# Hydroton Cleaning and Preparation Question



## Hobgoblit (Jun 28, 2011)

Can Hydroton cause a PH to rise from 5.8 to 6.4 in a 10 hour period? How do you properly clean Hydroton? I have mine soaking in a bucket of warm 5.8 water...I'm using Distilled water, GH Nova, have a PH and TDS meter, Up and Down. Trying to dial my system in before use and dealing with a quick rising ph, any help will be appreciated...


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## Anonymouse (Jun 28, 2011)

I rinse warm/cool in a strainer until the water's clear and I do not reuse. Yes, dirty rocks can cause ph issues but it should lessen with more feedings.


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## pazuzu420 (Jun 29, 2011)

From every post I"ve ever read said not to use distilled water, now R.O. on the other hand is a different story all together. I noticed that GH products seem to want to buffer right around 5.9 to 6.0 atleast from what I've been noticing. What size is your rez? Another question I had about DWC is when you change the rez are you just changing it or all the water in the system, that is all the way out of each bucket also? As plants use nutes the waste causes a rise in PH. So the larger the volume of water in the rez the more stable the PH will become as well as a constant tempature within the rez (spikes either up or down can cause PH swings). Also when plants use nutes and produce waste there is more volume to disperse hence less fluctuation in PH. Finally, if you are just changing the water in the rez, mixing nute solution, adjusting ph, then recurculating it into a bunch of old solution within the buckets it would seem to me that it would also affect your PH in a very short time.


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## Hobgoblit (Jun 29, 2011)

I'm growing in a 6 site DWC, so all is contained in one package. I've read that GH Nova has buffers, so it will rise for a few days, then level out. My system is small, 4-5 gallons, should I get a larger rez? Nothing is in the actual system right now, just trying to get it dialed in. The plants are in cubes growing roots, and will be transplanted soon. I have the GH Micro, Grow, & Bloom also, are there any PH buffers in this? After cleaning the whole system, and adding new water and nutes, I left the PH at 5.8 last night, and woke up to 6.1. Not as bad as before but still rising. Is this normal?


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## legallyflying (Jun 29, 2011)

Jesus, I don't know why the threads about hydroton and PH are not fucking stickied!! YES hydroton can and will jack your PH big time until it settles in so to speak. I have soaked new hydroton for 4 days, adding a crap load of PH down everyday until it gets stabilized. 

My suggestion. PH your water to about 4 or 4.5. Fill your tray, let it stand and see how the ph behaves. It will settle out eventually.

Cheers.


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## Hobgoblit (Jun 29, 2011)

*Did that already, soaked in warm 5.8 water for 4 hours, even had my germination mat under the bucket to keep the water warm. Seems better today, still drifting upwards, but not as fast. Hope it gets better soon, or it might be road trip time, or better yet UPS in The Drive time. Any knowledge shared would be greatly appreciated.
*


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## Clown Baby (Jun 29, 2011)

if you buy it new, you need to rinse the shit out of it before you use it.
This means: Get a rubbermaid tote or something, and drill an ebb/flow fitting into the bottom side.
Pour your rocks in there.
Rinse the shit out of it until it doesnt run brown anymore.

That stuff comes super dirty in the bag.

And yes, you CAN reuse it.
Just make sure you rinse it and get all the old roots out.
It's a pain in the ass, but it works.

If hydroton is causing pH fluctuations then you are doing something wrong


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## Gary Busey (Jun 29, 2011)

Make sure to rinse it really good. Then when you're done rinsing it, rinse it again, then again after that. Did I mention to rinse it again?


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## Hobgoblit (Jun 29, 2011)

Finally settling around 5.7, the hot water must have worked last night,...Hate chasing a PH. Will update, thanks...


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## Muffy (Jun 30, 2011)

If you rinse Hydroton in the sink or tub a lot of that loose clay settles into the drain traps and pipes.


