Is is really necessary to change out the rez during the grow?

AlphaPhase · Feb 27, 2016

I'm on the fence with this question. I've run complete grows start to finish without changing the res. I've done 1 res change when Ive switched to flower only. I've done 2 changes, one at flower and 1 30 days in. I like the 2 res changes. None in veg and 1 at week 4 of flower. Seems to work the best for me, getting the beneficial bacteria built up in the res seems to keep things in check and I don't like dumping the bacteria. Each way works well, the main reason I like changing water once in the middle of flower is because I change to bloom only nutes and drop the grow nutes.

Budley Doright · Feb 27, 2016

What are the beanies feeding on? I was always under the impression they don't last very long in a res and need to be replenished?

AlphaPhase · Feb 27, 2016

Budley Doright said:
What are the beanies feeding on? I was always under the impression they don't last very long in a res and need to be replenished?

Barly, I use pondzyme and hydroguard, I think the bennies feed off the pondzyme, the bennies will multiply also in the res so no need to add any more, just one dose to get them going. I'm fairly new to the beneficial reservoirs so still learning all about it

Budley Doright · Feb 27, 2016

AlphaPhase said:
Barly, I use pondzyme and hydroguard, I think the bennies feed off the pondzyme, the bennies will multiply also in the res so no need to add any more, just one dose to get them going. I'm fairly new to the beneficial reservoirs so still learning all about it

I could be way wrong and hopefully some folks that have some experience will speak up. I've been adding them every Res change which is right now 7 days for the flowering and vegging trays, and sometimes in between. I added a cup every 3 days when I brewed tea. I pretty much need to change at those intervals as its getting close to the top of the pumps, and I don't add back, I find it easier actually because I know what to add to get what I need each time. But not suggesting it's needed, just, what I as a newb, does lol.

Skunk Baxter · Feb 27, 2016

AlphaPhase said:
I'm on the fence with this question. I've run complete grows start to finish without changing the res. I've done 1 res change when Ive switched to flower only. I've done 2 changes, one at flower and 1 30 days in. I like the 2 res changes. None in veg and 1 at week 4 of flower. Seems to work the best for me, getting the beneficial bacteria built up in the res seems to keep things in check and I don't like dumping the bacteria. Each way works well, the main reason I like changing water once in the middle of flower is because I change to bloom only nutes and drop the grow nutes.

Interesting. May I ask, what growing medium do you use? Because I just switched to coco myself for indoor grows, and my thinking was that the coco in the pots would provide a sufficiently stable environment for the beneficial bacteria. I wonder if I should be revisiting my way of thinking.

AlphaPhase · Feb 27, 2016

Skunk Baxter said:
Interesting. May I ask, what growing medium do you use? Because I just switched to coco myself for indoor grows, and my thinking was that the coco in the pots would provide a sufficiently stable environment for the beneficial bacteria. I wonder if I should be revisiting my way of thinking.

Coco is a great medium for benniez, I use hydroton though but am switching to rockwool which will give a better environment for benniez as well. I totally recommend using them with all mediums, they really have helped a lot keeping the roots happy and the plants happy and the reservoir clean

AlphaPhase · Feb 27, 2016

Budley Doright said:
I could be way wrong and hopefully some folks that have some experience will speak up. I've been adding them every Res change which is right now 7 days for the flowering and vegging trays, and sometimes in between. I added a cup every 3 days when I brewed tea. I pretty much need to change at those intervals as its getting close to the top of the pumps, and I don't add back, I find it easier actually because I know what to add to get what I need each time. But not suggesting it's needed, just, what I as a newb, does lol.

It'll be a little different for you I think, I do add backs and don't change my res often, but the benniez will live in the pump, tubing, surfaces etc. If you're letting your res empty (I'm assuming drain to waste) you might as well add back on your weekly res changes just in case

WestDenverPioneer · Feb 27, 2016

taproot said:
running two 15 gal sterilite tubs

FWIW - Only their food storage items claim to be food grade.
http://www.sterilite.com/home.html?section=4

Budley Doright · Feb 28, 2016

AlphaPhase said:
It'll be a little different for you I think, I do add backs and don't change my res often, but the benniez will live in the pump, tubing, surfaces etc. If you're letting your res empty (I'm assuming drain to waste) you might as well add back on your weekly res changes just in case

No not drain to waste but drain to Res lol. It's kind of a ebb and flo I guess. Flood the roots every 15 for 15 min.

