AlphaPhase
Well-Known Member
I've only had a couple complete runs with an ebb n grow bucket system and I am on my third run at the moment. I always clean everything the best that i can after each use by taking everything apart and bleaching things and running the hardware (elbow and T fittings) through the dishwasher.
All was well for the first day after I started the system up and there were no leaks, so I thought I was good to go. At day two I was already noticing a smell in the res, I wasn't sure what this could be because it was a FRESH batch of water. I changed the whole res on the second day just to play it safe.
The next day I smelled that nasty smell in the res again. At this point I am stumped. So I decided to check all the roots and make sure the plants and roots are healthy. Everything looked fine. I got to the last ebb bucket on the line and it was FULL of water and not draining AT ALL. The plant was sitting in stagnant water I'm guessing since day 1.
I lifted the bucket a foot above the other buckets and it still wouldn't drain so I decided to take it apart and investigate. The last bucket had a elbow fitting, not a T fitting, and the drain screen is attached to the elbow, it's a single piece and the screen can not be removed. So I think back to when I was cleaning everything and I remembered that I had an extremely hard time getting the old roots out of the fitting.
I accidentally broke the fitting today when trying to see what was clogging it and it was FULL of OLD NASTY BROWN ROTTING ROOTS from my last use of the system. It smelled exactly like the res, funky as hell. This was the problem causing the drainage problem and the smelly res problem.
Moral of the story, if you get this active aqua Grow Flow system and it has the OLD elbow hardware with a attached screen to the fitting, send it back and ask for the new one with a detachable screen. It is IMPOSSIBLE to clean the old elbow fitting and it will eventually clog up and could possibly kill a plant if you don't catch the problem fast enough.
I know this was a long post, but I promise this info will help you in the long run. I got lucky and the plant is healthy and the roots are white as snow, how this is even possible I don't know, being that the water was 80 degrees and had no DO in the water.
Good luck and I hope this saves someone future problems.
All was well for the first day after I started the system up and there were no leaks, so I thought I was good to go. At day two I was already noticing a smell in the res, I wasn't sure what this could be because it was a FRESH batch of water. I changed the whole res on the second day just to play it safe.
The next day I smelled that nasty smell in the res again. At this point I am stumped. So I decided to check all the roots and make sure the plants and roots are healthy. Everything looked fine. I got to the last ebb bucket on the line and it was FULL of water and not draining AT ALL. The plant was sitting in stagnant water I'm guessing since day 1.
I lifted the bucket a foot above the other buckets and it still wouldn't drain so I decided to take it apart and investigate. The last bucket had a elbow fitting, not a T fitting, and the drain screen is attached to the elbow, it's a single piece and the screen can not be removed. So I think back to when I was cleaning everything and I remembered that I had an extremely hard time getting the old roots out of the fitting.
I accidentally broke the fitting today when trying to see what was clogging it and it was FULL of OLD NASTY BROWN ROTTING ROOTS from my last use of the system. It smelled exactly like the res, funky as hell. This was the problem causing the drainage problem and the smelly res problem.
Moral of the story, if you get this active aqua Grow Flow system and it has the OLD elbow hardware with a attached screen to the fitting, send it back and ask for the new one with a detachable screen. It is IMPOSSIBLE to clean the old elbow fitting and it will eventually clog up and could possibly kill a plant if you don't catch the problem fast enough.
I know this was a long post, but I promise this info will help you in the long run. I got lucky and the plant is healthy and the roots are white as snow, how this is even possible I don't know, being that the water was 80 degrees and had no DO in the water.
Good luck and I hope this saves someone future problems.
