Using Bleach

[DemontauruS]

I'm growing in a 6-plant reservoir - the EcoGrower - and the problem thats occurred is that a couple of the plants died being overpowered by their neighbors, and some root rot occured - some browning of the remaining roots, and its dripped down into the water chamber.

Ive heard of using bleach, a few mL per gallon, to help curb any decomposition in the water. The roots look OK for the most part, but Im in my 4th week of flowering, and Im afraid that the root systems from the dead/chopped off plants will rot in the water chamber and screw with my other plants.

Has anyone used bleach before? Is it safe to use with GH Flora series nutes? Is there any other safe way to eat the tanning/softening thats going on in the root chamber?

I use H2O2 but its emitted from a bag in the air (Ex-Hale) - not into the water.

 

[MrGhettoGrower]

I wouldn't use no bleach on a plantThe only thing I've heard of was to use 10% bleach water to wash you hydro system or pot or whateverI NEVER heard of feeding it to the plants

 

[tommyo3000]

Hello,
I just used bleach on all of my hydroponic reservoirs about 7 minutes ago. I run GH Flora Series nutrients.

I just used my generic 6% bleach from my grocery store.

I ran in .2mL per gallon. That is .2mL per US Gallon. Don't get confused.

All city water is treated with chlorine. When I went backpacking, I pulled water from streams and used this very same household bleach.. few drops per gallon.. to kill the shit in the water. then I drank it. No big deal if you understand it.

oh yeah.. here is a link with better info:
http://scienceinhydroponics.com/2009/02/disinfecting-your-hydroponic-solution-with-hypochlorite.html
"Disinfecting your Hydroponic Solution with Hypochlorite"

 

[tommyo3000]

Here is an excerpt from Clorox.com Dr. Laundry blog:

Here are some quick calculations to get you grounded:
1/4 cup Clorox® Regular-Bleach/gallon gray water would provide 900 ppm available Chlorine

For swimming pools, the range is usually 1-3ppm or 1/8 cup/100 gallons

For disinfecting potable drinking water in an emergency 1 tspn/gallon of clear water or 2 tspn/gallon of cloudy water; no chlorine smell after 30 minutes repeat until odor is present.

A difficult question to answer is how much organic load is in the water and how “uniform” is it from source-to-source and time-to-time. This has a direct bearing on your ultimate needed bleach level. So your suggested approach seems reasonable if you want to provide good quality water back into a waterway, since a noticeable chlorine odor would mean it is nearly “clean” water. If you are using the treated water for other purposes, then the single 1/4 cup application and stirring may be enough.

http://www.clorox.com/blogs/dr-laundry/2010/05/25/disinfecting-water-while-camping/

 

[tommyo3000]

Quick and dirty

Flairform Pythoff mimic
100ml of Clorox Regular bleach per 1 gallon of water

(Adding the water/bleach dilute from above)
5ml per gallon of nutrient solution the first day
2.5ml per gallon of nutrient solution each following day.

 

[asaph]

why don't you use h2o2 for the water? you can get it in any pharmacy

whatever you use it better work i think, cuz you may have an infection of pythium there which is said to be very dangerous and contagious to all plants in the res and even outside it.

 

[wiseguy316]

I use bleach to treat brown algae and in all my hydro setups for preventive measures. Works great. I use h202 also.

 

[tommyo3000]

Here is some info from fatman from a thread on this site somewhere.. It is about bleach and hygrozyme...
Also, I am ordering a free chlorine meter.. I think it will be handy to test my hydro rez and my hot tub.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Free-Chlorine-FCL-Meter-Tester-PPM-0-2-5ppm-Pool-Spa-/190538461114?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c5cfa2fba#ht_3933wt_974

now the post from fatman:
"I recommend an initial dose of about 2 ppm to 2.5 ppm and a residual level of 0.5 ppm. Higher doses such as used by commercial green house growers are because they quite often use surface water and water from open irrigation canals. These often have Pythium that are more resistant to chlorine that can require up to 4 ppm to kill. However a maintenance (residual) level of 0.5 ppm will keep re population of even the more resistant Pythium from reestablishing a population. Even the most resistance bacteria and pathogens are killed down to at least a 0.01 to 1 percent population by a 20 minute contact with a 2 ppm dose. So starting out with a 2.5 ppm dose nearly all chemical nutrient systems will maintain a dose high enough to kill all Pythium, bacteria or pathogens before the chlorine drops below 2 ppm. It will then 12 to 24 hours for the rest of the chlorine to dissipate down to around 0.5 ppm.

If you have a root rot problem already established then a larger 4 ppm dose would be advised for an initial dose, then drop to 2 ppm the next day and 0.5 ppm each day after that until harvest. You can easily use dose 100 times larger initially without harming all but young seedlings. However with such high levels you will oxidize all your iron causing it to dissipate as rust. You would kill most of any hair roots but the regrow nearly daily.

I repeat, you should not use chlorine or H2O2 with organic fertilizers or with organic supplements as it will kill the bacteria and enzymes they contain. Remember also that agrozyme does not kill Pythium, allegedly it can not compete with the hydrozyme bacteria for food so they can not multiply quickly enough to cause problems. The commercial greenhouse industries does not support that claim. Hygrozyme does not even now claim to add the beneficial enzymes they once added. There adds and stories page is full of deceptive things. For an example they claim: •

The follwing sentences in quotes are from the Hyd grozyme site at the link provided. "Hygrozyme is the only known solution on the market that can be used in conjunction with hydrogen peroxide in a ppm of 1-2% solution, a combination used by many operators to clean, sterilize and oxygenate roots." http://www.hygrozyme.info/directions...c-systems.html What does that mean ? We know that a 1% solution is 100 ppm and a 2% solution is 200 ppm. That concentration would be unusable in any hydroponic system (chemical or organic). Period. However consider a house hold bottle of H2O2 is 3.5%. Are they suggesting a to 1 ppm solution of a 3.5% solution. IE a 1 to 100 dilution of 350 ppm solution. That is 3.5 ppm. Now consider if it was the stronger 35% H2O2 used by most growers. That would mean a ppm of 35 ppm. That is absurd also as H2O2 is a stronger oxidizer than chlorine and Chlorine even at 2 ppm kills the "beneficial enzymes". I think they are about as credible as Fat Mikie at AN."

 

[Smizzz]

I have been using clorox bleach with my areo system for the past year with great results - distilled water or R/O water formula I use is - 6 drops per gallon every other day as the bleach will evaporate and or break down - and this has always kept my roots bone white

 

[LadyZandra]

Erm... I'm not going to argue w/ people who do and it works....
But the whole reason for people doing RO/Filters or Aerating their water before use is to disperse/filter OUT chlorine...
to add it in... eh... just not safe IMO... I'd stick with Hydrogen Peroxide (NOT Oxyclean!) it is safer and harmless to the plants as long as you don't just dump it in....

 

[clownbow]

Erm... I'm not going to argue w/ people who do and it works....
But the whole reason for people doing RO/Filters or Aerating their water before use is to disperse/filter OUT chlorine...
to add it in... eh... just not safe IMO... I'd stick with Hydrogen Peroxide (NOT Oxyclean!) it is safer and harmless to the plants as long as you don't just dump it in....

actually plants use chlorine they like it