Heavy 16 problems in ebb and gro

I'm another that keeps everything sterile only because it's the most convenient for me. How is zone different than using h2o2 or bleach?

Zone is chloramine I believe, which doesn't degrade and will last a full week in a system. H2O2 turns into water very quickly as soon as it touches water.

GreenDyl said:

Zone is chloramine I believe, which doesn't degrade and will last a full week in a system. H2O2 turns into water very quickly as soon as it touches water.

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That is correct Green, Zone is chloramine but it also contains copper which is a strong antifungal and antibacterial.

The instructions on the bottle say to use it at 1ml/gal but 've found it to be most effective at 2-3ml/gal in the E&G.

IME Zone works better as a preventative than a cure.

If you re-use any hydroton, 1/2'' tubing, or airstones you are greatly reducing your chance for success.
I don't even use airstones anymore but I do keep my rez chilled to 68F.

MrMeanGreen said:

I am not disputung anybodys advise here but try flooding more often. I had similar little niggles, I started feeding once every hour for 15 mins and never had a problem since. well oxygenated water seems to do it for me, nice air stones and waterfall effect feeding back to res. Organics or sterile, not easy to mix the 2.

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I haven't tried this method but it does interest me. I believe that most problems in the E&G are created in the lines that connect the buckets together. Water stays in these lines between floods, heats up, and becomes depleted of oxygen which is a perfect environment for everything bad. Flooding once an hour may just be enough to keep everything fresh.

My only concern with once an hour floods is the greatly increased risk of controller bucket/float switch/pump malfunctions due to an increased workload.

Cant you kinda drown your plants also with that much watering? I'm in hydroton and I feel like that would lead to root rot in 2 days

I wouldn't do it but only because I've got my E&G dialed in already. My floods are 30 min flood, 3 hour drain, repeat.

I've been thinking about changing my system to a top feed where it's always draining back into the Rez

GreenDyl said:

I've been thinking about changing my system to a top feed where it's always draining back into the Rez

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I think that if you followed my method you would be very pleased with your crops.

If you go the top feed route please keep us informed on how that works out. Take lots of pics too.

I'm 100% for it but my 2 partners don't wanna spend the money to try it. Do you feed all the time with a top feed system in expanded clay?

What's your method? If you are using the same strain and system then yeah it would probably work the same but I think strains act differently to amount of watering done.

GreenDyl said:

What's your method? If you are using the same strain and system then yeah it would probably work the same but I think strains act differently to amount of watering done.

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I flood and drain just as the system was designed to do. I never run the same strain twice in a row so I can tell you with certainty that any strain of cannabis will absolutely jam at 4-5 30 min floods a day in hydroton.

I set my flood levels to 1/3 of the pot height. roots are never fully submerged and therefore won't drown. Each flood and drain sucks oxygen across the rootball so no rot. So long as you don't submerge your roots completly you can flood and drain continually, think NFT.

I would advise against top feeders in a system that already has troubles. Fart in the wrong direction and your nozzles will get blocked, I used a 1 bar sump pump to top feed 6 plants and nozzles block all the time.

GreenDyl said:

I'm 100% for it but my 2 partners don't wanna spend the money to try it. Do you feed all the time with a top feed system in expanded clay?

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As far as your top feed drip question I don't know the answer. think the old waterfarms were top feed drip hydroton, do some research on those. Zone is cheap though, much cheaper than converting your E&G to top feed drip.

I've been running the tea and it stabilized my ph and that's what I was really looking for. I think the top feed is something to experiment on a small scale first. I'm gonnna try increasing the floods to twice a day and see what's up. What times are best to flood in veg with 18 hrs on?

Heavy tends to clog shit up in hydro...I used General Hydro nutes and Canna...I have a recirculating system and it works great with all my pumps and for my plants...

GreenDyl said:

I've been running the tea and it stabilized my ph and that's what I was really looking for. I think the top feed is something to experiment on a small scale first. I'm gonnna try increasing the floods to twice a day and see what's up. What times are best to flood in veg with 18 hrs on?

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2 tabs down (flood) 12 tabs up (drain) and repeat. Your first flood should start about 10 minutes after lights on. No need to flood in the dark.

navyfighter04 said:

Heavy tends to clog shit up in hydro...I used General Hydro nutes and Canna...I have a recirculating system and it works great with all my pumps and for my plants...

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What exactly are you using? I am thinking about switching to gen hydro for my next grow or house and garden.

facestabber said:

2 tabs down (flood) 12 tabs up (drain) and repeat. Your first flood should start about 10 minutes after lights on. No need to flood in the dark.

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That's exactly what I have it at now, pretty legit. I feel like my plants are being overwatered although my plants are like 3 feet tall. After chopping all my roots off they got stunted I can tell I just really wanna get my roots to blow out so I did a double dose of roots excel for the hormone in there.

GreenDyl said:

That's exactly what I have it at now, pretty legit. I feel like my plants are being overwatered although my plants are like 3 feet tall. After chopping all my roots off they got stunted I can tell I just really wanna get my roots to blow out so I did a double dose of roots excel for the hormone in there.

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Ouch, I love H&G but the Roots Excel is one of their products I've had bad luck with in the E&G. Slimed my entire system both times I tried to use it. It should be called Root Rot Excel IMO.

I'm currently using the H&G line myself minus Roots Excel, Multizyme, and Bud Xl.

Aqua Flakes, Top Booster, and Shooting Powder is all you need.

Eh I feel like maybe it could lead to rot. I was planning on running the same but using all of it