Continual Slime in DWC

Hey everyone. This is my 3rd grow in DWC and the first time experiencing slime.

My set up:

5 - 3gal buckets (4 sites and 1 for rez)
18w air pump
air temp: 80-85*F
water: 72-75*F ( kept lower when not using tea)
400W HPS
ph: 5.6-6.1

Nutes: House & Garden Aqua Flakes
Tea: R/O water, molasses, ewc, and great white

The first week they we're in the buckets a white mucus showed up on the sides of the buckets and bottom of net pots. I was using GH FloraNova Grow at the time also. I dumped the rez and cleaned everything with h202 and bleach. Over the next few days I ran the nutes with a daily h202 regimen and it kept it at bay for about 3 days before it came back, during which i experienced no growth at all. I dumped the rez and cleaned everything again, switching to FoxFarm Hydro grow nutes and Heisenburg's tea. The slime cam back within the next 12-24 hours worse than every before. I switched nutes again after another hydro store informed me that both FoxFarm and FloraNova have organics in them so I bought the AquaFlakes. This time I cleaned everything AND took the plants out of the hydroton, dipping the roots in h202. I replaced in new hydroton, inoculated with ewc tea, and place back in the rez.

The plants before this point looked absolutely dreadful; lost lower two sets of leaves on every plant as well as almost no new growth. After the first 12 hours of the new nutes + ewc 3 of 4 plants were actually beginning to look better and have new growth. Unfortunately I woke up this morning to find the air stones covered in brown slime again. Unlike the times before this the ph hasn't risen and there is much less white slime floating in the rez and instead is really covering the stones.

Does anyone have any advice on what to do next? It seems like the tea + aqua flakes helped the most but the slime on the air stones is still concerning.

EDIT: PICS BELOW

Pictures?

It doesn't sound like the 2nd attempt with the tea brewing and organics went correctly, you may have introduced an aerobic environment for the slime/bacteria to return. My best luck, personally, fight bacteria with other bacteria n fungi! Hydroguard, ZHO, it's just bottled and specific bacteria. EWC is a more diverse population that you build from the ground up.... I could never get my EWC to foam, so I didnt have luck there either. Likely too much air, maybe not enough, idk.



Molasses is for soil grows imo I'd ditch that and see if it'll help. The idea behind molasses is that it adds sugars during flower. You are also using Great White Shark thats a powder.... I introduced that to my system and had some funky leaf issues.

Pictures of the plants or the slime? I was embarrassed to post pics of the plants because of how awful they look. My dwc grows have never been this difficult!

I used a venturi water pump to aerate the ewc when brewing. When I would check on it there is a foam almost like root beer that dissipates gradually after the pump is turned off. Does that count as foam? Also I used great white which is like ZHO I believe.

Yeah you got the foam effect. I used Great White for my teas as well and thought that it might be the problem. So I bought ZHO for shits, well the hydro guy gave it to me for free if I came back with a review of it lol, and still no foam. Might be my lower temps in my house (cold winter + electric heat + HID's + RDWC = ALOT of Pesos at the end of the month).

Don't be embarrassed about post pics, we all have to learn and I am sure there are worse out there. Besides... haters gon' hate. Thats their job... just lemme do their job- fuck em

The slime has definitely gotten worse since this morning. Also I thought the molasses was used to feed the bennies when brewing. I don't add it to my buckets only to the tea.

Ahhhh okay, good! hahaha.

You might have better luck going with a top feed + flood n drain technique until you can completely kill the slime? Is the slime from the water or roots?

Yea I have some white widow seeds coming in this week, if I can't solve the problem I might switch to ebb and flow. I believe the slime is coming from the water because I pulled the seedlings and gave the roots a h202 dip before replacing them in new hydroton this last time around and it still came back. This time I went and got new air stones, maybe I just didn't clean the old ones enough.

I just cleaned the rez, new air stones, nutes, ph'ed, then inoculated with tea. Lets see how it looks tomorrow.

Ps; Why not drill a hole into the side of the bucket to lead the air line through? I believe its 1/4" for standard air hoses.

Guys, teas don't brew well below 20°C in my experience. If you are in a cold enviroment, get a small aquarium heater (you can get one off ebay for almost nothing). Keep your temps at about 23-25°C and you'll get a much better effect.

Twerkle, I think part of the problem is that you have an established pathogen and bennies that have just been introduced and haven't had a chance to establish themselves yet. My advice would be to cut back on the nutes, change res every few days for a while and keep adding tea. Try to get your hands on some ZHO, then mix quarter to half of a teaspoon of it with a cup of tea, and pour that mix directly over the roots.

The tea is nice and warm when its brewing and forms a foam from aeration, so I think its breeding at least.

