Cleaning hydroton - any other ways!!?

regionaldragon

regionaldragon

Well-Known Member
ok so you buy this bag of hydroton and u clean it and you use it right? well i feel like i just got done with one of the biggest parts of the ass cleaning this rock out from all the roots and leaves and little vegetative particles off the rocks.

I WANT EVERYONES WAY ON CLEANING THIS ROCK ONCE YOU'VE USED IT. LIKE FAST AND EASY PREFERRED:?::?::?:
 
I put mine in a stainless steel colender, and spray it with the hose for a long time.
Pour it in a bowl, and do it again and again and again until the water runs clean..
 
put them in the washing machine on high heat, spin dry them and put them in the oven 220c for 30 mins let cool put in bucket and soke in ph 5 water over night.

p.s
add a some bleech in the washing machine it wil kill any nastys, but not needed if you put them in the oven.
 
the first time i use mine i spray till clear in a colander then soak in phd water with hydrogen peroxide. LOTS of water, and agitate them. I use my bath tub. Theres always tons of crap that comes off them once they are floating and scraping each other.
If they are allready used, then i do the same i just boil them first in batches by putting em in boiling water.
 
Demosthenese said:
the first time i use mine i spray till clear in a colander then soak in phd water with hydrogen peroxide. LOTS of water, and agitate them. I use my bath tub. Theres always tons of crap that comes off them once they are floating and scraping each other.
If they are allready used, then i do the same i just boil them first in batches by putting em in boiling water.
Click to expand...
well what im asking and im sure ya'll know this but all the root particles and leaves and stems and such from the roots growing over the hydroton... does boiling remove most the particles off of them? should i be worried about the left over small roots and leaves over the hydroton rotting?:?:
 
yes basically, but i find that boiling them for a few minutes and agitating them in the boiling water gets the shit off pretty quick, especially if u do it as part of you harvest before any material has a chance to dry and glue itself to the hydroton
 
Woomeister said:
lol...............:lol:
Click to expand...
LOL i used to use a cement mixer, but once i gave the washing machine a go iv not looked back since, they come out real clean:bigjoint: give it a try make sure the wife is out befor you do it or she will go fucking nutz looking through the round window watching the pebles spin round:lol:
 
Well. the bathtub thing is a BIG pain in the BACK.

The rock had been sitting in the pots for about a week after my first big harvest while I tried to figure out a good way to clean it.

We dumped 10 gallons of hydroton in the tub with a 1/4 cup of bleach. As soon as the rock hit the water I knew this was going to be a mess

We swooshed them around a while trying to rub them against each other to help loosen any particles.

Then scooped them into a collander and tried to inspect 50 billion little rocks trying not to let any leaves, stems, roots... get into the bucket.

After that we filled the bucket of rock with clean water and rinsed them of bleach and again trying to pick out the crap.

10 gallons took almost 2 hours to clean, I'm still cussing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey 9"...

WASHING MACHINE? WTF, are you serious? How many times have you done that? How many time have you had to clean out the waste line? Have you had to replace your washing machine?

You must have one of those side loading machines, I can't imagine doing that in top loader!

I used to have this heavy duty mesh laundry bag from my Navy days. Maybe if I put the rock in the bag then wash it?

Maybe I need to buy an old side loading machine?

Growing dope ain't cheap!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any other ideas?

TIA
 
Soak In CannaZym Over Night It Will Break Down Any Roots In The Pebbles And Id Say Is The Only True Way To Clean As Boiling ect Still Leaves Roots In The Pebbles CannaZym Is The Answer:lol:
Also Dont Rinse Them Out Keep The CannaZym In The Pebbles
 
regionaldragon said:
Well. the bathtub thing is a BIG pain in the BACK.

The rock had been sitting in the pots for about a week after my first big harvest while I tried to figure out a good way to clean it.

We dumped 10 gallons of hydroton in the tub with a 1/4 cup of bleach. As soon as the rock hit the water I knew this was going to be a mess

We swooshed them around a while trying to rub them against each other to help loosen any particles.

Then scooped them into a collander and tried to inspect 50 billion little rocks trying not to let any leaves, stems, roots... get into the bucket.

After that we filled the bucket of rock with clean water and rinsed them of bleach and again trying to pick out the crap.

10 gallons took almost 2 hours to clean, I'm still cussing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey 9"...

WASHING MACHINE? WTF, are you serious? How many times have you done that? How many time have you had to clean out the waste line? Have you had to replace your washing machine?

You must have one of those side loading machines, I can't imagine doing that in top loader!

I used to have this heavy duty mesh laundry bag from my Navy days. Maybe if I put the rock in the bag then wash it?

Maybe I need to buy an old side loading machine?

Growing dope ain't cheap!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any other ideas?

TIA
Click to expand...
iv gone through 1 in the last 10 years they dont cost that much these days look for a 2nd hand one or go up the dump and find one if you dont want to risk the one you use for your clothes. yes its a side loader at the back there is a black cap held on by a sort of spring clamp comes off easy just take it off and wash it out takes less than 2 mins.

p.s i dont put them in full of soil LOL if you use just grow rocks and its only roots and leaf then you will have no problems and it works very well saves your back big time;-)
 
DrGreen007 said:
Soak In CannaZym Over Night It Will Break Down Any Roots In The Pebbles And Id Say Is The Only True Way To Clean As Boiling ect Still Leaves Roots In The Pebbles CannaZym Is The Answer:lol:
Also Dont Rinse Them Out Keep The CannaZym In The Pebbles
Click to expand...
my m8 used to use that stuff the only problem was (F&D) the pump would block from the roots going back in to the tank, but he never had any problem with root rot or sick plants from using it if you can dig out most of the leaf and root then use it i can see it being a problem may be invest in a filter to stop the pump clogging up will help also
 
I've been trying a long (weeks) soak of hygrozyme and then high pressure, hot water spray. It really seems to break the shit up and then it just washes down the drain when I spray it.
 
i would think there's a diminishing return in this whole reusing hydroton thing. If you're using 10 gallons of hydroton in your grow, isn't that a big enough grow to support replacing the hydroton? I'm only saying because i would probably never wash that much, especially after a week of drying. When i pull my plants, i cut the roots off at the base of the net pot and then pull the stem and the rest of the roots, bash the hydroton out and the wash it. 90% of the roots come out with the plant.

I add only an inch of water to my bathtub when i do it, so they arent really floating. Then soak and move em around like that. Then fill and use collander to grab all the one that float. Then drain tub while agitating the ones on the bottom to keep most of the dirt in the draining water. Don't let pebbles down your drain; a trip from the plumber to fix that kind of a clog will have people asking questions in anythin but your own house; hope for a non mormon plumber. Then rinse the ones left in the tub with shower head and then pull em out. Then i boil them in batches in a large spagetti pot. Anything left on there is sterile, and since i use h202 in my res i don't find mold or rot to be an issue at all.
If i had a bigger grow, id just replace rather then reuse. On the other hand, i know that the level of sterility many people work for is not neccessary because my grow works and im no were near as careful. I would always advise maximum sterilirty of course lol.
 
hygrozyme, sensizyme, cannazyme....all the enzymatic products are great. use them when you feed and when you harvest water with heavy enzymes and let it sit for a week. the root balls should bust up real easy.


10 gallons of hydroton really isnt that much, it depends how your using it.
 
Demosthenese said:
i would think there's a diminishing return in this whole reusing hydroton thing. If you're using 10 gallons of hydroton in your grow, isn't that a big enough grow to support replacing the hydroton?
Click to expand...
If you don't have a local Hydro shop, shipping is a real bitch with a lot of grow media...
 
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