Ok so this is my first real attempt at bubble buckets. Im running six of them right now and last night i noticed a small amount of algae growth in the buckets. Not alot but a little along the airline tubing. Also some of the airline tubing is turning green inside. I did some research and i see that algae first off requires light, and secondly is usually found in higher temp buckets. I havent measured the temps in my buckets yet(getting thermometers today) but im not really sure whats up. Is the airline tubing let in light? Should i switch it over to green/black? Im changing the reservoirs today and im also gonna look over them and double check to make sure there arent any holes in where the tape is. I posted some pics to see whats up. Any feedback is appreciated. Ive done alot of research and cant find much suprisingly so anything that can help would be great. Im loving these buckets but ive heard if you cant control algae growth then youre totally screwed. P.S. Only other thing i can think of is that maybe i waited too long between rez changes. The water in the buckets is ten days old and i didnt really notice algae til about 3 days ago(first signs were the green airline). Im changing it today though and cleaning out the buckets.
Man i was just going thru the same shit with my hydro set up- I'm on an ebb and flow with a 4x4 flood tray and a 40gal res... Exposed roots in he tray and algae in the res. I talked to a buddy of mine and did some online research and what totally cured my problem, with NO adverse effects on my plants was a good old fashioned cleaning followed up by some hydrogen peroxide. They say you want to get food grade h2o2 (35%) because there are stabilizing agents in the drug store stuff (the 3%) that could cause harm to your plants... but after many testimonials i decided to give it a shot and i've seen nothing but improvement. Like i said my res is 40 gal and i put in 20cc of h2o2 every 5 days. I also learned the hard way not to let light in ur shit... looks like you have aluminum tape on your set up? just tape it down from top to bottom and i'm sure you'll be cool man, i doubt the little light getting thru your air tube promotes an algae problem in less than a week, but if u feel it does wrap some tape around that sucker too around the where it enters the bucket. my .02c.........good luck bro
Thanks for the input bro. im scrubbing all the buckets down today so hopefully that helps. it wasnt even very bad, thankfully ive caught it early i just dont want it to become a problem down the line. So you always have a little h2o2 in your rez? makes sense to me but all the things i was reading online said to change it after a half hour and put regular nute solution. i might try that though as a preventative measure. where do you find 35% h2o2? o and +rep for the ideas/feedback
Yeah i agree with this too, but unfortunately I had to find the cheap way out of the problem since a chiller is outside of my immediate budget. Hey thanks man and you're welcome! Yeah, I just used the shit you get at walmart or a pharmacy (3%). It has not shown any adverse effects what so ever, but of course different strains may have different reactions and I might just be lucky. The h2o2 wouldn't be the problem... all it is, is water with an extra oxygen molecule. It prevents anaerobic bacteria, pythium, algae and a slew of other things but it also inhibits BENEFICIAL bacteria. It takes about 2-3 days for it to break down and the 'waste' is literally water and the other stabilizing agents evaporate within the first day. So, you dont have any nasty left overs. I guess my rez, considering time it takes for the h2o2 to break down, has an amount of h2o2 half the time. add it on day one, its gone day 3 and add more on day 5 so couple days on and couple days off. Works for me! Getting 35% h2o2...? I know there are places you can order it online. I haven't check first hand but heard you can get it at Nurseries. And I know you can also get it at any feed shop or in my case equestrian care centers that carry health related products for cattle/horses. Happy hunting! lol Peace
and just to be safe i would get the black airline tubing. All pet stores have it. i started with clear and light got in then i taped the tube where it enters the bucket and still no go. the light was coming in so i went to black tubing. problem solved.
Well it was a long day of work but heres what i did. Started by draining and cleaning(soap and hot water) and then rinsing out all the buckets thorougly. Refilled the buckets and added H2O2 (2 tsp to 3 gallons) to the nute solution. I replaced the air stones and tubing(got black airline this time) to make sure no algae was transferred over. Im gonna add more H2O2 probably every week and then tweak it if needed based on results. Im hoping that by minimizing all the light and adding h2o2 i can minimize the chance for algae to develop or at the minimum kill it before it can affect my plants roots. Ill update this in a week and let you know whats up. I did get thermometers to find out where the temps are at so ill check em out and see if maybe thats something to do with it. Thanks for all the help though guys. Much appreciated.
Fill your med up over your rockwoll . I can see water threw your net pots ! Your roots look very thin to me . How close is your water level ? water temp ?