My root just dropped!

Sharksline99

Sharksline99

New Member
Hey all, I'm new here to this site as posting a thread goes, but I've been reading what all you have had to say. I am very open to anyone's opinion or advice. I have a closet set up, first I want to say it's not sealed, my dryer is in there, along with some other clothes. It's in the middle space of it all and it has a 600w MH bulb about 1.5, 2 ft above 7 seedlings, all in solo cups except one The Doctor from Green House Seeds which is in a 5 gallon single DWC. After 3 weeks of veg about, the root finally showed at the bottom of the net pot this morning, dangling in the water. Now from before seeing that my water had been a little cloudy, did a super light feed at about 100-150 ppm including Ph Down which I've been adding almost daily.

My room temp is around 72-80f throughout the day, at nighht 60-65f
Water temp I've been targeting 69f and below, it has gone up to 20.9 or 21.0 Celsius on the Hannah PPM, EC and PH combo pen I have which I believe is 71-72f?
600W MH
5 Bag seed, 1 Sour D seed, 1 The Doctor which is Fem in DWC.
Ph I've been shooting for 5.5-5.9 but it seems within hours throughout the day it rises up to 7 something. I continually add Ph down, getting home from work everyday I just know it's up so I just put an amount where my eye knows its enough.

My concern is why is this happening. My ppm stayed about the same 145-150ppm and the Ph would always rise from 5.5-5.9 to above 6.5 everyday. I don't think I have light leaks, the bucket is a homedepot bucket, orange, do I need a black one?
I'm trying to resolve this issue now before my roots become rotted and slimy like i've been reading other people's problems to be.

Thanks for all your help.
 
Yesterday I changed the res, it had about 100 ppm of 10ml\3gallons of GH Group and micro and 5ml bloom. I want to take pics when I get home, I have was seems to be PH fluctuation in the new growth. Right now i ran tap water through a zero water filter and the ppms always below 6 with my Hanna meter. Checked this morning, Ph rose to 6.35, PH downed it to 5.65. I double bucketed the 5 gallon dwc for preventing light penetration, also when changing/cleaning the res there was algea build up it seemed on the the bottom the airstones and a little around the bucket itself... My watertemps too high or is it the light penetrating the water?? Thanks again pleaae , some replies or guidance to other threads? I used to write on -------------------- but they're no more. :-(
 
Hi there
Yeah so first make sure you're 100% light proof. Putting a second semi-see through bucket over top wont help much. Either get a black bucket or tin foil. Those orange buckets let a bit of light through.

Second, if you're sure your water temps dont get over 75/76f, then go ahead and dump some 3% store bought h2o2. It'll kill off all the bad stuff and give your roots a chance. If you suspect your water does get too hot, you could look into beneficial microbes. They may let you get up to 85f or so.

So EITHER h2o2 for a sterile res, OR beneficial microbes for a live res.

Good luck and let us know!
 
Hey thanks for your time snafu,
the 3% h202, i can buy it at the store? Its like peroxide if im not mistaken? Secondly, would benefial microbes work with temps still targeting under 70f? Or would it need to be hotter?

Would the light penetration be the cause of the Ph rising?
 
Yup, that's generic peroxide, at 3%. Gets expensive on larger scales so there's also a 30% option you can dilute. (Ends up being cheaper)
For a 5 gallon bucket, only need 4-5 capfuls.

With the bennes, they really work best around 78f. Anything under 68fand they go dormant and stop working. So it's up to you. I'd start with the sterile res option and go from there.

And it's not the light penetration per say, it's actually the abundance of pathogens in the water that's causing the ph to go up, which is probably being caused by the light penetration, if that makes sense. So without fixing the issue, the peroxide may be just a quick fix.

Good luck!
 
Wow learning sonmuch already and loving it, thanks snafu I ordered some h202 from amazon, along with some super thrive just cause all I have is GMB 3 part from GH. I'll be wrapping the bucket with tinfoil in the morning.thanks again!!
 
So, how do I upload pics taken from my phone and attach them here?

