I am newbie and i have a bubble ponic setup....i forgot to cover the two extra holes on the bin and now the water is greenish(which from what i read a little bit of peroxide will clear it right up...but the water almost smells like a locker room.....i used distilled water that was fresh....the plant is going good still. should this be a problem? the ph and all seem to be fine.
The water should be clean and clear for the most part, and smell only of vitamins/nutrients and the smell of "sprouts" given off by the healthy roots.I had this prob before. Solution:Make sure the roots are still white-ish healthy and clean.Get rid of the old solution.Flush the old roots w/ clean water,don't re-use it.It helps to have an extra tub around that is the same size as the one you're using, you can just plop the lid on the other for few mins to clean the dirty tub.The container HAS to be light-proof or else more crap will grow in there.Spray Paint will prob flake off,I used Husky Black Plastic Sheeting on the side($8) and some aluminum tape for the lid($6) You probably need lots more bubbles(a larger air pump,or more small ones w/ multiple smaller air-stones)These things will keep things it clean and fresh. 1.Darkness 2.Oxygen 3.Movement/Flow 4.Filtered by water pump 5.Keeping dead material/debris out of the tub http://forum.grasscity.com/attachme...25854-roughneck-rubbermaid-hydro-img_3258.jpg http://forum.grasscity.com/attachments/general-indoor-growing/335867d1264125854-roughneck-rubbermaid-hydro-img_3259.jpg The pics are nothing to swear by, but show results.Several weeks of the same flowing fresh smelling/looking water.
I only use maybe 1 ml of Peroxide per gal just for safety, but watch your PH when adding. Scrub the tub, pump, airstones, air hoses, everything that has had contact w/ the green junk.Get it of the pots and roots as best you can w/out injury.Keep lights off of the roots.Some folks use bleach, I didn't.Just soap and super hot water.Run the pump for a while in the cleaning solution, take things apart slightly if needed in order to get everything scrubbed.Run the pump for a while in clean water when rinsing, don't run it w/out water.This will take you some part of a few hours total,but it is a preventive measure as well.Ask anything else you need to.Anyone else have anything?
ok, ok...I' obsessive.I keep remembering to mention things.Go w/ the cleanest water you can find to use next fill.Bottled water works well,spring water is prob best.I use water that has been boiled down from snow,filtered and stored in the jugs I got after my smelly water exp.The PH is right @ 5.9 and the plant loves the all-naturalness,but I may be crazy...
i cleared up the waer somewhat with the 3% peroxide and i did a tub clean and also cleaned the entire tub with peroxide and water all is wel now....i figured out my problem was not covering up the other 2 holes so light could not enter now that is taken care of its perfect!
Sounds great!Hope they love the clean goodness.You should only have to add water now when the res is low.I use the top of my water pump as an indicator,when the top is showing, I add 1-2 gal.Good Luck.