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## Hobgoblit (Jun 30, 2011)

This morning the PH was still hovering at 5.8. If the hydroton was the problem, it was solved by washing and soaking in HOT water for 4 hours. I used my germination mat to keep the bucket warm. Thanks


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## hellraizer30 (Jun 30, 2011)

I use alot of tron and never soak or prep, only thing I do is rinse off the dust and chucks and root matter.
then use


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## Hobgoblit (Jun 30, 2011)

This is used hydroton I'm talking about. Stored for about 10 months. Had to soak it for a bit, nothing serious...


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## penguinking (Jul 3, 2011)

i just put the ton in my buckets/smartpots and rinse with warm tap water until the runoff is clear. I have noticed that some hydroton took longer to clear, but thats when it was an old bag with lots of broken up pieces at the bottom... Either way, pH is an easy to fix problem... as said before me, it does seem to gain stability after about 3 or 4 feedings. I have never heard of anyone pH'ing the water the hydroton was soaked in, as 'legallyflying' stated. seems a little excessive to me.


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## Hobgoblit (Jul 3, 2011)

Experimentation my friend, didn't hurt to try...


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## legallyflying (Jul 3, 2011)

If hydroton sits around for a long time there is a chemical reaction that takes place that will raise the ph when you add water to it. There is an excellent post about it on garden web forums but I'm not going to search for the link. Glad soaking worked for you.
Cheers


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## watchhowIdoit (Jul 3, 2011)

Hobgoblit said:


> *Did that already, soaked in warm 5.8 water for 4 hours, even had my germination mat under the bucket to keep the water warm. Seems better today, still drifting upwards, but not as fast. Hope it gets better soon, or it might be road trip time, or better yet UPS in The Drive time. Any knowledge shared would be greatly appreciated.
> *


What was the source of your warm water you used to soak them? Also it takes more than just soaking new hydroton, you have to repeatedly rinse it, until the water runs completely clear.


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## Hobgoblit (Jul 3, 2011)

Warm water was from my tap, 021 on my TDS meter. I use distilled in my system. This is about my 5th grow in this hydroton, I'm in a DWC, the PH stays stable until I feed. For some reason the flow of nutes through the Hydroton is causing a pretty quick swing up. Scratchin my head...


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## Hobgoblit (Jul 3, 2011)

legallyflying said:


> If hydroton sits around for a long time there is a chemical reaction that takes place that will raise the ph when you add water to it. There is an excellent post about it on garden web forums but I'm not going to search for the link. Glad soaking worked for you.
> Cheers


http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydro/msg100749279742.html Is this the Forum?


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## tip top toker (Jul 3, 2011)

I stick it in a collender under the bathroom tap for a minute or so and swirl it around with my hands till a clear runoff. Nothing more. Never experience any issues. Although I'm not using it as a medium so that would explain my lack of issues, it's simply used to stabilise a cube in a net cup.


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## Neumann (Jul 3, 2011)

The basic argument about hydroton is regarding the cation exchange capacity of clay and whether high temperature firing stops the process or if dry hydroton retains its cation exchange capacity and if exposed over time to atmospheric oxygen can actually increase.

Simple suggestion is to test your hydroton. Put some in a pH'ed water and test it without nutrients. If it rises, soak it, if it doesn't rise, then that's not your problem and you need to look elsewhere.


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## Hobgoblit (Jul 3, 2011)

I am running 5.5 distilled water through the hydroton right now and it continues to rise. Next, I'll try boiling it. Lucas is wrong about it being the water, BTW...


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## legallyflying (Jul 3, 2011)

Hobgoblit said:


> http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydro/msg100749279742.html Is this the Forum?


Yep that is the one. I was using hydroton that had been sitting in the garage for like 2 years and I had allot of issues. That forum really helped me out. I wouldn't use ro water since it has essentially nothing it in to buffer ph fluctuations. As someone else said, a couple weeks running nutrients will also settle it out. It's ok to let your ph float but swinging from 5.5 to 6.5 in a day is fairly stressfull for plants.


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## RollaP (Jul 4, 2011)

How old is too old for hydroton? I'm on my fifth year with this batch of hydroton, and havn't had any problems until recently, but mine is a drain to waste system. So, my question is what can I do to clean or stabilize my hydroton while there are plants in them. The ph of water going in is at 5.8 because I'm using a organic fert. The ph coming out is 6.2-6.5. Is this due to the hydroton or just general rise after nutes are used for feeding? Also the water is RO.


