Funkynugz315
Member
I got some lava rocks and I'm sure they need to be cleaned, how can I go about doing this to ensure there sterilized and not going to leave my res all red?
Sterilizing grow medium?
- Thread starter Funkynugz315
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Funkynugz315
Member
There new in a package I'm not reusing them I heard they needed to be cleaned, wasn't sure bout how
Red1966
Well-Known Member
Put about 1/2 gallon of them in something with a lot of holes (collander, net pot, bucket with a lot of holes) and flush them with plenty of water. This won't sterilize them tho. I've never sterilized my medium. I've heard of people using an oven to do this. They say it stinks up the whole house
Mithrandir420
Well-Known Member
Lava rocks or clay pebbles?
As for cleaning and sterilizing, I clean my hydroton with hot water rinse, getting any roots or crap left over out. The hot water will also dissolve any nutes that have dried/crystallized on the rocks. I use a capful of bleach on a 5 gallon bucket of water (rocks filled to about halfway) to sterilize. I only do this if there is any off smells after rinsing. It kills any algae left over that can cause media to have a "fishy" smell. You don't really need to be "sterile", just clean.
As for cleaning and sterilizing, I clean my hydroton with hot water rinse, getting any roots or crap left over out. The hot water will also dissolve any nutes that have dried/crystallized on the rocks. I use a capful of bleach on a 5 gallon bucket of water (rocks filled to about halfway) to sterilize. I only do this if there is any off smells after rinsing. It kills any algae left over that can cause media to have a "fishy" smell. You don't really need to be "sterile", just clean.
Funkynugz315
Member
Ok thanks a lot because I bought a bubble boy dwc bucket and the guy gave me 2 bags of lava rock, they were not in there original package however , instead were in plastic bag like you would use for bananas at the supermarket. Because they made up bags to give with the system as a promo I just don't know how clean or even the name brand ,that was my concern. I'll just boil them that seems to usually kill most germs
chickenthr33
Active Member
I bought 3 huge bags of Dyna Rok II thinking it would make my life easier and save money having to rebuy medium. Man, what a pain in the ASS this stuff is. No matter how many times you rinse them, they will give off dust and sand. Some of them float too which makes it even more annoying to deal with. This is my second grow with them, I googled for disinfecting instructions and ended up using h2o2, 4 ounces of 35% in about 4 gallons of water (in a 5 gallon bucket), and soaked in my inner pots with drain holes. After an hour I take it out, add in another 1-2 ounces of h2o2 and put in another bucket (supposedly the h2o2 works for 1-4 hours so I don't know how well or not well it worked. After 3 or so, the water is completely brown from all the dust and shit it gives off. Then if you let them dry, you'll have even more dust coming off if you rinse them. Big giant pain in my ass and I wish I never bought them. They still smelled a bit fishy after cleaning them this way as well but I didn't want to break my back any more and using bleach means you have to rinse the shit out of them afterwards. You still end up with little bits of root that are stuck in the nooks and crannies.
I use pool shock in my reservoir so I added a bit extra and ran the system a few times and waited a couple days for transplant (which I'm doing now)...here's hoping I disinfected them enough
I use pool shock in my reservoir so I added a bit extra and ran the system a few times and waited a couple days for transplant (which I'm doing now)...here's hoping I disinfected them enough
zem
Well-Known Member
ummm... if you read my old post, i stated clearly that i cleaned them less each time, and still no root disease. in fact, i have a big veggie greenhouse in the sun right now, with growrocks reused that are full of old roots, and still, no root issues. all you really need is to remove the old rootballs, and dry clean with your hands pour in a bicket then refill in the grow tote, remove roots as you do, don't look back at those remaining roothairs, because they dont matter and will waste your time. just flood and soak with 35% h2o2 1ml/L overnight and grow on.. never seen a problem.. with that said, what the hell is pool shock? you cannot add any sterilizing chemical to your res, it sounds like a swimming pool product?I bought 3 huge bags of Dyna Rok II thinking it would make my life easier and save money having to rebuy medium. Man, what a pain in the ASS this stuff is. No matter how many times you rinse them, they will give off dust and sand. Some of them float too which makes it even more annoying to deal with. This is my second grow with them, I googled for disinfecting instructions and ended up using h2o2, 4 ounces of 35% in about 4 gallons of water (in a 5 gallon bucket), and soaked in my inner pots with drain holes. After an hour I take it out, add in another 1-2 ounces of h2o2 and put in another bucket (supposedly the h2o2 works for 1-4 hours so I don't know how well or not well it worked. After 3 or so, the water is completely brown from all the dust and shit it gives off. Then if you let them dry, you'll have even more dust coming off if you rinse them. Big giant pain in my ass and I wish I never bought them. They still smelled a bit fishy after cleaning them this way as well but I didn't want to break my back any more and using bleach means you have to rinse the shit out of them afterwards. You still end up with little bits of root that are stuck in the nooks and crannies.
I use pool shock in my reservoir so I added a bit extra and ran the system a few times and waited a couple days for transplant (which I'm doing now)...here's hoping I disinfected them enough