cleaning hyroton between uses?

T

TheGreatSouthern

Well-Known Member
Howdy.
I've just finished my first run in clay pebbles.
I switched to flood and drain after seven years of using coco and I'm pretty impressed with it, the grow went really well.
So now I've pulled all the plants out and as much of the root mass as possible and I'm ready to get another lot going. currently the tables are full of a highly concentrated chlorine solution, I was hoping to just leave them full over night and flush them a few times tomorrow and then just replant straight away.
So I'm wondering if that's possible?
A couple of people have told me you have to empty the tables out and clean and dry all the pebbles. I really don't want to go down that road if I don't have to as there are 3 tables at 1 meter by 1.2 meters at 40cm deep and by the end of the next run there will be 6 tables, that is a lot of work emptying and drying out pebbles and hell if I'm going to do all that work if there's a way around it.
Does anyone have experience doing this?

Cheers
TGS
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Food grade 35% peroxide would be my choice but chlorine will work and if rinsed well shouldn't be a problem. Chlorine evaporates too so airing it well with some mixing will help get rid of it.

Don't trust your sense of smell unless it's walking in 8 hours away from it. Chlorine, like ammonia and H2S gas, make you nose-blind real quick.

:peace:
 
B

boybelue

Well-Known Member
Are you recycling or drain to waste? I assume your recycling with hydroton, Dtw would probably be ok with a lot of dead organic matter but recycling will cause problems till those roots are gone, if your ph takes a dive you have way to much dead organic material. Enzymes will take care of a small amount. It's hard to say, I think its gonna take some trial n error to see what you can get away with.
 
B

boybelue

Well-Known Member
Just Be said:
I put all of the recently used hydroton into a tub of water and then run the ozone generator through the water for 20 minutes.
Click to expand...
How do you run the ozone generator through the water? Interesting, I'm always looking for better ideas on cleaning hydroton. I cut the bottom out of a 5 gal bucket and put some screen on the bottom, let my hydroton get bone dry and then shake the shit out of a couple handfuls, works like a charm but still takes a little time.

Edit: ok @Just Be I see now, does it work pretty good?
 
Just Be

Just Be

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
That's a cool little unit! Currently unavailable tho. :( Just my luck to be at the airport when my ship comes in. ;)

:peace:
Click to expand...
The manufacturer still has them. Here's a link. https://www.a2zozone.com/products/aqua6


boybelue said:
How do you run the ozone generator through the water? Interesting, I'm always looking for better ideas on cleaning hydroton. I cut the bottom out of a 5 gal bucket and put some screen on the bottom, let my hydroton get bone dry and then shake the shit out of a couple handfuls, works like a charm but still takes a little time.

Edit: ok @Just Be I see now, does it work pretty good?
Click to expand...
It uses an air stone to diffuse the water. It's not needed and would work just as well with the end of the hose in the water. For $77 bucks spent on this unit, I've used it to cure myself of Lyme disease, I've removed the smell of cigarettes from two vehicles, disinfected and removed the smell of fish tank water from carpet, I've ran it into the fish tank directly while growing aquaponically, I've prepped a turkey prior to roasting by submerging the turkey in water and ozonating the water. I've revitalized a ton of different vegetables that were past peak from being in the fridge too long. I've also used it to disinfect the grow cab between grows. In these crazy days, I'm surprised that more people aren't using them. Especially stores after hours. Ironically, the ozone gas is created from what's called a 'corona discharge'.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
When I did flood and drain I used a lot of hydroton.

I found the easiest way to clean it was to let the rootballs dry.

Dump any loose pellets off the top into a bucket.

Bust up the root ball so the roots become dust

Then using a large net pot (I did this outside on a windy day) just shake the rocks till all the root dust is blown away and pick out the few big pieces remaining and dump the rocks in a bucket.

Once you got all the roots out of the rocks and you have buckets full of rocks soak for 24 hours in a hydrogen peroxide / water, I just filled the buckets and lidded them.

After the soak I used the net pot, put about 4 cups of rocks in there and hose them down really good with a spray nozzle to rinse all the dust off. The clay dust really messes with pH.

Now you have clean rocks.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
boybelue said:
How do you run the ozone generator through the water? Interesting, I'm always looking for better ideas on cleaning hydroton. I cut the bottom out of a 5 gal bucket and put some screen on the bottom, let my hydroton get bone dry and then shake the shit out of a couple handfuls, works like a charm but still takes a little time.