I agree on the established pathogen, I'm hoping that the new air stones and hydroton help. I'll flush for a few days straight and see if that helps. Neither of my local hydro stores have ZHO powder. Is there another substitute? I'm using great white currently.

What nute strength do you suggest? The site says for first week of veg to give 5.5ml per gallon but because of the issues I've only been giving about 3.5ml/gal.

Twerkle said:

The tea is nice and warm when its brewing and forms a foam from aeration, so I think its breeding at least.

I agree on the established pathogen, I'm hoping that the new air stones and hydroton help. I'll flush for a few days straight and see if that helps. Neither of my local hydro stores have ZHO powder. Is there another substitute? I'm using great white currently.

What nute strength do you suggest? The site says for first week of veg to give 5.5ml per gallon but because of the issues I've only been giving about 3.5ml/gal.

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An enzyme may help. Pondzyme, hygrozyme, etc.


If you want to nuke it, try mighty wash.

Id also adding more hydroton or plastic as you may have light leaks contributing to your slime.

It looks like it has green in it, so its getting light from somewhere


Once zero light is penetrating your nutrients,it should correct itself with enzymes n bennies


Bennies breed better in warmer conditions, but so do pathogens. I have found when using organics and inoculating, its better to keep water temps down. 68-70f treats me well with organics

Twerkle said:

The tea is nice and warm when its brewing and forms a foam from aeration, so I think its breeding at least.

I agree on the established pathogen, I'm hoping that the new air stones and hydroton help. I'll flush for a few days straight and see if that helps. Neither of my local hydro stores have ZHO powder. Is there another substitute? I'm using great white currently.

What nute strength do you suggest? The site says for first week of veg to give 5.5ml per gallon but because of the issues I've only been giving about 3.5ml/gal.

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I'm not sure about alternatives. I think Heisenberg uses (or used) something called mycogrow. I got my ZHO online as no products are available in stores where I live. Great white is great

I'd ho with 2.5 ml then (half strength), but it's just a blind guess.

Spanky84 said:

I'm not sure about alternatives. I think Heisenberg uses (or used) something called mycogrow. I got my ZHO online as no products are available in stores where I live. Great white is great

I'd ho with 2.5 ml then (half strength), but it's just a blind guess.

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I just looked at what each contains and Great White has everything MycoGrow does I think, except MycoGrow is way cheaper by weight tho.

They are look much better this morning. some new leaf growth but now roots coming out of the net pot yet. I'm going to flush everyday for a few days and see if I can get the bennies to take over.

Also I'm having trouble with keeping the buckets cool. they usually average ~72-75*, I tried water bottles but they seem not to do much and are needed to bee replaced constantly. I was hoping the bennies would let me run a warmer rez.

hydroMD said:

Once zero light is penetrating your nutrients,it should correct itself with enzymes n bennies

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I'll try feeding the tubes through the side of the bucket and wrap a longer distance with tape.

Twerkle said:

I just looked at what each contains and Great White has everything MycoGrow does I think, except MycoGrow is way cheaper by weight tho.

They are look much better this morning. some new leaf growth but now roots coming out of the net pot yet. I'm going to flush everyday for a few days and see if I can get the bennies to take over.

Also I'm having trouble with keeping the buckets cool. they usually average ~72-75*, I tried water bottles but they seem not to do much and are needed to bee replaced constantly. I was hoping the bennies would let me run a warmer rez.



I'll try feeding the tubes through the side of the bucket and wrap a longer distance with tape.

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That temperature is the problem =/. Why not turn your lights to 18/6 (veg) or 13/11 (flower +1 extra hour of darkness just incase)? I find the extra dark hours helps a bunch with cooling.

I'm on 18/6 for veg currently and I run them at night to keep the temps down. It's freezing out side here and I got the window open. Still no luck keeping it under 70*. I was hoping a canopy would develop soon and keep the rez shaded.

I have mentioned somewhere, you can take a styrofoam board, cut a hole in the middle a bit wider then the stem is expected to get, and then cut the sheet in half through the middle (cut so that you go paralel to the longer side). That way you get two boards you can place on top of the lid of your bucket, with the stem going through the middle, and can be removed when necesary in no time. If you have a cabinet, by a bit of cutting and combining, you should be able to split the whole area into two sections, one with the buckets and other with the plants. Added bonus, it will also block a lot of light. If you grow in a room, with just a bit more work you can make styrofoam box shape to put around the buckets.

If even that's not enough, you can also put an intake fan connected to a thermostat and set it to blow outside air directly into the isolated bucket area.

Spanky, I'll check that styrofoam out. I added sheets of tinfoil to block light and it cut down water temps by 1*, hopefully the styrofoam does even more.

I'll post pics tomorrow of them. I changed the water again today and inoculated. Going to change the water everyday for a few days and hope the bennies take hold.