Root rot

My first try at DWC bubble, 2nd water change out and I have root rot. Using Hydroguard from beginning. Cleaned everything with HP, was mostly sterile environment. Two pumps and three air stones. Lined tub with black neoprene, using neoprene net cup covers, no light issues I can see. Any ideas? Do I have to start over? Can I cut the root rot off? Can I add more hydroguard over suggested dosages? Should I spray HP on the roots?
Help! Thank you, JimC

What is the nutrient temperature? Air stones tend to heat things up (compressed air).

You can indeed add more hydroguard.

TBH - some strains just don't do well in DWC.

Hydrogen peroxide kill the hydroguard BTW. Either run sterile or with bennies but not both.

Thanks for thoughts. Water temp is 67 to 70 F and steady. Unknown seed source (bag seed) Nutrients are at 780 ppm PH 5.5 - 6. No smell present. Room temp 70-80 f Humidity is at 46%
Added more Hydro
Reflective tapped the sides and rail of tote lid in case it was channeling light - now completely covered
Do you think I should do another water change out?

MoFog said:

Nutrients are at 780 ppm

Click to expand...

is your ppm dropping at all? i can't imagine you aren't burning those smaller plants at that ppm level.

This is what the schedule on dwc was calling for 800 - 1200 PPM. Too high? When I lower it they really start drooping. Had it down to 560 but they appeared worse off. Do nutrients effect root rot? have had issues with keeping the PH down.

do you have a ppm meter? if not, order one ASAP.

too strong of nutes can stress the plant and make it easier for it to get rot. same if pH is way out of range.

No idea how that could have happened running those temps. Anyways your plants look like they're bouncing back. It won't help right now but if you want to prep your plants for any future stresses you should be using humic and kelp in a 5:2 ratio. Virginia Tech did a ten year study that found that using humic and kelp in that ratio worked 50% better than either stimulant on it's own. It improves the plants natural resistance to stress, the only thing is you won't have the nice white looking roots. Silica is also good for the root zone. Seeing as you're starting on the back foot I'd bump up your P a bit. 1/16 of a tsp of MaP should energise rooting again.

I don't run hydroguard or use h2o2. The water chiller + the bio stimulants are enough that I've never encountered a root problem on my main grow, aside from having 2 inch pipes clogging up.

I watch PH and TDS daily and record same. Using general hydroponics (micro, gro, bloom), Calimagic and hydroguard. What would you recommend for the correct TDS level? (25 gallons of water)

MoFog said:

This is what the schedule on dwc was calling for 800 - 1200 PPM. Too high? When I lower it they really start drooping. Had it down to 560 but they appeared worse off. Do nutrients effect root rot? have had issues with keeping the PH down.

Click to expand...

If you're running DWC you might as well do a proper feed chart up...always take daily readings and keep records. Feed chart history is super handy for future grows.

MoFog said:

I watch PH and TDS daily and record same. Using general hydroponics (micro, gro, bloom), Calimagic and hydroguard. What would you recommend for the correct TDS level? (25 gallons of water)

Click to expand...

I would go by what the plant says it wants. Start by underfeeding and work your nutes up until you start breaking even with the PPM. Also do you feed daily? as in no RO watering on off days? It's important to get to a stage where you only give it plain RO if you stuffed up by overfeeding and need to flush. I actually dump my whole res when that happens but I can go four weeks without a res change, all the while PPM avg of 350-400 the entire time on my current grow.

MoFog said:

I watch PH and TDS daily and record same. Using general hydroponics (micro, gro, bloom), Calimagic and hydroguard. What would you recommend for the correct TDS level? (25 gallons of water)

Click to expand...

If you use fulvic acid along with the humic and kelp, it will buffer your solution. I only check pH every off day...I've gone a week without checking it and only a .2 drift from 5.9 to 6.1

MoFog said:

TDS daily and record same

Click to expand...

what is the ppm doing: same, rise or fall for the last week @ your 780 level.

MoFog said:

What would you recommend for the correct TDS level? (25 gallons of water)

Click to expand...

one of the problems you are going to have is that all those plants are such different sizes. that tiny little one probably only needs 200 ppm, the biggest one might need 400 pp

TDS does not change much, at most 20 points. Must have had issues not aware of as these plants all started at the same time and believe it or not 6 weeks ago. Only one really growing. One grew two colas on it's own so I stressed it but man is it small. Should I loose the smaller ones and concentrate on the one good one? ( it has the worst root rot)

I have bad water as it's almost at 200 ppm from the faucet (ph 9) I use a charcoal filter and adjust the PH after adding nutrients. So basically the littlie guys would grow on straight water?

if possible, either buy RO or a RO filter. it will make it so much easier for a newbie to know that the water is not an issue.

and also, you don't really know which plant is eating. i would guess the biggest is but the smallest is not. that's just normal when you have multiple plants in one res unless they are all similar sized.

Thank you so much for your feedback - tremendous help!

MoFog said:

TDS does not change much, at most 20 points. Must have had issues not aware of as these plants all started at the same time and believe it or not 6 weeks ago. Only one really growing. One grew two colas on it's own so I stressed it but man is it small. Should I loose the smaller ones and concentrate on the one good one? ( it has the worst root rot)

I have bad water as it's almost at 200 ppm from the faucet (ph 9) I use a charcoal filter and adjust the PH after adding nutrients. So basically the littlie guys would grow on straight water?

Click to expand...

Hmm well if your using tap water I highly recommend using amino acids. It will actually make the calcium in the water soluble for the plants to eat. Normally it's in the form of limescale and gypsum. This will effectively drop the tap water ppm by over 100 as that Ca becomes food for the plant. If you're looking for immediate results. Foliar feed with a weak kelp solution. Leaves take in nutrients way more effectively than at the root zone. Plus you will get the stress coping benefits from the kelp right away, you could even mix an all in one fert with it. 2ml/l of kelp 1ml/l of all in one fert.

I took ten gallons out, added 10 with hydroguard and PH'ed. TDS now at 500. This morning the plants look horrible, very droopy. Will try to replace more and get it to 400 and see what's happening. Can't get out to buy any new neuts or amino acids at this time. Thanks again for both of your guys comments. Greatly appreciate any advise.

MoFog said:

I took ten gallons out, added 10 with hydroguard and PH'ed. TDS now at 500. This morning the plants look horrible, very droopy. Will try to replace more and get it to 400 and see what's happening. Can't get out to buy any new neuts or amino acids at this time. Thanks again for both of your guys comments. Greatly appreciate any advise.

Click to expand...

make sure you top feed with the new nutes/hydroguard. you want to make sure you get the hydroguard into everywhere. from the stem, thru the hydroton, etc. take like a gallon jug, scoop out some res water, and dump it into every net pot.

The good news is you have a lot of healthy white roots, so yes cut off the RR roots

How high is your water line? It should be ~ 1" lower than the bottom of the net pots, AND, your ppm is ~ double what it should be at this stage of development

hth