Reservoir smells awful! Can anyone help

waterdawg

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
Just a thought but are you running a sterile res? Is FF organic? I would like to think running a sterile res would be a bit easier to start off but may get slammed for saying that. If you throw in H2O2 it will be a sterile res anyways lol. Also the frozen water bottles work great for a short term solution IMO. I shut my system down in summer due to the heat and the inability to control it. I did have a stinky slimey res a few years back and i actually also went back to soil, it was caused by excessive heat and i was using organic based nutes. i started again last year using a sterile res and have not looked back. If you can get temos under control and rid the res of nasties you'll be impressed with the difference in hydro versus soil grows as I was. Good luck!!!
 
Brassinosteroid

Brassinosteroid

Active Member
High rez temps and light penetration to the tank form algae big time. Non moving water, ie: water in a catch tank, stale non-moving water will create that smell as well. Just dealt with this issue myself for the first time, due to the addition of a catch/waste tank.

Mainly though, High rez temps. Put anything in a barrel and heat it enough and it will smell funky.
 
J

joe macclennan

Well-Known Member
Oh and one more thing I wanted to add. Excess silica levels have been known to contribute to slime blooms so be careful with how much you add.
 
Brassinosteroid

Brassinosteroid

Active Member
btw, h202, doesn't fix this problem. the problem lies within the rez itself. Also, this "smell", over time, is a clear indication that your roots will suffer.
 
J

joe macclennan

Well-Known Member
I used gallons of h202 on my rez/root problems before I discovered pool shock. Since then I haven't used any h202 at all, and have used less than a quarter of a bottle of the pool shock. This is for cleaning and everything. It is so much cheaper to mix your own than to buy the bottled clorox.
 
Brassinosteroid

Brassinosteroid

Active Member
If you have that "hydro smell".. you're doomed in the long run unless you fix the exact problem. I'll never run a clear rez again, now I understand why all the hydro kits come in blue or black.
 
Brassinosteroid

Brassinosteroid

Active Member
joe macclennan said:
hmmmm, i'm all about the sterile rez. Only way to go imo
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My issue was my catch tank, where I ran a bigger submersible pump to pump my dtw, basically, catch tank filled, big pump pumped it out, and due to water leveling, it'd refill. So, there would be hot stagnant water in a clear tank, my rez was fine, the catch tank was the issue, especially because it was inside of the room where the rez was outside of. So, what I'm trying to say, is, I had one tank in shade and one in light, both clear, and the heat and light from the room caused the catch tank to fill with algae making it stink like a fish tank. the res itself was fine... also, to add, even if you have enough air to make that catch tank look like a boiling pot of water, it will still accumulate algae on the sides of the tank. Light, heat, and nutes = fish tank smell.
 
Red1966

Red1966

Well-Known Member
wmstanton said:
Am an experienced grower in soil but trying to go to hydro,Built a 4 rail system holds 30 plants and 15 gal reservoir. set it up and using aqua shield and FF nutes. within 24 hrs it smells like dirty fish tank,cleaned real well and changed everything out,within 24 hrs it was worse than b4 thinking of taking all these and transplanting to soil unless someone can give me an idea on how to fix this.I do know the temps hit 84 at one point,also aqua shield was used at 3 ts per gal as instructed,FF nutes were added to proper ppm had ph level set at 6.0 (which rose over night to 8.0) and system and res.is light proof Thanks in advance for help or atleast let me know the proper place on here to post/get help.
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Rez is way too hot and not big enough, either. Figure a gallon per plant when less than 24" tall, 2 gallon when taller. A chiller cost a good bit, but will keep the stink away and your plants will love it.
 
I

ilikecheetoes

Well-Known Member
nicedreamz said:
How many gals? Is that for the week?
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i run multiple 25gallon rez. a capful of bleach if theres any funk smell. I dont run it constantly and I dont have to use it in every rez. Just hit it before it gets nasty. I also flush my rez every 2 weeks and they drink about 25 gallons worth so with refills even the flush isnt flushing much funk water.

I clean alot.

I will say if you get the cyno slime bleach wont kill it. Once that shit blooms only benes will get it in check. Well bleach will kill it but at levels that will fuck with your plants if not kill them completely. That shit is nasty and the reason I quit DWC. Its not worth the funk. My ebb tables I have algae to worry about and its not a worry...
 
J

joe macclennan

Well-Known Member
I had the worst slime bloom ever this summer. I mean badddd. Shit would build up two inches thick in a fresh rez in like three days.

Pool shock brought it fully under control.
 
P

PROF XAVIER

Well-Known Member
Just my 2 cents...if you run hydro, get a chiller. That should be just as important as the light itself. Fox Farm nutes aren't very clean for most hydro systems. Think about changing them out for at LEAST Gen Hydro. Dutch Master, House and Garden, Dyna-Gro, and Advanced are all hydro friendly and I have had success with each. Dutch Master Zone is a great product that can be used throughout the plants life cycle. Get a larger air pump and make sure you don't have water sitting and not moving, as someone had mentioned earlier. Water circulation is very important as well as the dissolved oxygen content. If you have a pump, try rigging some kinda inline filtration to catch root exudates at the beginning of the pump. I use some pond filtration polyester filter fiber from Pet Supplies Plus in a inlet tube. Its dirt cheap and catches everything and keeps the water crystal clear.
 
waterdawg

waterdawg

Well-Known Member
Thank the gods but i have not a slime issue since starting hydro again! Approx. 12 runs and nothing. I never have res temps above 74 and very rarely that high. I change res every 7-10 days, 7 near the end. If i notice a change in water clarity i will peroxide but can make a gallon last close to 6 months. The next step is a chiller of sorts but thats next spring. Without a chiller i am limited to 8 months of growing due to heat. Also i run my pumps 24/7 on a ebb and flo/ dwc type system. Im sure its gonna happen, slime i mean 😁 but I hope u guys will be around for help when it does.
 
ShineOn

ShineOn

Well-Known Member
I don't normally believe in silver bullets but DNF Hydro Sparkle has been a miracle worker for me. My res temps are always around 75-78 degrees and with the hydro sparkle my roots stay a nice crispy white. Prior to using Hydro Sparkle i would get the slime and root rot.
 
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