what's the difference between a sterile rez and a beneficial rez?

hi guys, the question is in the title ^^

i think i'd prefer running a sterile res - sounds simpler - but i'm not really sure of which nutrients to buy as none of the labels refer to the solutions as sterile or beneficial.

i've been looking at the advanced nutrients range but need some to actually which of their' products are compatible with a sterile res and which are more suited to a beneficial rez??
 

blackforest

Well-Known Member
Each requires a separate product. Sterile rez would be pool shock, bleach, h2o2, zone, uc roots, or sm90. Beneficial would be hydroguard, great white, or ewc tea. They are separate from any nutrients you would buy.
 
use a beni rez untill your third week of floweing then on that third week fill up with steril h202 rez. This will allow your roots to utilze bennys to gain root mass and fight off pythium. Then by your third week of flowering your roots are large and less likely to loose a battle to pythium and will love to be cleaned by the h202. Not only that but with no bennys your plant will no longer focus on making roots as much and will switch into making flowers like you want it too
 

Getgrowingson

Well-Known Member
I use bennies with all my dwc grows. Hydroguard and before that aquashield. Don't need to worry about root rot ever. Work with nature as much as you can. You can NEVER keep a reservoir completely sterile. I mean look at hospitals people get sick from going to the hospital all the time and they disinfect with the best equipment available. You can try but eventually you'll get something. Use beneficials and don't give the bad bacteria any shot at thriving. It also helps by delivering nutrients to plants. I'm for beneficials always. Good luck. I've never had root rot or any root issues using aquashield or Hydroguard with water temperature into the high 70s.
 
it's been 2 weeks since i had a serious case of pythian and i went through so much water and sterile products trying to clean it and stop it from spreading for about 6 weeks. finally i ended up having to chop all my roots off because they were all infected and my girls looked terrible as you can imagine. they were in veg and grew less than an inch over that 6 weeks. then i discovered tea... BOOM... within 4 days i saw new roots and growth!

i'm at the end of the second week now and i'm a converted man. the plants have medium sized root balls which are so white they look fake and the vigour of the plants themselves is unbelievable!

so i'm going to stick with the tea trichgnome's advice and convert to a sterile res after the 3rd week of flower and drop my res temp back down to 18c . here's a before (after i cut all the dead roots off and cleaned the remaining ones) and after pic (10 days in the tea)...

IMG_5145.JPG IMG_5206.JPG
 
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