Hydroton Reuse/Cleaning?

My rocks get 100's of gallons of water flushed through them every week. I use cloth filters and two sediment traps in my system. I do sterilize with heat if there is an untreatable problem. In an F&D lava rock system, as long as the system is kept from contamination it will keep itself clean if it is plumbed properly. It is ok to have some root mass left behind when cropping and replanting but I prefer to get as much as possible out. I find that if you give the plant short quik little pulls when the table is flooded it will remove most of the root mass from that plant. Any remaining root mass will simply rot and become compost which will eventually get into one of the sediment traps.

just run mine through a cycle of the dishwasher

[Q
UOTE=wiseguy316;4979375]just run mine through a cycle of the dishwasher[/QUOTE
you must be single lol

mrduke said:

all your plan seem to work fine if your only growing 2 or 3 plants. how the hell is one to clean and sterilize 150-200L of this shit? I do 24 plants in 2 gal pots and use about 4 bags every time, it cost around 80 bucks And would take days to clean so F it i just get new

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i wish i knew where you throw them. you can sterilize them with less effort than rebuying then carrying them in growroom opening them when still dusty rinsing then refilling. just spread em let em dry remove most roots rinse em with H2O2. you dont have to remove every roothair. if you plan on never cleaning you might want to switch to rockwool cubes or something, much cheaper alternative. 80$ of medium every run seems a lot for a disposable medium to me

mrduke said:

all your plan seem to work fine if your only growing 2 or 3 plants. how the hell is one to clean and sterilize 150-200L of this shit? I do 24 plants in 2 gal pots and use about 4 bags every time, it cost around 80 bucks And would take days to clean so F it i just get new

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ahhh... i'm holding 75 plants at any one time in hydroton.

i clean it in batches & do the work in stages.

easy peasy.

still have to buy it 50l at a time, no doubt, but i try & re-use hydroton as much as possible.

no lazy gardener over here.

I bought Hydrotron so that I do NOT have to keep bringing big ole bags of Hydrotron, rockwool, etc. into my apartment every grow. My door faces about 10 other apartments. Clean, rinse, rinse, dry, reuse. No one is the wiser and a little work $ave$ alotta coin.

I guess i'm just lazy and or my time is more valuable to me. It would take me probably close to 5 or 6 hours to wash and rinse and clean 200L of this shit plus the cost of H202. Or i can just run around the corner and spend the 125 bucks and be done with it. Plus I dont have to worry about left over roots/ nutes or salts. But thats just me.

pilgram said:

I havent washed my balls in years,just a quick rinse and dry.lol

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What the fuck.
Lol!

NoB

pilgram said:

I havent washed my balls in years,just a quick rinse and dry.lol

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ROFLMAO
Awesome commcercal too! The dude in the audience had Blue gym balls HAHAHA

mrduke said:

I guess i'm just lazy and or my time is more valuable to me. It would take me probably close to 5 or 6 hours to wash and rinse and clean 200L of this shit plus the cost of H202. Or i can just run around the corner and spend the 125 bucks and be done with it. Plus I dont have to worry about left over roots/ nutes or salts. But thats just me.

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125 bucks every 8 to 10 weeks. WOW what a waste of money. The cost of the h202 is only $35 per gallon and it doesnt take very much to sanitize the hydro.

FYI 200L is nothing. I have over 145 plants going at all times and at least 1000L of rocks. But like a previous person posted if you do it in stages the work isn't all that much. Get enough hydro to replant and take you time over the next cycle to wash and sanitize what you have and you will save yourself alot of money.

I have been re using mine for years i soak in h202 or hygrozyme.....let dry.....and filter out the remaining root particles with a screen...it's a pain in the arss but not as painful as forking up money for a new batch.....