Fighting Nasty Root Rot

Big Perm said:

Pool shock and all that is out of my league. I can't help you there.

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So just res change and clean everything with peroxide then readd hydroguard and nutes as normal? What's the procedure? Wipe down Everything? Even the lid? Even the roots? Swap out air tubing?

FruityHigh said:

So just res change and clean everything with peroxide then readd hydroguard and nutes as normal?

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That's my suggestion. Make sure you get everything clean, don't take shortcuts, clean everything or it will come back. IF it comes back again after that I'd talk to someone about sterile res.

FruityHigh said:

So just res change and clean everything with peroxide

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Soak the roots in a peroxide solution somewhere else like in a clean bucket while you use bleach water to clean everything else.

Big Perm said:

Soak the roots in a peroxide solution somewhere else like in a clean bucket while you use bleach water to clean everything else.

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Hydroguard remains incredibly difficult and expensive to get in Canada. I'm nearly out.

Someone else did mention pool shocking it. You probably could keep the nutrient solution then. I know nothing about that though.

I actually just started running a Dyna-Gro product called Dyna-Zyme. I haven't used it enough yet to tell you how good it is, but it's supposed to be good stuff, that's why I'm trying it.
It might be cheaper for you?

Big Perm said:

I actually just started running a Dyna-Gro product called Dyna-Zyme. I haven't used it enough yet to tell you how good it is, but it's supposed to be good stuff, that's why I'm trying it.
It might be cheaper for you?

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price: CDN$ 104.82 + CDN$ 36.25 shipping for 1 gal :'(

FruityHigh said:

Can the water with nutes from 20 hours ago be saved or scrap them?

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If the issue is chlorine only, since the water has been bubbling for 20 hours a lot or all of the chlorine should have evaporated. So the water "should" be safe now to add bennies, or re-add uggg.

If the hydroguard hasn't expired or been open for ages, it should spank the rot. Figuring out why it's not working is where I'd start.

How big is your air pump and stones?

Use any dark color nutes like Kelp or Humic acids?

Got a 1$ bottle of h202 laying around?

• Keep your grow area, containers, equipments, etc. absolutely clean. You can use disinfectants like alcohol to kill bacteria. This will protect your system and plants from external microbial infection.

If bennie are the choice then look for Southern AG Garden Friendly Fungicide. Much cheaper and perhaps easier to pick up where you're at?

Bubblin said:

If the issue is chlorine only, since the water has been bubbling for 20 hours a lot or all of the chlorine should have evaporated. So the water "should" be safe now to add bennies, or re-add uggg.

If the hydroguard hasn't expired or been open for ages, it should spank the rot. Figuring out why it's not working is where I'd start.

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What about peroxide scrubbing down everything in the bin and letting the roots soak in a peroxide solution? It will be a readd situation . Is 2 ml / gallon enough to do the job? 40 ml for my 20 gallon solution and 20 ml for my 10 gallon solution. Totes are bigger than even 20 gallon so there is a misty air gap

Should I buy a chlorine / chloramine filter?

Cx2H said:

How big is your air pump and stones?

Use any dark color nutes like Kelp or Humic acids?

Got a 1$ bottle of h202 laying around?

• Keep your grow area, containers, equipments, etc. absolutely clean. You can use disinfectants like alcohol to kill bacteria. This will protect your system and plants from external microbial infection.

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one of the flora nutes is pretty dark. I use the flora trio. I should disinfect the container every week? I'd need to buy peroxide but I have rubbing alcohol.

shawnery said:

If bennie are the choice then look for Southern AG Garden Friendly Fungicide. Much cheaper and perhaps easier to pick up where you're at?

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Order Summary
Items: $17.49
Shipping & handling: $30.19
Total before tax: $47.68
Estimated tax to be collected:* $0.00
Order total: $47.68 USD for 16 oz southern ag, or $62

It's a million times or more concentrated than hydroguard.

You dilute at 20:1 with water and than 2ml per gallon.

Add that to your math!

Most cause for the many different types of pathogens that cause root rot in hydro are:

Dirty grow area practices.
Light leaks.
Hot water temps.
Disturbing young plant root zone.
Lack of enough disolved oxygen.
Stagnant areas in resivior.
External source. (all ways spore's floating around)

Fix the underlying problem(s) or treatment will not work.

None of those are problems except maybe dirty grow area. Like I do not clean out the res weekly with peroxide. I was under the impression I shouldn't and that doing so in a large system would be really hard especially when the plants are fat as fuck makes no sense

FruityHigh said:

None of those are problems except maybe dirty grow area. Like I do not clean out the res weekly with peroxide. I was under the impression I shouldn't and that doing so in a large system would be really hard especially when the plants are fat as fuck makes no sense

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Well if the conditions do not exist then a pathogen can not thrive.

You said up there you fixed light leaking into res and system. You also said you have water temps at 72 now which is still 4° higher than optimal but not a big issue. So

If it were me I would kill everything with h202 until next res change, full res change wipe down everything in there with h202 fill with clean cool water add nutes and pH then add oregonizmXL since that's what I use now instead of hydroguard and half the price but use what you have.

Peroxide lasts 24 hrs before converting to water. It won't kill the bacteria bloom completely but should help lower numbers so the good bacteria you introduce can dominate.

Anywho good luck.

Cx2H said:

oregonizmXL since that's what I use now instead of hydroguard and half the price but use what you have.

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oO nice, a new to me bennie, nice ty.

When I had root issues here's what I did once I had figured out and fixed the causes of said issues.

Drained system
Filled 50% with clean RO water
Drained below level of bulkheads so there was only like an inch of water for each plant to sit in (make sure each site has its own water for now and they wont cross contaminate as you clean)
Took each plant out 1 at a time and put it by itself in a clean bucket
Used shop vac to get all the water out of that tote
Wiped out each tote with paper towels and mild h202 solution
Went back to plant in bucket and rinsed the roots with fresh RO water and cleaned them out the best I could
Put a bit a fresh water in the bottom of clean tote so roots didnt dry out
Did this 1 plant at a time through my system
Filled system with RO water, mild nutes, and full dose of hydroguard
2 or 3 days later they were starting to look a little better so I did another full water change with vacuuming out the totes of all water

It took forever, but they all cleared up without having to go sterile and I havent changed my water since that

Here's an update, everyone: I pulled the trigger and bit the bullet for another quart of Hydroguard (94$ CAD). This isn't meant to disrespect the other bennies out there or their fans .

Further, because the underwater roots appear fairly white, like they're trying to fight, I've decide 72f is too warm. I've set my system to maintain 68-69f water temps. I'll get back to everyone in a few days. Thank you so much for the support and ideas!

On Thursday during next res change, I'll be sure to give the system a wipe down (thanks for a step by step guide @fragileassassin). Monday I'll top up Hydroguard to hold the res over.