Update on the Diatom Dilemma:
Veg system I:
Plants started about two weeks ago, started to see the brown algae dust collecting and plants growing VERY slow.
Three days ago: Full res change with zho/shield bene brew
First 24 hours: Ph seems stable. A coating of tiny air bubbles collected on the walls of the control res which all have little pieces of darker brown "bacteria sediment" attached or hanging on to the bubbles. I must say I usually use pretty clean non gunky nutes(Canna Aqua Vega and GH Flora 3-part for FLR) and the bene brew definitely clouded up the water and added some small junk pieces floating and collecting as noted. Maybe the cloudiness could help reduce the minimal light penetration contributing to the diatoms? To describe the junk, it looks about the same as it does when it first pours out of the fresh brew bucket, so I don't know if this is a normal thing for systems treated with the bene brew.
Second 24: A slightly slimy coating which comes off in sheets started developing on res walls, pump cords, and such. I also noticed a faint "swamp/pond" smell present. During this time the Ph dropped from 5.7 a total of about .5 as I corrected back. I did add some extra brew this day, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of normal starting amount
Third 24, Today: expecting the Ph to continue to drop I over-corrected a little last night to about 6.1 and today the Ph seems to have resumed a slow climb, about .3-.4 per day.
Veg System II Moms:
Just started a new batch of mothers two days ago in a hydro system I know to also have the diatoms previously. Used the bene tea in the first batch of nutes.
First 24: Ph is stable, seeing the same cloudiness and small bubbles with the attached brown bits as described above.
Second 24: Ph is rising slowly.
Due to the cloudiness and new collecting junk, I can't tell if the diatoms are still there or not. The slightly older plants seem like they might be growing a little faster but maybe not as fast as I would like, could need some recovery time. Also hard to tell the change in plants because I have been staring at them so much.
The slow Ph rise is about the same as the diatoms did before, but not sure if it is still them or another bio-active I introduced cleaning something up or the like.... I am a little worried that I have introduced other problems just because its generally gunkier than I am used to, but hoping thats positive gunk doing good gunky things... Honestly I would rather have any other gunk than the diatoms which absolutely devastated me before
Both res temps staying between 69 and 71
Questions:
Any thoughts on either of my systems, result analysis/suggestions?
Do I need to strain the tea as I add it to the res? Seems a little chunky, but I don't think the humus leaked...
I usually do full res changes and only leave the bit of solution that doesn't drain through the networking tubes. I know there has been discussion of if it hurts to not fully change the res, but is there any negatives to a full change inoculated with fresh brew?
Anybody have new thoughts on killing diatoms?