White Slime on My Roots and Airstones

potroast said:

Like I said, the pathogen I mentioned is pythium, and it grows in warmer temps. It's not caused by anything pH related, but an acidic medium will "help prevent" the growth of the pathogens. (quoting your source)

And being a mod doesn't mean that I am a growing expert, that just means that I help with the administrative duties around here.

HTH

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peacelol

bubblerking said:

peacelol

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FYI i did a test of vinegar as ph down with 1 small plant in a dwc to see how well it works when i was deciding on a growing technique, i found i got the slime as well...so i saw this thread and remembered what was happening!!

the slime is and can be devastating because it reaks havok with PH and can withstand quantities of peroxide as mothers enjoy the O2 bath. peroxide will kill the bacteria but not the yeast. As a byproduct the "mother" slime will reduce the O2 levels in the water and replace it with Co2.

let me explain,

Vinegar uses a yeast and acetic bacteria to create vinegar through a slimy cellulose based colony called the "mother" the thick spermy slime due to the cellulose created by the yeast.

these bacteria and yeast LOVE acidic nutrient solutions the more acidic the better.

Now when you buy vinegar its usually not pasteurized as the heat would separate the acid and water. The "mother" usually attaches or floats if left in a jar to colonize. Apple cider vinegar is even more inoculated because if you warm it up add some alcohol you will grow a mother in no time right in the bottle! Vinegar mothers LOVE O2 and warmth!

"Making vinegar mother can take some time but is not difficult to do. The easiest way is to take some old vinegar and place it in a clean jar. Shake the vinegar in the jar for a few moments to aerate it. Place the jar in a warm place. The top of your refrigerator works very well. Cover the top of the jar with some cheese cloth to allow oxygen to enter the jar. In a few weeks, you should have some vinegar mother growing on the bottom of the jar."

Good Advice ??
DO NOT USE VINEGAR <-------------BUT if you have to use vinegar and have no other choice HEAT to 180 degrees F to kill any yeast and bacteria contained within. It is most common to use apple cider vinegar however the white distilled vinegar will contain a minute amount of said mother. Most companies no longer use a mother to make white distilled vinegar and are often patureized. but dont take my word for it reasearch and youll find all the answers you need.

I am having the same problem, but it is a bit odd for a couple of reasons

1. It is only on SOME of the plants. Despite it being a DWC with all the roots in the same water, some roots are very slimy while others are slime free.
2. Temp is at 65

But I wasnt having this problem when I was using R/O water. So it seems that the hard water and massive amounts of PH down I have to use might very well be the cause. Problem is, I couldnt possibly use R/O water any longer (just cant). Is there some way to avoid this problem, despite my using 250PPM hard tap water?

I am using the GH hard water micro, but that really doesnt seem to be helping at all. &Using "Technaflora" brand PH adjuster. Any ideas?

muffy d said:

what kind of ph down are you using? I figured out my slime problem was from using ph down with citric acid in it.

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thank you so much, holy cow you are the man!!!

Hey all, I know this is an old post but I just went through this problem.

I "think", but am pretty shure, that it is caused by creating your own algi bloom by using products containing mycrorhyzi and then basically feeding them to much, IE- micro - zyme - sugars - organic nutes. This of course causes the micros to WAY over produce leading to major loss in O2 in the water wich causes other pathogens to take hold. I think that the algie is always present and when you creat a perfect enviroment for it, IT EXPLODES. Zymes eat dead roots and poop food out for the micros, good or bad micros, if you do not enoculate correctly with micros things can get bad fast. I am in DWC buckets and have found that a really small amount of mycroryzi sprayed derectly on the roots and bottom of the net pot works wonders.

Also, when I got rid of my slime I sprayed the shat out of the roots with tap water, let them sit out of water untill they where reletively dry and switched to a chem nute for awhile. this worked great for me.

Anybody find the same results or am I way of base here ???

nice to meet everyone i dont mean to hi jack but i had the same Exact slime prob when my res was over 70. i ran florashield for a whole day in my res', scrubbed every and anything that came into contact and then used bush doctor kangaroots. hope this helps. peeaace

with my normal nutes i was using at the time..never had a prob since

Hi Farmer!
DO NOT use H202 as mentioned, because you will kill all the beneficial bacteria, (If you use any) you definitely need them!
This is exactly how everything started in my system, I had the same thought, ohhh maybe the ph was low, was the water, ohh maybe is leaking light, let's flush again, 3 days after, fuck, they're back! Flush again, and there is the nasty shit again, roots started to get a little brown and then...Root rot. I had to fight this damn thing for weeks, using H202 every single day and almost half strength, so desperate I was at the end, that I actually dip the roots into half strength of H202. I could see the fuckers being fried, roots were being burned at the same time but I didn't give a fuck, or was the plants dying cause by root rot or by the h202. The only thing able to save my plants were Roots Excelurator together with Great White, I highly recommend.
Here is picture before, and a week after.
View attachment 1463506View attachment 1463507
Hope it help you

I am having same problem and believe we all need the 70 dollar air pumps, im going to get mine this weekend and will update if it works. I have been dwc in an 18 gallon using only gh nutes and gh ph and temps and all perfect. I also have the good H202 from the hydro shop and it does little. Res changes weekly and still it comes from nowhere with no light leaks. ITS ALL IN THE SHITTY AIR PUMPS IM SEEING IN PICS!! 70lpm or more im told is needed for souch a large res! Will update asap!