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## Hobgoblit (Jul 4, 2011)

RollaP said:


> How old is too old for hydroton? I'm on my fifth year with this batch of hydroton, and havn't had any problems until recently, but mine is a drain to waste system. So, my question is what can I do to clean or stabilize my hydroton while there are plants in them. The ph of water going in is at 5.8 because I'm using a organic fert. The ph coming out is 6.2-6.5. Is this due to the hydroton or just general rise after nutes are used for feeding? Also the water is RO.



http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/hydro/msg100749279742.html Go here, Lucas Industries has a debate about that very subject, Helped me alot...


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## Neumann (Jul 4, 2011)

Just to stir the pot, I'm using Hydroton that is at least 8 years old and has been sitting, dry, for all that time. I rinsed it in regular tap water with chloramines and flouride in it to get rid of residual dust and then a quick rinse with RO water and I'm not having any pH issues. I've done multiple tests with and without nutrients* and with and without aeration and pH fluctuations are minimal. I think all the concerns about Hydroton are overblown and if someone had serious pH swings, I'd look to water quality first, then nutrients.

*GH Flora series 3 part


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## legallyflying (Jul 4, 2011)

Pot stirred. Some people have issues, some do not. It is a chemistry issue that sometimes rears its ugly head and sometimes does not. I had crazy ph fluctuations at first. Off the charts. I was using ro water, botanicare nutes, and old hydroton that I rinsed the hell out of. 

TO the above poster, if your using fullly organic nutes in hydro, PH swings are part of the game. I know that if I add bat guano and things of that ilk that I get pretty good PH swings. I don't think there is a way to clean your hydroton when your plants are in there. After harvest I dry all my hydroton in the sun on a HUGE tarp. Then put it in a DIY "shaker" ..a screen over a wooden frame like archeologists use to sift dirt to get all the roots off, then give it a final rinse.


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## RollaP (Jul 4, 2011)

That must be it. I'm using botanicare for the first time because i wanted to go organic, but the ph swings, mold and fungus issues I'm having are driving me crazy. Causing yellowing and many other things. I guess my inexperience with botanicare hurt my last two harvests. The leaves hardened and yeallowed up through colas. Sucked to see my strawberry haze waste away like that. I realize that even half strength may be too much for this strain. 
Thanks for the hydroton tip. I need to build a sifting table too. that would be good, but I'll also have to create a drying rack for it, because I can't dry mine outside. 



legallyflying said:


> Pot stirred. Some people have issues, some do not. It is a chemistry issue that sometimes rears its ugly head and sometimes does not. I had crazy ph fluctuations at first. Off the charts. I was using ro water, botanicare nutes, and old hydroton that I rinsed the hell out of.
> 
> TO the above poster, if your using fullly organic nutes in hydro, PH swings are part of the game. I know that if I add bat guano and things of that ilk that I get pretty good PH swings. I don't think there is a way to clean your hydroton when your plants are in there. After harvest I dry all my hydroton in the sun on a HUGE tarp. Then put it in a DIY "shaker" ..a screen over a wooden frame like archeologists use to sift dirt to get all the roots off, then give it a final rinse.


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## Hobgoblit (Jul 4, 2011)

Neumann said:


> Just to stir the pot, I'm using Hydroton that is at least 8 years old and has been sitting, dry, for all that time. I rinsed it in regular tap water with chloramines and flouride in it to get rid of residual dust and then a quick rinse with RO water and I'm not having any pH issues. I've done multiple tests with and without nutrients* and with and without aeration and pH fluctuations are minimal. I think all the concerns about Hydroton are overblown and if someone had serious pH swings, I'd look to water quality first, then nutrients.
> 
> *GH Flora series 3 part


If my DWC, with 5.5 distilled water, no nutes, continues to rise in PH as I feed, and stays stable when I do not feed, the answer is obvious, Hydroton...not the water...