Edit: ok @Just Be I see now, does it work pretty good?
Click to expand...
What type of screen? Large enough for what, root material to fall through or just shaking it to bring it all to the bottom? Or are you just talking about new hydroton to shake off the dust?
I've always just reused mine and have for 5 yrs now with zero issues. Granted, I'm just using it to fill netpot to anchor the stem. Roots grow out and Into rdwc.
But I always figured since hydroton floats, you could probably just fill a tub with a foot or so of water, over an Inch or two thick of hydroton, moving them vigorously once they cover them somewhat, and then filling the rest of the way to let anything that's not the clay pellets to become water logged and sink to the bottom. Never even bothered to try though. I just give it a good shaking before use so I don't end up with mud in my system. Lok
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Just Be said:
@OldMedUser, my apologies. Closer inspection of their site says that they're out of stock as well. Here's its big brother which is in stock. https://www.a2zozone.com/collections/water/products/aqua-8-portable-ozone-generator
Click to expand...
Using these is cool for drinking water is it? I'm finally going to bite the bullet and spring for my own RO unit but I don't want off the shelf. We have dugout water so need special filtration and post production sterilization. The UV flow thru units are around $200 - $300Can so one of these is much more budget fitting.

Good one man! Thanks

:peace:
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Just Be said:
The manufacturer still has them. Here's a link. https://www.a2zozone.com/products/aqua6

It uses an air stone to diffuse the water. It's not needed and would work just as well with the end of the hose in the water. For $77 bucks spent on this unit, I've used it to cure myself of Lyme disease, I've removed the smell of cigarettes from two vehicles, disinfected and removed the smell of fish tank water from carpet, I've ran it into the fish tank directly while growing aquaponically, I've prepped a turkey prior to roasting by submerging the turkey in water and ozonating the water. I've revitalized a ton of different vegetables that were past peak from being in the fridge too long. I've also used it to disinfect the grow cab between grows. In these crazy days, I'm surprised that more people aren't using them. Especially stores after hours. Ironically, the ozone gas is created from what's called a 'corona discharge'.
Click to expand...
I've used ozone for ages. Got male cat piss spray out of my '85 Olds with the unit in the first pic. Old Living Aire unit I run continuously in my cold, damp basement to keep the black mould at bay. Works damn good too and is a low enough level that it isn't hurting me to be down there for fairly short intervals. Ion generator as well.

OzoneGen02.jpg

Now this unit puts out a serious stank. Not being used so plan to use a big empty chest freezer in my mud room for sterilizing bags of groceries etc when we get home. Stick everything in there. Recyclable cloth bags with all the things in them. 15 min on and 15 more to 'steep' ought to do it. Small fan in there to move it around too. How does O3 fix up veggies by the way?

OzoneUV.JPG

:peace:
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
O3 terrifies me. I'm not gonna be using it on food im planning to consume & definitely not my water. But if it's to remove stanks from areas like car seats or bedrooms, is probably OK.
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
O3 terrifies me. I'm not gonna be using it on food im planning to consume & definitely not my water. But if it's to remove stanks from areas like car seats or bedrooms, is probably OK.
Click to expand...
Why does it terrify you? It uses the same method of sterilization as hydrogen peroxide does. It releases a single O+ molecule that attaches and oxidizes the first organic molecule it meets like odors, anaerobic bacteria and virus, etc.

H. Peroxide, H2O2 leaves behind H2O and Ozone, O3 leaves behind O2 both of which the lack of would shortly leave us dead.

I'm fully aware of it's possible dangers but also fully informed of how to negate any danger to myself or others. Water or fire is dangerous as hell when misused or not controlled but are they something to be terrified of?

Information and education shine a light on that monster under the bed to reveal it's just an old teddy bear covered in dust bunnies.

Not trying to make fun of you or anything like that. Just trying to shine a little light on the subject.

