algae in water jug

Hey I've been using the same gallon water jugs for about four months now. I usually fill a couple with tap water and then balance my ph to 6.5 and measure the tds of my tap water around 246 ( I don't know if that is good or bad or what to do about it). I noticed a light green algae growing inside the jugs. I'm just starting a new grow. Should I toss the jugs and start with new ones? Is the algae harmful or transferable to my soil? From now on I'm thinking I'll keep my jugs in a dark closet off the grow to reduce exposure to light and inhibit the growth any algae. Anyone else run into this? Grow temp is 80 degrees F at ground level. Seedlings are about one inch and are seven days old. I will post pics in time.

allmyne69 said:

Hey I've been using the same gallon water jugs for about four months now. I usually fill a couple with tap water and then balance my ph to 6.5 and measure the tds of my tap water around 246 ( I don't know if that is good or bad or what to do about it). I noticed a light green algae growing inside the jugs. I'm just starting a new grow. Should I toss the jugs and start with new ones? Is the algae harmful or transferable to my soil? From now on I'm thinking I'll keep my jugs in a dark closet off the grow to reduce exposure to light and inhibit the growth any algae. Anyone else run into this? Grow temp is 80 degrees F at ground level. Seedlings are about one inch and are seven days old. I will post pics in time.

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It probably won't hurt anything but indoor growing requires, IMO, the utmost cleanliness in order to minimize potential problems. My advice would be to start with new jugs or simply rinse those out with a 10% bleach/water solution. Let the jugs soak for a few minutes, rinse thoroughly and let air dry. Voila! Clean jugs! Best of luck my friend!

yea just clean algae w/ some bleach/water solution & you should be good or even rubbing alcohol. & some elbow grease.

Yep what those guys said. I keep my water jugs in a dark place, keeps algae from forming in the first place

Thanks doc111. I'm going to toss the old and bring in the new. The old jugs will go into the recycle bin. I agree with you 100%. Cleanliness and my grow journal are my number one priorities.

for soil i dont think it would matter, may actually add some nitrogen to the soil after the algea dies and decomposes (if it does)
hydro algea is bad.

like others said, use clean shit

good luck