Problem with Water

I started a Stealth Hydroponics grow and the water is now cloudy in color after about a week since I began. There is a white film building up in the tubes. So far I added just the nutrient packet supplied with the kit and a little of ph down. There is also some foam on top of the water. Any ideas what caused this and how I can change it?

Sounds like it's time for a nutrient change... also I have no idea what freebie nute solution they included. Can you be more specific as to what packet was supplied?

One packet said GROW and the other said MICRO. They had no labels on them other than the GROW and MICRO plus the stealth hydroponics name label. It said to mix well and i didnt exactly mix it that good. The packets were premeasured for six gallons which is the amount of water in the bucket. Would maybe mixing it better solve my problem? The water also doesn't smell to good either.

First off I would mix that stuff up better and second I would go buy some good nutrients - I use liquid nutes (GH Hydroponics) which don't foam up. You may be fine I have never used powders... need to get some posters who have experience with the stealth kit or using those types of nutes.

What stores can i buy those nutes at ?

lots of questions.. did you clean the bucket/tub before you put water in it? was the pump and tubing clean? what are you using to hold your plants up (i.e. pebbles, sand), are they clean? basically, did you clean everything before you started, or did you just throw everything together?

Everything was brand new before I started this grow its my first. The seeds are in rockwool cubes in the plastic net with grow rocks around it. I put the rocks in the net things first and turned everything on and let the water run through the rocks for an hour or two. Then I emptied and rinsed the bucket. I filled the bucket with 6 gallons of spring water and made the ph about 6 and also added the nute packets(I didnt stir them that much). After that I had already had the seeds germinating for a couple days so I put them in the rock wool cubes that came with the kit (I put the cubes in water with about 6ph overnight) and put the rockwool into the net pots. And now a few days later the water is cloudy, smells, and is building up some type of residue in the tubes.

Whats all this doing to the seeds I have planted ? Will they be able to make it nothing has sprouted yet.

Well it seems like your solution never got mixed properly... the smell is pretty normal (my res smells unpleasant). I would either mix the hell out of it or clean the res and mix a fresh batch.

Hey Hey,

I was having the same issue with the SH kit. I switched to Floranova stuff by GH. Having good results with it, but I suspect I need to change to a different type of solution again. I seem to get nutrient lock after 2 days of a new nutrient solution (gunna buy a PPm meter next week).
I suspect that running the pump for 24 hours a day may be contributing to a root rot issue I keep ramming heads with.
Anyone know of a good way of fixing nutrient lock out w/o having to change the nutrient solution as well (According to the papers that come with the GH stuff I am using a Mild solution, which is about half strength from what they call thier Grow solution).

Well, if you've got root rot, first thing is to check temperatures. Both the air and the reservoir. When temps are too high, pathogens grow.

When using hydro, at the first sign of any problem, always change the reservoir. That's the beauty of having complete control, so take advantage of it. Change the reservoir, and ask questions later.

HTH

I hope you see this. 1/ the instructions with the tank say to let the water from the tubes rinse the hydroton rocks and that is NOT enough rinsing. You should take the rocks and put them in a big collander or giant strainer and rinse them good there first. 2/ there is no reason to use that ph up and down especially early in the growth. That is where you messed up. Start all over or at least drain the tank and refill it with any water then do it again, rinsing it out good. make sure the rocks are rinsed very good. People will give advise here on this site with no experience with the SH System. The premeasured nutes supplied with the kit are excellent. If you read this, let me know, visit my thread called Stealth Hydroponics and look at my pics in
the Grow Room Setup page. look under R for Roseman.
Peace !

Putting the rocks in the cups and letting the water run for an hour was not enough. They ought to give better instructions. Next time, rinse the rocks in a collander or giant tea strainer. and useing that PH at the begining was wrong. If you start with good water and use the provided premeasured nutes, you can not go wrong,the ph will stay safe. You ought to drain it and re-fill it and do it again to get the tank clean again. Just syphon it out with a hose. try to stay away from that PH up and down game.
I never have root rot, I did add an extra air stone. I change my water every 7 days and it never stinks bad.

Next time you start, rinse the Hydroton rocks in a giant tea strainer first. don't rely on the system to clean the rocks of all that dust.