Clown Baby
Well-Known Member
Typically I use bleach to sterilize my reservoirs. 100mL into a gallon jug, then I apply the jug at 1/2tsp per gallon reservoir water twice a week. It works well and keeps the pythium away. Roots are nice and white.
One day, I'm talking to my bud who works at the shop. I tell him about what I'm running and his eyes kind of bug out. Bleach??? Yeah.. bleach. He doesn't like the sound of that, and brings me a jug of Dutch master Zone. Gives me a bottle to try out in place of bleach. I shouldn't be using the bleach, he says. Well I take a look at the bottle and see that the active ingredient is copper sulfate. Copper sulfate is a blue powder that's used in ag/horticulture as a fungicide. Alright. I'll give it a shot.
So I take it back to the room and open it up. Hmm... That's a familiar smell. Where have I smelled this before? I go to my usual bleach jug and pop it open. Yep, that's it.
DM Zone seems to be a solution of bleach and fungicide (copper sulfate). I used the stuff, and it works as advertised. But what bothers me is that it does the exact same job as my bleach solution. The only difference is that bleach only costs pennies to use. I realize a bunch of people are going to jump all over me for this, but before you do, take a whiff of your bottle of Zone. Then go to the laundry room and huff some clorox. Aside from the dizziness, you're going to notice that they smell almost exactly the same.
Don't believe me? Then you also probably don't believe that most bug/mite sprays are little more than oil/soap solutions. Azamax cost about $80/quart and is just as effective as a homemade solution of canola oil and soap.
Just a little PSA I thought I'd share. A lot of these retail products are merely home remedies that are relabeled and marketed as secret sauce.
One day, I'm talking to my bud who works at the shop. I tell him about what I'm running and his eyes kind of bug out. Bleach??? Yeah.. bleach. He doesn't like the sound of that, and brings me a jug of Dutch master Zone. Gives me a bottle to try out in place of bleach. I shouldn't be using the bleach, he says. Well I take a look at the bottle and see that the active ingredient is copper sulfate. Copper sulfate is a blue powder that's used in ag/horticulture as a fungicide. Alright. I'll give it a shot.
So I take it back to the room and open it up. Hmm... That's a familiar smell. Where have I smelled this before? I go to my usual bleach jug and pop it open. Yep, that's it.
DM Zone seems to be a solution of bleach and fungicide (copper sulfate). I used the stuff, and it works as advertised. But what bothers me is that it does the exact same job as my bleach solution. The only difference is that bleach only costs pennies to use. I realize a bunch of people are going to jump all over me for this, but before you do, take a whiff of your bottle of Zone. Then go to the laundry room and huff some clorox. Aside from the dizziness, you're going to notice that they smell almost exactly the same.
Don't believe me? Then you also probably don't believe that most bug/mite sprays are little more than oil/soap solutions. Azamax cost about $80/quart and is just as effective as a homemade solution of canola oil and soap.
Just a little PSA I thought I'd share. A lot of these retail products are merely home remedies that are relabeled and marketed as secret sauce.
