hydroton clay questions
- Thread starter koda
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angelsbandit
Well-Known Member
With new rocks you are getting all the loose dust washed off the rocks.
After a grow I wash the rock well to remove bits of root and built up salts. Then soak them in water with H2O2, rinse again, and you are good to go.
After a grow I wash the rock well to remove bits of root and built up salts. Then soak them in water with H2O2, rinse again, and you are good to go.
Heisenberg
Well-Known Member
If you have a ton of roots tangled in your balls, try throwing them in the oven for a few minutes and rinsing. The roots turn to ash.
Dirty Harry
Well-Known Member
I pressure cooked / sterilized my hydroton the other night.
My cooker is a 23 quart and can hold almost a five gal. bucket of rock.
Here is how I just recycled my hydroton. A five gal. bucked filled with semi-cleaned hydroton. I filled with hot water and added a large 3% bottle of H2O2. Mixed well and let soak over night.
Put on a bucket lid with many holes drilled into it, flipped upside down in the bath tub to drain.
I took my cooker and added two inches of water (just like canning) and then dumped in the rock and put on the lid.
I put it on the stove and high heat until it starts to vent (constant steam from the weight spout) after 10 min I put on the weight.
I let it come up to 15 pounds of pressure, adjusting the heat, and cooked it for 30 min under high steam pressure.
You have super heated rock, it will take a long time for pressure to come down to zero. LEAVE THE FUCKER ALONE!
When pressure is down to zero, take the weight off and wait another 15 min before unlocking the cooker.
ITS HOT! Open the lid to shield your face.
I noticed that any roots or other matter is pushed up and will settle on the top of the rocks.
LET COOL and then pick out what your can. What ever bug, virus, or bacteria that may of been on your rocks are DEAD and sterilized.
The rock is HOT, do not dump back into a plastic bucket or expose to cold water until cool. Bucket could melt and the rocks could burst like a hot marble being dripped into water.
When cool, dump back into bucket, put on filter lid and flip to drain remaining water.
Vegetable gardening season just started. I had to use my pressure cooker for something
Also works to sterilize fish tank gravel.
My cooker is a 23 quart and can hold almost a five gal. bucket of rock.
Here is how I just recycled my hydroton. A five gal. bucked filled with semi-cleaned hydroton. I filled with hot water and added a large 3% bottle of H2O2. Mixed well and let soak over night.
Put on a bucket lid with many holes drilled into it, flipped upside down in the bath tub to drain.
I took my cooker and added two inches of water (just like canning) and then dumped in the rock and put on the lid.
I put it on the stove and high heat until it starts to vent (constant steam from the weight spout) after 10 min I put on the weight.
I let it come up to 15 pounds of pressure, adjusting the heat, and cooked it for 30 min under high steam pressure.
You have super heated rock, it will take a long time for pressure to come down to zero. LEAVE THE FUCKER ALONE!
When pressure is down to zero, take the weight off and wait another 15 min before unlocking the cooker.
ITS HOT! Open the lid to shield your face.
I noticed that any roots or other matter is pushed up and will settle on the top of the rocks.
LET COOL and then pick out what your can. What ever bug, virus, or bacteria that may of been on your rocks are DEAD and sterilized.
The rock is HOT, do not dump back into a plastic bucket or expose to cold water until cool. Bucket could melt and the rocks could burst like a hot marble being dripped into water.
When cool, dump back into bucket, put on filter lid and flip to drain remaining water.
Vegetable gardening season just started. I had to use my pressure cooker for something
Also works to sterilize fish tank gravel.
tommyo3000
Well-Known Member
I use about 500 gallons of hydroton...
I can't afford to get rid of that much, plus it is a reusable resource.
You can use H2O2 or just use clorox bleach at 2.5PPM to clean used rocks.
I can't afford to get rid of that much, plus it is a reusable resource.
You can use H2O2 or just use clorox bleach at 2.5PPM to clean used rocks.
Dirty Harry
Well-Known Member
True but I am a guy with a pressure cooker. Just like power tools and barbeque's I gotta use it for something.
Nothing is going to survive that treatment. Hell, do it 90 min at 15 lbs as you would meats and you have scorched earth in terns of critters and bacteria,
Todesengel
Member
Haha I just threw 5 gallon of hydroton in my pressure cooker! Also a 23 quart Presto. I love this thing! Best $75 ever! I might polish it up with the dremel....
But anyway, ya I had this gray mold growing on my hydroton. Not sure what it is, very delicate. You can blow on it and it falls off the hydroton, it might be dangerous but I didn't breathe it in. It is definitly mold and not calcium build up as it keeps spreading. I even ran H202/ PureWater thru my reservoir, did nothing.
But anyway, ya I had this gray mold growing on my hydroton. Not sure what it is, very delicate. You can blow on it and it falls off the hydroton, it might be dangerous but I didn't breathe it in. It is definitly mold and not calcium build up as it keeps spreading. I even ran H202/ PureWater thru my reservoir, did nothing.
Dirty Harry
Well-Known Member
@Todesengel,
If it was mold, it and all spores should be dead. You may want to run some high strength bleach water through your system to kill any remaining spores or the problem will come back. You will also need to bleach clean your room as it is probably full of spores.
IMHO, if I suspected I had mold, I would of cooked it longer just be be safe but I think 30 min will do the trick since the rocks will hold heat for a long time after you turn off the burner.
If it was mold, it and all spores should be dead. You may want to run some high strength bleach water through your system to kill any remaining spores or the problem will come back. You will also need to bleach clean your room as it is probably full of spores.
IMHO, if I suspected I had mold, I would of cooked it longer just be be safe but I think 30 min will do the trick since the rocks will hold heat for a long time after you turn off the burner.