Algae

This is my first hydro grow. I killed the first few seeds by overwatering and to much heat. I feel like I've found the sweet spot with these remaining plants.

80-82 degrees. Humidity usually high. 60-70+. Still trying to master PH balance. But it stays in 4-7 range. Water is relatively cool. 60deg. PPM - 550. No nutes yet

I have a top ring drip with a 40 gal res. Air stones for res. And hydrorocks for medium.

Algae came on fast. Within about two weeks. I want to stop or slow/prevent this from getting out of control.

Will these simple solutions help?

Change tubing to black? Should I cover my grow buckets and medium so only the plant is exposed? Also, when I clean my equiptment do I HAVE to use peroxide or something to flush it? Regular soap and water won't do the trick?

Sorry about the res pic quality, I took it just to show that the water looks decent in res.

Thanks for any advise.

Disclaimer: i dont do hydro but i research on this site about half my free time.

id clean everything with low strength mix of water and chlorine personally and that water should not see any light. as long as you seal up light the problem will be eliminated. it doesnt help with the algae problem that you drip like that. Therell always be algae growing on those stones. but yeah that tube looks like your main concern to me. Is your res blacked out?

Thanks for the reply. That's what my research led to also. I've changed the tubing to black, and cleaned everything with a nice hydro cleaner that works great on everything. (Photo)

Swapped out some of the top stones that had the algae issue. Now we're clean again.

On a side note in case anyone ever reads this and using hydrostones:

"Do not remove your drip rings. Pulling them in and out of stones is a horrible idea. I'm pretty sure I've deatroyed any good root growth"

i like the setup, want to switch to hydro soon, but those plants look a bit lanky and stretched. leaves a little small. also a little light colored and thin looking. whered you get the seeds and what kind of light how close?

could just be the pic and the large setup with those little plants lol

They are without question small, lanky, and pissing me off.

The light is like 3.5 ft away. Everything else checks out. Seeds from nirvana.

what kind of light? wattage?

sounds too far to me but idk what you're using.

These are accurate ime. youll wanna go on the far side of the optimum range for those at first so you dont shock them with the light intensity

If its cfl keep them no closer than a half inch nor farther than 4-6 inches. for seedlings i put the 23 watt cfls a 1/2 inch away no problem

cannn said:

These are accurate ime. youll wanna go on the far side of the optimum range for those at first so you dont shock them with the light intensity

If its cfl keep them no closer than a half inch nor farther than 4-6 inches. for seedlings i put the 23 watt cfls a 1/2 inch away no problem

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Thanks man. I guess every inch counts.

I was 4.5 ft away. Fakkk. Didn't even cross my mind to double check. The difference between indoors vs outdoors I just ridiculous.

Thanks for pointing that out.

10% bleach in water when cleaning everything. You'll have to clean everything that comes in contact with water. you need to black out everything that contains water, prevent light from reaching water as this is what causes algae to grow fast.

polishpollack said:

10% bleach in water when cleaning everything. You'll have to clean everything that comes in contact with water. you need to black out everything that contains water, prevent light from reaching water as this is what causes algae to grow fast.

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Thanks man. I blacked out the tubing. Now I just need to get some net pot covers.

Thanks.

You should start a grow journal for this grow. Im sure people who know more about hydro would jump in and help. Would make your first indoor hydro grow go much better