Also, got the h202 which seemed to kill of that algae, but my pH still rises, this morning the pH meter jumped to a reading of 7.2 and climbed down slowly to 6.4ish, I added pH down to about 5.3/.4 pH but I'm sure once off work in 6.5 hours it will have gone back up to 6.4ish.... Help please, I added reflective foil to the bucket bottom to prevent light penetration.
 
Ya bud if your ph is rising like that you got root slime. Or brown slime algae/cyanobacteria. Best way to fix it (only way imo) is with a beneficial microbe tea. Look up "root slime cure aka breeding beneficial microbes" and get reading! Then brew a tea, and toss it in your water 48hrs later. Piece of cake. Then keep all organics out so it doesnt come back.

Good luck
 
Hey SnaFu, thanks, I'm keeping my hopes up with the sterile rez for now, it actually seems to be working out.

It's been about 10 days since a rez change, so I'm going to once I get of work, a rez change to RO, since it hasn't gotten a break. PPM has been at 600 climbing slowly down from that 10 days. Checked my pH after a couple days of not touching anything, pH was at 6.1 and everything seems healthy, I topped and lollipopped at 4 nodes growth, she's bouncing back nicely and took a look at the roots and they're all white, water isn't even really cloudy and there's no slime/rot/algae. Want to check back in a couple days after posting pics....

Help with posting pics so i can share the wealth? I want to show you guys what it's been since the top.
 
Figured out the uplaoding photos', if these don't work on this thread you can check out my gallery, I uploaded them there.
 
From youngest date to oldest....
photo_1367.JPG
photo_2315.JPG
photo_1_1_24.JPG
photo_2_1_23.JPG
photo_4200.JPG
photo_3252.JPG
 
Right on buddy good to hear. Im glad i could help, this DWC thing almost got the best of me, thankfully im too stubborn to throw in the towel and now you should just see the rate of growth in my rdwc. So glad i figured it out. There should really be a sticky on this forum letting new growers know prevention is everything. Choose either sterile or live and go with it.

Just to clear it up (pun) you went with a sterile res? As in h2o2 treatments every couple days? Maybe elaborate a bit to help someone else in the future who happens upon this thread.
 
Well I'm super glad youve been sticking through with me, seems that fight isn't over, I will be uploading a picture of my res soon later today or tm... The slime/rot is back, and all I have been thinking about now is going with a live rez, bennies consisting of ancient forest, aquashield and botanicare zho. It was all well until one night, it hit 70 something, and it came in right away. I feel that it would be easier to produce more heat so bennies can thrive for the environment they need.
The H202 seems that in my circumstances, only buy me time, it does cure. I will be ordering those products mentioned earlier tomorrow, I will have to clean my res, air lines and stones today, replace with RO, and 2 caps full of 29% h202 until my order comes. I feel like deformity on the leaves are a cause of either this rot, or pH fluctuations from the beginning.

So SnaFu, I guess my ultimate choice now is to switch over. I feel with out spending unnecessary money and time to trial and error, bennies, when having even an 8 hour bad night for you ladys temps rising too much, you wouldn't have to worry.

I could tell that she started to droop before her night and I saw browness and slime at the tips of practically the whole root tip surface, I chopped that layer off and let it go over night adding a cap of h202. Again only one solution in my scenario and its choosing live.
 
Yeah thats like me too. Sterile res only ever bought me time. Running that tea i am able to run my temps around 75f, although i have to change the water every 3 weeks. Top up method isn't really an option unfortunately. But yeah make the tea, you wont be disappointed. A lot of good info in that thread. It's all about dialing in your own setup. Keep me posted, good luck.
 
Awesome SnaFu thanks, I have a question, at night, with the rez temps dropping at around 63-68 would be problematic for the bennies at that point? And you change the water every 3 weeks, or times a week, i dont go that long, usually the nornmal 7-10 days. Thanks again

Sharksline99
 
No that temp is fine for the bennes. And yeah 7-10 days is good. I run rdwc with 100l res so i try and push it. But yeah every system is different. Let me know if you've got any more questions.
 
Ook, good to know, I just ordered the Ancient Forest, Botanicare Aquashield and ZHO. Anything you feel that is an essential addition?
 

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