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## legallyflying (Jul 4, 2011)

rollaP What kind of system are you using? Which line of botanicare are you using? Dosages? You really shouldn't be getting yellowing using botanicare. Did you get signs of them burning...burnt tips?. Sounds like a ph imbalance. What kind of PH meter do you have?

My flowering schedule for botanicare is pretty much off the bottle. It goes something like this...

Per gallon:
5ml calmag
5-7ml liquid karma
10-15 pureblend bloom hydro
5-10 ml botanicare pure blend compost (bloom).

That gets me around 1300 ppm. Which I try to max out. 

I switch to bloom soil during the last couple weeks. 

This run I am going to hit them with humbolt nutrients ginourmous the first four weeks. I'll probably back of the PB bloom to keep PPM under 1500.


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## lilmafia513 (Mar 10, 2014)

Did anyone figure out how to stabilize THE hydroton while there is a plant in it? I did not do anything other than rinse with tap water and stick a plant in. I didnt know you had to stabilize it all first.....Any ideas???


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## Myles117 (Mar 12, 2014)

1.5 years in with my hydroton n no issues to speak of with ph (knock on wood)

ill probably get some sarcastic answers but i am looking for something i can add to a hydroton-water mixture that will liquify/dissolve the dead roots to ease rinsing. im not lazy, just have 20 pots per run where the roots are so dense that the hydroton is held onto absurdly tightly. and please dont tell my hygrozyme, im talking pot full of roots to liquid in a week or two period.

cheers!


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## legallyflying (Mar 14, 2014)

I have the perfect product for that actually! It's fucking awesome actually. It's called llifdnal and it's probably the easiest way to get your hydroton looking like new. Load up your car truck or whatever with all your containers. You don't even have to take the shake the roots or nothing. Now, drive to the nearest llifdnal...You can ask around but sometimes it's sold locally as "the pmud".

Throw the root ball and hydroton into the llifdnal and drive away. On the way home, pick up an equal amount of perlite. Done and done. 

If I never see or worse..step on in my bare feet another piece of hydroton I will die a happy man.


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## SnapsProvolone (Mar 14, 2014)

Myles117 said:


> 1.5 years in with my hydroton n no issues to speak of with ph (knock on wood)
> 
> ill probably get some sarcastic answers but i am looking for something i can add to a hydroton-water mixture that will liquify/dissolve the dead roots to ease rinsing. im not lazy, just have 20 pots per run where the roots are so dense that the hydroton is held onto absurdly tightly. and please dont tell my hygrozyme, im talking pot full of roots to liquid in a week or two period.
> 
> cheers!


Dry them. The roots break up into dust. Sift on a windy day, like archeaology... then soak and clean the rocks.


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## Myles117 (Mar 14, 2014)

problem is my grow isnt in an area where i have private outdoor area to be sifting hydroton. i need to do this indoors. 

im assuming the other guy is being a wiseass... and how would perlite be any better when it comes time to separate from the roots? it would probably be even worse since perlite crumbles


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## Metasynth (Mar 14, 2014)

Myles117 said:


> problem is my grow isnt in an area where i have private outdoor area to be sifting hydroton. i need to do this indoors.
> 
> im assuming the other guy is being a wiseass... and how would perlite be any better when it comes time to separate from the roots? it would probably be even worse since perlite crumbles


Haha...yeah, he's being sarcastic. That being said, in 3 years or so of working with hydroton, I'd say the easiest way to deal with it IS by throwing it away and buying new hydroton. Though Snaps is right about drying the roots bone dry...It just takes a while for the roots to fully dry out without "help"(like throwing them in an oven), but if you can wait that long, the method he mentioned works well. It just seems like my roots wanna hold on to moisture for a couple weeks after the chop.