Budley Doright · Feb 28, 2016

I did some searching and the barley is not used to feed the beasties, it's an Algae inhibitor. But hey if it's working for you with adding back then why change.

Budley Doright · Feb 28, 2016

I used a pond product as well before switching to hydroguard. I made EWC tea using it, and the reason I added a cup every 3 days is I had it (made 2 litre batches) and it's only good for 10 days I think, maybe 7, I forget lol.

taproot · Feb 28, 2016

Budley Doright said:
I used a pond product as well before switching to hydroguard. I made EWC tea using it, and the reason I added a cup every 3 days is I had it (made 2 litre batches) and it's only good for 10 days I think, maybe 7, I forget lol.

Have you ever tried the pool shock, there's a recipe on here. You can get a bag of pool shock at walmart for five dollars, then you get a gallon of distilled water and put one gram in there. Then from this solution you does at 1/ml per 5gal of water. Check the recipe to make sure but that's what I remember. This grow I've been using h202 and tap water.

taproot · Feb 28, 2016

Think I'll pull out half the water this week and replace with fresh water and adjust to EC 1.0 with bloom, proteck and a dab of flourishious plus. I'm cutting out the little bit of veg solution going into week 8.

Budley Doright · Feb 28, 2016

taproot said:
Have you ever tried the pool shock, there's a recipe on here. You can get a bag of pool shock at walmart for five dollars, then you get a gallon of distilled water and put one gram in there. Then from this solution you does at 1/ml per 5gal of water. Check the recipe to make sure but that's what I remember. This grow I've been using h202 and tap water.

I tried bleach, H2o2, and pool shock. I tried low dosages, high dosages and finally the only thing that worked was hydroguard and the chiller. I ran H2O2 for the first couple of years as well, as a preventative and while keeping things at bay I wanted to try beanies. Honestly the chiller has made a world of difference in overall growth rate and health, pretty sure the hydroguard can be replaced with any microbe product but just started using another two weeks ago (OregonismXL) so can't comment on it yet.

taproot · Feb 28, 2016

Are the chillers loud, what kind of horse power would one need to chill say 25 gallons?

Budley Doright · Feb 28, 2016

TECO has a really good calculator, just enter in your data and it'll spit it out but your going to be just under a ton, depending on lighting.

Budley Doright · Feb 28, 2016

taproot said:
Are the chillers loud, what kind of horse power would one need to chill say 25 gallons?

I presently use a passive chiller, no compressor so no noise but no I don't imagine they would be but you would need to check DB ratings

AlphaPhase · Feb 28, 2016

Budley Doright said:
I did some searching and the barley is not used to feed the beasties, it's an Algae inhibitor. But hey if it's working for you with adding back then why change.

I'm not quite sure then lol, maybe they feed on what the enzymes from pondzyme breakdown, like the algae? I'm pretty sure the enzymes and bacteria work together some how but not quite sure how exactly

Budley Doright · Feb 28, 2016

Yes they do to a point but, and again I may be wrong, pretty sure that in order to ensure a healthy colony you need to replenish the herd in a salt based environment. Read the Heisenberg tea threads and Google, there is some really good stuff about beneficials. I'm not saying you need to change though lol.

AlphaPhase · Feb 28, 2016

Budley Doright said:
Yes they do to a point but, and again I may be wrong, pretty sure that in order to ensure a healthy colony you need to replenish the herd in a salt based environment. Read the Heisenberg tea threads and Google, there is some really good stuff about beneficials. I'm not saying you need to change though lol.

I'll definitely read up on it

I just read that they do survive but won't replicate if there's no medium like rockwool or coco or soil to live on, in aquaponics with no medium, they just attach to the roots and grow bigger but not replicate, interesting stuff! So I think they do survive but just don't reproduce nearly as much as a system using large pots and a big amount of medium, I'll see if I can find some other sources about it

Is is really necessary to change out the rez during the grow?

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