Some Drooping in my Hydro System that I have not seen before and Foam

so this is my third go at growing. Using a 600W HPS and a Mars Hydro SP3000 in my 6X6 grow area. Have had two successful grows so far with the second being better than the first. during my last grow I had posted a problem on this site and I was given a feeding chart and told I was under feeding significantly (I was told I was doing about 1/2 of what I should). So for this new grow I started using the new feed chart I was given. (See image) I am using an undercurrent recirculating Hydro system and have a large airstone in each grow bin as well. between the the airstone and the recirculating water pump I get tons of bubbles and Oxygen in my bins.



The girls are 30 days old today from Germ. so I am using the week 3 feed schedule and I just moved them from my seedling box to their permanent home on Sunday the 22nd of August. Unlike prior grows, I am getting a red/brown sediment that is building up on my rez and in all the grow bins as well as white Foam on top of the water in the grow bins. I thoroughly cleaned my system before use and have changed the system and flushed it now 3 times this week and each time the sediment and foam returns. On top of this the plants look a little droopy and the leaves are curling. I am using GH Flora Series nutes. (Micro, Gro, Bloom, CalMg, UC Roots)

Each system uses about 24 Gallons of water and each system received the following feeding.

Micro - 240ml (10ml/G) Gro - 240ml (10ml/G) Bloom - 120ml (5ml/G) CalMg - 75ml (~3ml/G) UC Roots(H2O2) - 75ml (~3ml/G)

This is double what I was doing in my last two grows. It seems like the sediment is the color of the micro nute but I have no clue what is going on and am hoping for some guidance. Thanks! Am I just over feeding? Could that cause the foam and the sediment? The sediment is hard to see in the image but it is there!! in the image you can see the red/brown sediment coating the inlet to my recirc pump. that whole piece should be white.

The foam is bright white but drys brown. roots are still nice and white.

UC roots? You dont need that.What EC does that come out to?
Also dont use flourishes plus or koolbloom.

myke said:

UC roots? You dont need that.What EC does that come out to?
Also dont use flourishes plus or koolbloom.

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my PPM is 1071 and my PH is at 6.0

In my first grow I used Hydro guard and even with that ended up getting some root rot. to save the plants I was told to drop the hydroguard and start UC roots to keep a sterile rez. that saved all my plants. the second grow I used UC roots from the get go and never used the hydroguard and didnt have any issues so I guess I thought it was doing something good. lol.

I dont use Floraliscious but I do use Koolbloom during flower. Why no Koolbloom?

Thanks!

Ok sorry yes UC roots if youve had good luck with it.Hard water? I used the hardwater version of micro its pretty dark and changes the color.1000 ppm is border line high for that stag.Foam is normal with waterfalls and air stones.Color is from the nutes.
I would be at 1000ppm at week 3 flower.At your stag id be at 500ppm.

myke said:

Ok sorry yes UC roots if youve had good luck with it.Hard water? I used the hardwater version of micro its pretty dark and changes the color.1000 ppm is border line high for that stag.Foam is normal with waterfalls and air stones.Color is from the nutes.
I would be at 1000ppm at week 3 flower.At your stag id be at 500ppm.

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Ok! yes, in my last grow I stayed right around 500PPM all through veg and raised to around 800 in flower. I think I will go back to that. Should I change out the rez again for the 4th time this week? I am worried I am stressing the shit out of the plants by changing the water so much. but maybe that doesn't really matter. just costing me a fortune in nutes. The water isnt wasted as my drain goes out to a leach field that feeds my fruit trees and gardens.

As for hard water. I am running about 220PPM 7.5PH out of the tap. water is from a 280FT Well. Low iron but I am sure it has lots of lime and calcium and other minerals in it. I just ordered a new gallon of Micro too that will be delivered today. had no idea they had a hard water version.

Uc roots is expensive bleach if I'm not mistaken. Or something like that. Get some pool shock at Wal-Mart and save a lil money.


Foam usually means bacteria. Brown sediment usually means bacteria.

You upped the feed and it seems the microbes likes it a lot.

How often are you adding uc roots?

P nice setup.

phishmanforlife said:

Ok! yes, in my last grow I stayed right around 500PPM all through veg and raised to around 800 in flower. I think I will go back to that. Should I change out the rez again for the 4th time this week? I am worried I am stressing the shit out of the plants by changing the water so much. but maybe that doesn't really matter.