:peace:
 
B

boybelue

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
What type of screen? Large enough for what, root material to fall through or just shaking it to bring it all to the bottom? Or are you just talking about new hydroton to shake off the dust?
I've always just reused mine and have for 5 yrs now with zero issues. Granted, I'm just using it to fill netpot to anchor the stem. Roots grow out and Into rdwc.
But I always figured since hydroton floats, you could probably just fill a tub with a foot or so of water, over an Inch or two thick of hydroton, moving them vigorously once they cover them somewhat, and then filling the rest of the way to let anything that's not the clay pellets to become water logged and sink to the bottom. Never even bothered to try though. I just give it a good shaking before use so I don't end up with mud in my system. Lok
Click to expand...
Yeah the root material falls out the bottom and the mesh sorta has an edge to it that helps grab the roots off the hydroton.
image.jpgimage.jpg
I tried to get a picture of the edge I mention on the mesh, it’s like each wire that runs across kinda laps on top of the next and if you drag your hand across it kinda grabs or digs into your hand. This works really well but your hydroton has to be super dry to the point the roots just turn to dust. I can grab a big scoop with both hands, throw it in and violently shake for 5 to 10 seconds and it comes out clean as a whistle. This is the best method I’ve found and I’ve tried many from the sink to the bathtub to the pressure washer and the dry method works so much better than any wet method. When the roots are wet and slimy they stick to the hydroton but dry they just fall off and turn to a dust mostly. I highly recommend trying it just be sure to dry the hydroton really dry. Moisture really hurts this method. There’s a company that makes something similar to this, I think it’s called “the root devil” but yeah man give it a try.
 
Just Be

Just Be

Well-Known Member
OldMedUser said:
Using these is cool for drinking water is it? I'm finally going to bite the bullet and spring for my own RO unit but I don't want off the shelf. We have dugout water so need special filtration and post production sterilization. The UV flow thru units are around $200 - $300Can so one of these is much more budget fitting.

Good one man! Thanks

:peace:
Click to expand...
It'll disinfect drinking water, yes. How I got rid of the Lyme disease was by drinking an ice cold glass of ozonated water each day. The colder the water, the longer that the extra oxygen molecule will remain in the water. It dissipates quickly so the water needs to be consumed within 20 minutes of ozonating. I also forgot to mention that you can use an ozone generator and a plastic bag to make a hyperbaric chamber for wounds on hands/feet etc. I almost lost two adjoining fingertips a few years ago. After a week or two of ozonating that hand for an hour or so a day, neither finger has any scars from the mishap.
 
Last edited:
Just Be

Just Be

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
O3 terrifies me. I'm not gonna be using it on food im planning to consume & definitely not my water. But if it's to remove stanks from areas like car seats or bedrooms, is probably OK.
Click to expand...
You'd be surprised how many things that you consume on a day to day basis have already been ozonated at least once in the manufacturing process.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
boybelue said:
Yeah the root material falls out the bottom and the mesh sorta has an edge to it that helps grab the roots off the hydroton.
View attachment 4522747View attachment 4522750
I tried to get a picture of the edge I mention on the mesh, it’s like each wire that runs across kinda laps on top of the next and if you drag your hand across it kinda grabs or digs into your hand. This works really well but your hydroton has to be super dry to the point the roots just turn to dust. I can grab a big scoop with both hands, throw it in and violently shake for 5 to 10 seconds and it comes out clean as a whistle. This is the best method I’ve found and I’ve tried many from the sink to the bathtub to the pressure washer and the dry method works so much better than any wet method. When the roots are wet and slimy they stick to the hydroton but dry they just fall off and turn to a dust mostly. I highly recommend trying it just be sure to dry the hydroton really dry. Moisture really hurts this method. There’s a company that makes something similar to this, I think it’s called “the root devil” but yeah man give it a try.
Click to expand...
Yah I can see what you're saying with the raised mesh. Very convenient for that purpose. Is that a huge bead of caulk holding that screen in place?! Haha
 
B

boybelue

Well-Known Member
Just Be said:
It'll disinfect drinking water, yes. How I got rid of the Lyme disease was by drinking an ice cold glass of ozonated water each day. The colder the water, the longer that the extra oxygen molecule will remain in the water. It dissipates quickly so the water needs to be consumed within 20 minutes of ozonating. I also forgot to mention that you can use an ozone generator and a plastic bag to make a hyperbaric chamber for wounds on hands/feet etc. I almost lost two adjoining fingertips a few years ago. After a week or two or ozonating that hand for an hour or so a day, neither finger has any scars from the mishap.
Click to expand...
Wow man I never knew all the benefits, I had only heard how bad they was. I see used units made by CAP on e3ay all the time, are those units as beneficial as the one you posted the link to?
 
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