause it or something else, I need to be prepared lol.

 

[flyingsteve]

I just started doing hydro this last year and have never had an issue with root rot or slime but do use H2O2 29% as a preventitive measure and am only running 2 100L res's at a time so cost is not an issue, I only go though 4 litres every 6-7 months @ $25. My temps in the rez never get above 21c (so far lol). Is it the temps that cause it or something else, I need to be prepared lol.

I think in my case it was a combination of bacteria and favorable temps/conditions allowing the bacteria to breed. I've since added a DIY chiller and a filtration and UV sterilization system. I don't like to f*ck around, if you can't tell lol. Would prefer to spend more time growing, logging, and learning than adding H2O2 and other preventative treatments. That's all money/time I don't want to spend and good filtration and a chiller cures all that nonsense. My ultimate goal in a few years is to start a hydroponically grown produce business, and if you aren't running filtration with a large operation like that you're just asking for trouble.

 

[El Tiberon]

• 2grams of pool shock per one gallon of water. Shake thoroughly until it all dissolves and use one oz. of this solution per gallon of rez. Re-dosing every three days.
  ​
  
  

This is what I started with. I am going to lower the dosage gradually to see where I really need to be.

I had a terrible case of slime initially. So my dosage was intended to bring this in check. I do not know yet what dosage will be required for preventative maintenance.

This is what I used and it works like a charm even outdoors and temps hitting mid 70's in the res at times. No effect on the plants. I have used it one time. It has been a week since the treatment. Since I have not seen any more algae, I think the once every 3 days is overkill.