Drip Clean In Ebb N Flow Hydroton?

AlphaPhase

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
Just curious if using drip clean for an ebb and flow system that uses hydroton as a media would have benefits? I've read alot of good things about the product and sometimes I get salt buildup on my tray /ebb buckets and hydroton, so I figured I'd buy some drip clean and run it with my nute regimen from start to finish.. But I know the product is geared towards drip / aeroponic systems.

Any input or experience?
 
AlphaPhase

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
Also I'll be running my ebb buckets a little different, the plants roots will be suspended in the pot. The roots will be flooded mainly, with a small amount of hydroton in a pot that holds the plant in place. Will be similar to dwc but with out the roots sitting in water 24/7, the roots will be flooded every 1.5 hrs.

Is drip clean good for dwc? Can't really find any info other than for drip /aeroponic.
 
a mongo frog

a mongo frog

Well-Known Member
AlphaPhase said:
Just curious if using drip clean for an ebb and flow system that uses hydroton as a media would have benefits? I've read alot of good things about the product and sometimes I get salt buildup on my tray /ebb buckets and hydroton, so I figured I'd buy some drip clean and run it with my nute regimen from start to finish.. But I know the product is geared towards drip / aeroponic systems.

Any input or experience?
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I'm sure you wouldn't be the first to use it in that way. I use it in drain to waste.
 
AlphaPhase

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
a mongo frog said:
I'm sure you wouldn't be the first to use it in that way. I use it in drain to waste.
Click to expand...
Right on, I've been looking for a couple days of anyone mentioning running it in ebb systems but can't find a single thing. I know some people must use it, kind of curious if it's used at the same strength. I found 1 mention of using it in recirculating (i think rdwc but not sure) and they used 1ml a gallon instead of .4ml a gallon. I wonder if it's used at a different rate for different systems
 
AlphaPhase

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
Also I'm extremely curious if drip clean kills beneficial bacteria. I've heard it doesn't and I've heard it does :p
 
J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
hey alpha you've helped me out a lot so i tried doing my own research to see if maybe i can help you out because i have a few accounts at different websites but what i could find was some people said:
(this guy does huge plants in coco flood and drain)
"I use h202 with drip clean. Works for me."

another guy said
"You can use any additive with any nutrient line. It will not hurt anything to mix and match. And Dutch Master are among the best lines so no you didn't mess up.
Make sure you have zero chlorine in your water if you use drip clean or roots excelurator. If you have even trace amounts you are wasting your money. Chlorine will kill any and all bacteria and that includes beneficial bacteria."

someone else who only had 1 post so i couldn't verify grow style said
"I have gone through a full grow (going to havest in 3 days) in a vertial hydro system of my own making using all h&g I have no crust on anything res, drain, pump all clean, so I have to say it works. Also I have some plants in the grow that started with BC nutes and others that have been only on H&G the H&G plants are 5 weeks in and the flowers are as big as the BC ones that are 10 weeks in"

another guy that does f&d and said the drip clean works in another thread said
"here is what i am running currently. ebb and flow buckets with veg plus bloom, drip clean and some bloombastic in flower. thats it and they are exploding. i am using growstones instead of hydroton. i think they hold a little more water so you can do less often feeds but i still do every 3 hours during lights on. they seem to be ok with it so im keeping it going."

and theres plenty of people in this thread that approve of it and say it works https://www.icmag (.)com/ic/showthread.php?t=236727&highlight=drip+clean

but i feel like theres such a small amount of people who do f&d like that it'll prob be impossible to find someone that uses drip clean and does that style f&d I'm getting a shit ton of salt buildup on my hoses too it sucks but hope that could help you out a little but id say screw it and try it out if i were you... shit I'm a cheap ass and I'm about to go and buy a bottle of it on monday lol
 
J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
sorry i couldn't be more help... i just hate to see someone who helps a lot people ask a question and only gets one reply, thats messed up
 
AlphaPhase

AlphaPhase

Well-Known Member
jronnn said:
sorry i couldn't be more help... i just hate to see someone who helps a lot people ask a question and only gets one reply, thats messed up
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Dude, thank you! This helps a lot and is extremely appreciated! I always have some "underground" questions and for the most part no one knows the answer lol. It sucks because I wish when I have a question some one can throw me a bone, but it's usually stuff no one really knows the answer to so I end up doing the whole trial and error thing :p but I'm glad to see some one mentioned ebb and grow buckets and drip clean since that's what I'll be doing. I usually don't add too many additives but salt buildup sucks and if I can avoid it I'll throw a new product into the res. Drip clean seems like a solid product for drip systems, so I figure why not use it? Drip systems run few times a day, my flood cycles run a few times a day, seems similar to me. If they don't kill beneficial bacteria I think we will be in business bro :)
 
