Deep Water Culture System Cleaning

aceknight

Well-Known Member
Fill water buckets with spring or filtered rainwater.

Add three teaspoons of Hydrogen Peroxide to the tank/bucket and run
the system for 3 hours.

Dump the water and refill with clean water.

Before running DWC System again, throw airstones into a pot of boiling
water for 13 mins. DO NOT USE TAP WATER! Flouride concentration
increases with high heat and becomes highly toxic.

Remove the airstones and let them cool off.

Blow into the airstones and remove any water that remains.

Pour the hot water from the pot used for the airstones into your tank/bucket. Connect and run DWC for an
hour or two and then repeat, with just clean water flushing the tank/bucket thoroughly.

I do not personally use the same hydroton, but most growers do. I
discard the used ones and replace them with new hydroton.

Set the Ph level to 5.9 and the water temperature to between 69 to 77 degrees.

Caution: Wear gloves and safety glasses while working.
 

Attachments

  • 1.png
    1.png
    1,011.2 KB · Views: 258
  • 2.png
    2.png
    1.1 MB · Views: 223
  • 3.png
    3.png
    1.2 MB · Views: 302
  • 4.png
    4.png
    1.2 MB · Views: 234
  • 5.jpg
    5.jpg
    230.2 KB · Views: 194
  • 6.jpg
    6.jpg
    321.6 KB · Views: 185
  • 7.jpg
    7.jpg
    365.4 KB · Views: 213
I will probably just scrub all my stuff really good, including the insides of the hoses I can get a cleaning brush in to as well. I really need to upgrade a few of my airstones but I will boil my good ones.
 
That looks great, but I think just a good scrub and rinse will do the job adequately.

Bacteria, fungi, and algal spores are everywhere, floating in the air we breathe, so it's more a matter of creating an environment in which the stuff that you don't want can't thrive than rigorous disinfection. Light and temperature control, good circulation, lids, beneficial bacteria...
 
I have not washed a bucket or cleaned my stones or hydroton in over 3yrs now and they all look like new.

I just use z7 water treatment in all my water and it takes care of all the cleaning that is needed.

My hydroton looks like the day I first opened the bag 3yrs ago.

All I do after a run is pour it out and then reload it into another bucket.

At first before I found z7 I did have to wash all the stuff every run.

But now I know there is no need for all of that and it is just a waste of my time.
 
I have not washed a bucket or cleaned my stones or hydroton in over 3yrs now and they all look like new.

I just use z7 water treatment in all my water and it takes care of all the cleaning that is needed.

My hydroton looks like the day I first opened the bag 3yrs ago.

All I do after a run is pour it out and then reload it into another bucket.

At first before I found z7 I did have to wash all the stuff every run.

But now I know there is no need for all of that and it is just a waste of my time.

That's quite an endorsement, but that stuff costs $2 an ounce! (Hydroguard is expensive too.)
 
That's quite an endorsement, but that stuff costs $2 an ounce! (Hydroguard is expensive too.)

Hydroguard is great though. I won't run a bucket without it. I've used a bottle of Z7 too, 2ml to 4gal at the beginning of the run and at every water change. I don't know how much it helps the roots, but it for sure keeps the buckets slicker. Anything that clings in the bucket, which isnt much, can be wiped out with a paper towel.
 
That's quite an endorsement, but that stuff costs $2 an ounce! (Hydroguard is expensive too.)

.5mil per gal and cost 2.5 cents.

With that there is no need for ro water and no need for hydrograud and it helps keep the ph stable.

My tap water is 180ppm and 9.2 to 9.4 out of the tap.

I had all kinds of issues before I found it.

Now it is just like clockwork.

I first found of about it when it came as a sample with a spray cloner.

I use old clippers to take my clone cuts and then I put them in the spay cloner with just tap water right out of the tap and z7.

Nothing is cleaned in any way and no gels or anything like that are used and 5 to 7 days later nice white roots pop out every time.

It does make growing a little boring.

But I am ok with that...
 
Hydroguard is great though. I won't run a bucket without it. I've used a bottle of Z7 too, 2ml to 4gal at the beginning of the run and at every water change. I don't know how much it helps the roots, but it for sure keeps the buckets slicker. Anything that clings in the bucket, which isnt much, can be wiped out with a paper towel.

At first I was using both Hydrograud and z7. Then one day I ran out of Hydrograud and thought I would see what z7 could do on it's own.

I did not have an kind of root issues using just the z7 so I just never got more Hydrograud.
 
I have not washed a bucket or cleaned my stones or hydroton in over 3yrs now and they all look like new.

I just use z7 water treatment in all my water and it takes care of all the cleaning that is needed.

My hydroton looks like the day I first opened the bag 3yrs ago.

All I do after a run is pour it out and then reload it into another bucket.

At first before I found z7 I did have to wash all the stuff every run.

But now I know there is no need for all of that and it is just a waste of my time.

Exactly. I do the same and have never had a system issue, nor reduced yield or quality.

When I started doing RDWC I did res changes every 7 days and cleaned the res and all the pods every time. Now I do my reservoir changes on about 30 day intervals and it takes about 20 minutes. Drain and refill.
1) Initial start up
2) Half way through veg
3) At transition to flower
4) Half way through flower
 
Fill water buckets with spring or filtered rainwater.

Add three teaspoons of Hydrogen Peroxide to the tank/bucket and run
the system for 3 hours.

Dump the water and refill with clean water.

Before running DWC System again, throw airstones into a pot of boiling
water for 13 mins. DO NOT USE TAP WATER! Flouride concentration
increases with high heat and becomes highly toxic.

Remove the airstones and let them cool off.

Blow into the airstones and remove any water that remains.

Pour the hot water from the pot used for the airstones into your tank/bucket. Connect and run DWC for an
hour or two and then repeat, with just clean water flushing the tank/bucket thoroughly.

I do not personally use the same hydroton, but most growers do. I
discard the used ones and replace them with new hydroton.

Set the Ph level to 5.9 and the water temperature to between 69 to 77 degrees.

Caution: Wear gloves and safety glasses while working.
If you can get a syringe to fit the inlet of the air stones, it works wonders for blowing them out. Clears the holes really well.
 
Back
Top Bottom