jaytea
Active Member
I'm using General Hydroponics Flora series . Flora Grow , Flora Micro and eventually Flora Bloom .. That's synthetic right? what is bio herd?
Please check out my Hydro setup and give advice
- Thread starter jaytea
- Start date
DirtyMcCurdy
Well-Known Member
Bio herd refers to either the fungus or bacteria. Yes, GH Flora series is synthetic. You can still run a beneficial along with them if you want. I would suggest GH's Subculture B, not M, the B. Or Botanicare's Hydroguard. Both of these are bacillus bacteria which helps the root zone by digesting plant waste. Subculture B will cure, or prevent, a lot of root problems.
AlphaPhase
Well-Known Member
Yes, DM Zone will kill everything, so if you are running beneficials avoid products like zone. DirtyMcCurdy has it right on. Hydroguard/aquashield and pond zyme is a great combo for hydro as well.
jaytea
Active Member
Ok so somebody set me on the right track here. Should I use the Dutch Zone and just keep everything sterile or should I use the bio herds as mentioned? I just want to keep it simple , don't want to have to deal with any issues and want to be able to leave my grow unattended for up to 2 weeks when I go on vacation or out of town. Do you think just going straight sterile and using the Dutch Zone is the safest bet?
AlphaPhase
Well-Known Member
I would do sterile but it's all a personal preference. Do you want to have a constant battle between good bacteria and bad bacteria in your res constantly (sometimes the bad ones can win) or do you want to kill all living bacteria and keep your res sterile? I prefer sterile, it's cheaper for the most part too, $15 for zone and it's used at 1 or 2 ml per gallon, so a bottle lasts a long time.
jaytea
Active Member
Good because I just got back from the hydro shop and bought the zone. LOL
Tone5500
Well-Known Member
That is a recipe for success, I have never had a problem with roots
Tone5500
Well-Known Member
If you start having problems you can always switch over to hydroguard and pondezyme good lucky with your grow
jaytea
Active Member
Ok thanks everybody for your responses.. YOu guys have really helped me on my way. I do however got one more question if anybody can answer it .
According to my set up that you seen in the video of the Original Post I need advice on how often to change my rezervoir. My Rez. is about 12 gallons max . should I run an entire rez.? Or should I only do it like half full ? Also how often would you change it out? Would you drain the whole thing or just say drain out 3 gallons and replace with 3 gallons of fresh nute water?
Any advice sincerely appreciated and liked.
According to my set up that you seen in the video of the Original Post I need advice on how often to change my rezervoir. My Rez. is about 12 gallons max . should I run an entire rez.? Or should I only do it like half full ? Also how often would you change it out? Would you drain the whole thing or just say drain out 3 gallons and replace with 3 gallons of fresh nute water?
Any advice sincerely appreciated and liked.
StinkBud
Well-Known Member
I'd go live res but it looks like you already made your decision. Botanicare organic based nutes taste the closest to old-school soil, maybe even better.
I change my res every 2 weeks right now. Remember, the only drawback to changing your nutes often is cost. You can do no harm by changing your res every week. I just screw on a garden hose, open the valve and turn the pump on. I just wait until the pump is sucking air before I unplug the pump. Then I refill and add nutes. There is always a little of the old stuff left but only a gallon or so.
I change my res every 2 weeks right now. Remember, the only drawback to changing your nutes often is cost. You can do no harm by changing your res every week. I just screw on a garden hose, open the valve and turn the pump on. I just wait until the pump is sucking air before I unplug the pump. Then I refill and add nutes. There is always a little of the old stuff left but only a gallon or so.
Clown Baby
Well-Known Member
cool dude. flood and drain. KISS. One thing you might want to do is take some panda film and cover the tray. Secure it with a few clamps or something. It'll help keep the nasties and algae from growing.
it'll also make it easier for your rootmass to grow outside of the baskets.
it'll also make it easier for your rootmass to grow outside of the baskets.
jaytea
Active Member
yeah i was planning on that. I am running Dutch Master Zone to keep it sterile but I do plan on putting up something soon to keep the light off the flood table.