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I would drain some out and add back water to dilute it down a little,does EC drop with water level?.Plants will grow fine at 2 EC and at .5 EC it becomes a point of wasting nutes.How often you change water etc.A friend grows at 2 EC and never changes water just tops up,seams fine but would probably get the same results at 1 EC.

myke said:

I would drain some out and add back water to dilute it down a little,does EC drop with water level?.Plants will grow fine at 2 EC and at .5 EC it becomes a point of wasting nutes.How often you change water etc.A friend grows at 2 EC and never changes water just tops up,seams fine but would probably get the same results at 1 EC.

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with this setup, once dialed in, I am changing out rez about every 3 weeks. I add UC every 3-5 days as my rez temps stay around 67-70 degree F.

phishmanforlife said:

with this setup, once dialed in, I am changing out rez about every 3 weeks. I add UC every 3-5 days as my rez temps stay around 67-70 degree F.

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Add uc every other day. Add a lil more. Don't be afraid. Need to murder the brown stuff. Oxidizers go away very fast when they have things to murder.

Failmore said:

Uc roots is expensive bleach if I'm not mistaken. Or something like that. Get some pool shock at Wal-Mart and save a lil money.


Foam usually means bacteria. Brown sediment usually means bacteria.

You upped the feed and it seems the microbes likes it a lot.

How often are you adding uc roots?

P nice setup.

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correct, expensive bleach it is. I was just told that it is created using a food grade Hydrogen Peroxide and diluted to the level that you really cant hurt your plants with it. it just kills all the bacteria. I have read the same thing that foam and sediment mean bacteria which is why I am freaking out a bit. I know the system was clean, and I have rinsed and washed it three times this week and still the foam and sediment returns within hours of letting it roll. I am going to try and drain the rez again and refill with a 5ML/5ML/5ML per gallon mix on the Micro, Gro, and Bloom and see if that improves anything. Thanks! The setup was new for my last grow. my first grow I used just 5 gallon buckets and I just had so many issues I designed this rig.

phishmanforlife said:

with this setup, once dialed in, I am changing out rez about every 3 weeks. I add UC every 3-5 days as my rez temps stay around 67-70 degree F.

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Stick with what works but yeah there are cheaper alternatives to UC roots.

Failmore said:

Add uc every other day. Add a lil more. Don't be afraid. Need to murder the brown stuff. Oxidizers go away very fast when they have things to murder.

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will do!

phishmanforlife said:

will do!

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Yeha if that stuff is hydrogen peroxide it us only in the system a few hours. It is very volatile.

Failmore said:

Yeha if that stuff is hydrogen peroxide it us only in the system a few hours. It is very volatile.

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correct, the bottle even says it should be used every 1-3 days depending on rez temp. I was using every 3-5 because its expensive. lol. I need to find a good alternative. I know there are cheaper ways I just get so much conflicting info trolling all the posts in here.

I used 29% H202 at 1ml g twice a week.Bottle was $20 a litre.So thats enough for a thousand gallons.

Chlorine calculator ,just enter percent and look for 3ppm.
http://www.foodsafe.ca/dilution-calculator.html

@Wastei has good knowledge on the subject.Perhaps he'll chime in.

I've always had good luck with regular bleach (sodium hypochlorite) 3-5ppm is recommended in DWC. @myke posted the calculator :Chlorine dilution calculator. Don't mix chlorine with peroxides. Choose one or the other, I prefer hypochlorites because of their longer residual effect(typically 3-4 days compared to about 6h with H2O2.)

Stay away from all the organics GH sells intended for dirt like, rapidstart, floralicious + etc and focus on dialing in the mineral food.

I only add about every 4th day in Aero. In DWC I just added 3ppm to everything going in the reservoir like top offs, res change etc.

First impression is that you're running to much light for the size of plant. The LED panel at 300w is more than enough at this stage. More is not better in veg, you need adequate to build desired structure with not to much stretching. It will save you on some energy costs in veg.

@Wastei Thanks for the info! I think I will switch to reg bleach then after I use the last gallon I have of UC roots. The light suggestion is much appreciated. With Temp Control, humidity control, and these lights, my monthly bills can get big for someone just growing for personal use of myself and a few family and friends. any savings is great! in total, my cost of operation per ounce last grow was about $65. I dont know if thats good or bad but in comparison to spending $175-$250/Z I was happy.

phishmanforlife said:

@Wastei Thanks for the info! I think I will switch to reg bleach then after I use the last gallon I have of UC roots. The light suggestion is much appreciated. With Temp Control, humidity control, and these lights, my monthly bills can get big for someone just growing for personal use of myself and a few family and friends. any savings is great! in total, my cost of operation per ounce last grow was about $65. I dont know if thats good or bad but in comparison to spending $175-$250/Z I was happy.

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Yikes,$65 per.You need to produce more grams per watt.As said that 600 is a power grabber.Not sure if you scrog and lst but its what gets the grams per watt up.