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## Myles117 (Mar 14, 2014)

yeah, mine hold onto the moisture as well. and they attract those root eating gnats quite well lol.

im gunna talk to some organic gardeners n see if there isnt some culture i can throw in and have it dine on the roots. if i can accomplish this ill be thrilled. if not, i may leave hydroton and try other media. shit is too heavy and too big of a PITA to rinse new shit each run. plus thatd cost me about 120 per run and id have alot of heavy hydroton-root blocks to dispose of. at least rockwool will be light and compressible when dried out after use. 

so fuckin frustrated! haha


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## legallyflying (Mar 18, 2014)

Perlite is a great substitute for hydroton. You don't clean it, you throw it out, or if you have a garden, till it into the soil. 
On a small scale you can use a bathtub to rinse it and wash it but on a big scale, it is entirely NOT worth it. I hate throwing stuff away but the time needed to clean 300 plus gallons of hydroton is simply ridiculous


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## SnapsProvolone (Mar 18, 2014)

Metasynth said:


> Haha...yeah, he's being sarcastic. That being said, in 3 years or so of working with hydroton, I'd say the easiest way to deal with it IS by throwing it away and buying new hydroton. Though Snaps is right about drying the roots bone dry...It just takes a while for the roots to fully dry out without "help"(like throwing them in an oven), but if you can wait that long, the method he mentioned works well. It just seems like my roots wanna hold on to moisture for a couple weeks after the chop.


They don't dry fast. I have clean rocks waiting.


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## Myles117 (Mar 18, 2014)

snaps, how much hydroton do you clean at a time? curious what kinda undertaking it is for you/would be for me.

i may use perlite instead n just toss it, may be the easiest n lightest media i can do. id want the super coarse stuff right? a bit larger than the bigger hydroton balls if i remember correctly.


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## SnapsProvolone (Mar 18, 2014)

I usually do about 7 x 40l bags once every ten days. Takes some effort but I do love me my hydroton. Dusting takes a few hours. Rinsing soaked takes an hour. Not that bad.

I've usec rockwool too but something about tossing it and buying new just irks me. Lol. 

One large house I ran I had a rock dryer box built sitting in garage 4x4x8 box on heavy duty casters with front door vent holes in bottom and a bathroom fan in top. Slide out drawer/shelves of 1x6 frame with 1/4" wire mesh bottoms. Put a bumch of rootballs on the shelves and slide them in. Close door and run fan. Took two ppl and ladders to load full up. Could dry 10-12 bags of root balls.


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## Myles117 (Mar 18, 2014)

nothing beats a DIY project turning out so well. so the dryer box was/is run purely by the fan? no heat or dehumidifying need? very nice 

i love my hydroton too... just not a location i feel comfortable making it so obvious im growing even though its medicinal.

appreciate the info, at least now i feel a tad bit better as i only need to clean about 5 x 40l bags each month. got a gallon of hygrozyme that im gunna experiment with. maybe a 2-3 weeks soak will allow it to dissolve most of the roots. 

cheers


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## twistedwords (Mar 18, 2014)

The best way to clean hydroton is in a pressure cooker for 10 minutes.


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## Myles117 (Mar 18, 2014)

when you say clean do you actually mean disinfect? cuz the root pieces will still be there.


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## Blazein1 (Jan 5, 2022)

I put it in my stainless steel strainer and run it over the fire pit for 15 minute. Wash it and go again


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## Raquinotj (Jan 8, 2022)

Blazein1 said:


> I put it in my stainless steel strainer and run it over the fire pit for 15 minute. Wash it and go again


I throw it in the trash and use the new Netpot inserts. Never deal with hydroton, debris again.


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## subwax (Jan 8, 2022)

I soak mine in a bath over the weekend, then dry on a sheet.

Seems to work well, at least for me.


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## Blazein1 (Jan 8, 2022)

Raquinotj said:


> I throw it in the trash and use the new Netpot inserts. Never deal with hydroton, debris again.


Where can I find those? Website /or name of?


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## Raquinotj (Jan 10, 2022)

Blazein1 said:


> Where can I find those? Website /or name of?


Hydro builder. Current culture makes them.



https://hydrobuilder.com/hydroponics/net-pots-269/3-inch-net-pots/current-culture-3-75-media-less-heavy-duty-net-pot-insert-fits-in-5-5-net-pot.html



You will also need these neoprene inserts. 









3.75"" Neoprene Insert (sold 60pc per pack)


Buy 3.75" x 0.75" Neoprene Inserts for $79.95 at Growace.com




growace.com


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