J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
AlphaPhase said:
Dude, thank you! This helps a lot and is extremely appreciated! I always have some "underground" questions and for the most part no one knows the answer lol. It sucks because I wish when I have a question some one can throw me a bone, but it's usually stuff no one really knows the answer to so I end up doing the whole trial and error thing :p but I'm glad to see some one mentioned ebb and grow buckets and drip clean since that's what I'll be doing. I usually don't add too many additives but salt buildup sucks and if I can avoid it I'll throw a new product into the res. Drip clean seems like a solid product for drip systems, so I figure why not use it? Drip systems run few times a day, my flood cycles run a few times a day, seems similar to me. If they don't kill beneficial bacteria I think we will be in business bro :)
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no problem dude and i could only image how much that sucks luckily my questions have been somewhat basic for the most part so you and everyone has helped a ton just sucks how more of the experienced growers couldn't chime in really quick to give you their thoughts on the product or any products similar to it but i think its the maxi gro causing all the salt buildup in mine (atleast i hope its that and not something else lol) but yeah man it definitely sounds similar enough to me, id give it a go, i might grab some too to but theres one issue, i just saw post on ic mag, i know its supposed to keep lines clean but i guess its also an additive, as in like its also meant to contribute to plant growth too and "it was made to fit into the h&g complete feeding program" some people are saying it doesnt disrupt the feeding program, some say it might... and i saw some people questioning if it'll work with beneficial bacteria... i also saw a couple people saying it does work with h2o2 so id double check on the beneficial bacteria thing. but i hope you figure it out, especially if i plan on running a tray similar to yours once my mother plants are ready to give me clones because I'm sure I'm going to be running into the same problem as you lol

another link you might want to check out is this one. its not about f&d specifically but there might be some helpful info... theres quite a few questions and answers in this link
https://www.icmag (.)com/ic/showthread.php?t=140876

one guy said...

"Drip clean has an npk ratio of 0-24-8.
It is phosphoric acid and potassium oxide.
It was designed to keep drip lines clean.
It is weird that only the US site markets it as a way to prevent over fertilizing.
Here is the European info:
http://ukhouseandgarden.co.uk/hg_dripclean.html
They even say "Drip Clean gives your plants a boost, improving their greenness and vitality."
I tried it when I was hand watering 3-5 gallon containers and it didn't prevent buildup.
It does work in my Waterfarms to help keep the lines from blocking up.
 
brokencage

brokencage

Active Member
I just started using it in a ebb-n-flow bucket system. I dont dump nutes the whole grow unless somthing go's wrong so I am just adding a dose once a week & top off and add back nutes as usual. so far they look great but I am only a few weeks in. The real test will be when I switch out to the 600w and go to full feed. Im hopfull, it's hard flushing under the screen.
 
brokencage

brokencage

Active Member
I just wanted to give a little update. So far so good. They are eating fast now training into the screen well. The way the system works there is always about an inch of solution left in the bottom of the buckets after flood, it is a design flaw. I work around it by flooding every couple hours so the solution is always swapped out and never gets stale. However it makes testing for salt build up easy, all I have to do is tilt the control bucket so the float valve triggers and I get a little bit of that bottom bit of solution i can test. Usually I would be about 100ppm higher in the buckets than in the res by now. Yet I am only about 10 ppm higher. So I am still hopeful!!! I will be switching the lights out in a couple weeks they will really begin burning through nuriants and water so I will post back then. here is a few picks of the girls last week just before I put the screen over em. They are a F1 cross of a fast buds crystal meth auto and a cream of the crop robo crop auto. Thats right robocrop on meth. im calling em dirty crop. :/

20160211_192344.jpg 20160211_192526.jpg 20160211_192636.jpg
 
brokencage

brokencage

Active Member
New update. I am 3 weeks into flower I have switched out to the 600W hps,and can say Drip clean dose not help when the plants are transpiring heavily. perhaps top fed would be better. but the root zone ppms go's from 930ppm @.5 to 1000+ and in the res up to 940 ppm in about 8 hours. I add back strait water to the res and flood back to back to bring it even with the res. This could have more to do with the design flaw i mentioned a couple posts ago.Ill get some pics soon. So my experiment with drip clean didn't do for me what I had hoped. I hope this helps someone make a better money choice.
 
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