Help! Mold!

ok so i see that their is a clear mucus (with a brownish tint) like residue in my hydroponic system...i live in florida where there is nuthin but swamps :/ and I was told that florida has alot of mold spores in the air naturally... well i would like to know if there is a way to battle this mold??

welcome to rez slime .......h2o2 is your friend....some people use bleach.....(i want to use bleach but im a puss)

stick to H2O2 3 ml per gal should suffice, 1 tablespoon per gallon for sterilizing. Wash and scrub your res, nozzles, pumps, pipes...etc and scrub with it. Also, consider a beneficial bacteria to introduce into your system. The presence of beneficial bacteria is great because its presence alone means there is less room for anaerobic mold/fungi/bacterium. Also, get a res thermometer. Anything over 72 degrees really starts to drop the Dissolved Oxygen rates in your reservoir. Low DO levels are a breeding ground for nasty slime.

Have a pump that is stirring the res and moving the water at all times as well.

Moving lots of air in the rez?

So H2O2 with a airstone would do??

h202 is a general bioside and that doesn't exclude plants. There's no threshold level for activity either as there is for hormones and shit, so h202 is a last choice for me. If i were you i'd get a uv recirc pump for fishtank aquarium. The smallest ones I found will "work" in 50 gal, but you have plenty of nutes and a nice warm temp so I'd go with a moderate size (Still only 30W bulb+pump probably). If this is your route don't go with beneficials of course because you'll just kill 'em. If you do go with bennies you can use EM-1 but any vigorous beneficial will eventually bloom out and eat all of your sugars, so it depends on what you have in your res. That's sortof why I go with the easy route and sterilize it with a uv pump.

thanks the UV pump sounds like a better alternative!

Instead of an airstone, you could just get a cheap submersible pump that you keep running in the res, it will circulate the water. Also, H2O2 increases the dissolved oxygen rate as well. Which again severely incapacitates any negative bacteria that may be trying to grow.

Doncarloss said:

thanks the UV pump sounds like a better alternative!

Click to expand...

No that wont work, what a stupid idea. Get some 29% min grade H2O2, mixed at 60:1 every 4 days in the res, you have a major problem dont fuck around.

Agreed with Buds, I was trying to be polite hah. H2O2 is the answer with a higher dissolved oxygenation count in the res and the water stirring, you'd be well on your way. Get a res thermometer, keep the temp below 70 if you can. Every degree above 70 increases the conditions that bad bacterium likes and thrives in.

Steps:
-Get H202 and sterilize and clean the entire res, tank, pumps, pipes, drains... anything that touches water.
-Either begin to enrich with H202 or you WILL want some sort of beneficial bacteria in there to take up space from bad bacteria getting a hold on the environment. Indoor grows can be taken over in a matter of a few short days if not taken care of a sterilized properly.
-get airstones or a simple submersible pump to stir the water and nutrients constantly as well.
-cover the top of the res with a lid or panda plastic if you havent already, light and heat from the lamps will increase the temps and give bad fungus a better chance of survival.

if you want to avoid the problem all together in the future then try keeping your reservoir at 62-66 degrees if you can. some guys are having good results with aquashield as opposed to h2o2. it's actually cheaper too. i use hygrozyme and keep y reservoir and 64 and don't have any issues.

H2O2 will kill the slime, but it will also attack beneficial bacteria...if you're in a bind and desperate to save your crop then use H2O2, but proper circulation, regular reservoir changes, and lower temps should keep you in the clear...frozen bottles of water will work If you can't afford/don't want to buy a chiller.

I use real oxygen to aerate my Rez, I use oxygen tanks and run the o2 straight to my res, sweet sweet bud at harvest time