Alright, how is this for an added curve ball!!!! Confidence is high for what I am about to say.
1st grow through about 10 no issues. Then I discovered home made Carbon Dioxide. Thats right I ferminted right in the bloom room and pow this stuff was everywhere. At first I thought this was coming from my dehumidifier because I had just began capturing the 7 ppm water vs the 240 ppm water. Then this year comes back but only after I introduced the fermintation again. Thank goodness, just as I thought I started the fermintation late in the bloom, so I wont have to do anything extravagant... this time. My question to all is are you doing the yeast and sugar water in a bucket? Really F's up my micro sprayers, clogs them and then roots dry, its a problem. You ever feel like mother nature just dont want us medeling? PS my spelling is pretty dismal I know.

man i had the same issue. looking into aeroponics now to cure myself of this ever happening again. LOL. bleach everything. Fungus doesn't die from just h2o2. Bleach kills the spores as well.

Really old thread, I know, but I am having the same problem, and I don't understand why after reading through this whole thread. I'm even finding this slime on the bottom of stems that have not yet formed roots, and it's killing my cuts (in the smaller unit, see below)...they are rotting from the bottom up. This is the stems that are under the neoprene collars being sprayed by the nozzles.
I am actually getting this in my clone boxes, one is an ez clone 128 site, 20 gallon rez (slime on the bottom, sides, and surface of water), the other is a no name brand but similar design, smaller unit: http://harriganshydroponicsandsupply.com/shop/aeroponics-cloner-systems-accessories/the-clone-king-64-site-aeroponic-cloning-machine/

I don't add any nutrients, just 25 ml of super thrive every rez change
I use AN ph up and down. The only things the labels say is that they contain potassium hydroxide (up), and phosphoric acid (down).
I am adding 5 ml/gal of food grade 35% H2o2 at least twice a week.
I fill the rez with tap water, but ours is really pure.
The things I can think of that could be a factor is that I tend to let the rez go too long between water changes (2-3 weeks), and I changed from AN B52 to super thrive about 6 weeks ago. I also was keeping the ph at 6, since it was my understanding this was ideal for cloning, and perhaps i need better aeration (using a dual outlet whisper 30-60, 4w air pump).
That being said, I would think that with the peroxide being added regularly, the rez should stay clean.
I'll try not adding the super thrive next rez change and see if that makes a difference, but if anyone seeing this has other advice, let me know.
After eliminating the super thrive, I will try going lower on the ph if it doesn't clear it up. I'll post results here if i have any success.

Hydroguard .

I read this whole thread before I realized how damn old it is, but since I'm here and someone else will find it during a completely warranted freak out, I'm going to let you in on a miracle cure for slime/root rot/chunky crap in your rez floating around...

(Besides not using silly things for ph adjusting... I use sulphuric acid BTW.)

If you don't use bennies, which I don't, add a couple of drops of bleach to your rez.

Now before anyone freaks out, I said a couple of drops, maybe every couple of weeks if if you're water is consistently warm.
As it breaks down, over the course of a day or so, it turns basically into salt water, but I've found it provides just enough disinfectant to keep my rez from mucking up. I also use a very tiny amount in my cloner as well, with no ill effects.

ChrisDuke said:

I read this whole thread before I realized how damn old it is, but since I'm here and someone else will find it during a completely warranted freak out, I'm going to let you in on a miracle cure for slime/root rot/chunky crap in your rez floating around...

(Besides not using silly things for ph adjusting... I use sulphuric acid BTW.)

If you don't use bennies, which I don't, add a couple of drops of bleach to your rez.

Now before anyone freaks out, I said a couple of drops, maybe every couple of weeks if if you're water is consistently warm.
As it breaks down, over the course of a day or so, it turns basically into salt water, but I've found it provides just enough disinfectant to keep my rez from mucking up. I also use a very tiny amount in my cloner as well, with no ill effects.

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I have used bleach as well with no ill effects (use sulphuric acid as well ), but when I did have a case of rot the bleach, while helping, did not eradicate it. The thing that did completely cure it was a double dose of hydroguard. I actually think it has really benefitted the root structure also. As I have not done a side by it is just a personal observation. I probably would not had an outbreak if using bleach as a preventive though .

I run two kinds of nutes and the problems with algae/slime white and green only appears where I use General hydrophonics. So, I’m dumping those nutes.

So thus topic might be a bit old, but I can confirm that crappy nutes. I also ise General hydrophonics. Causes these problems. I never had these problems with other nutes. (Canna irionically because not the best either and aptus, so far I love aptus.)