Krondizzel
New Member
I dunno about you, but.. I'm going with raizer advice on this. I call myself the hydroponic specialist, but... I learned a ton from that guy. Soak it up!
It's A Fuct World
- Thread starter Al B. Fuct
- Start date
facestabber
Active Member
Yup, that's why I'm asking questions. Would also like to hear Al's take on this.
Krondizzel
New Member
Usually the info that I give, I can reference directly to one of the two of them saying it. They know their shit.
mountainboy
Well-Known Member
Funny everyone seems to be thinking about h2o2...lol, I was jumping on to ask a question also. I have a UV water treatment unit for my homes water system (its well water). The unit is small and I was wondering if it would work to keep my rez clean. I could hook one up to a pump in my rez and just let it pump 24/7 recirculating the water in my rez. The only reason I wanted to try this is because the h2o2 is getting a bit pricey. I have a 50gal rez and I treat the water every other day with 250ml. of 30% h2o2. At 40.00 bucks a gal. The UV filter is 100.00 bucks and the bulbs are 30.00 but last a year or so in my house unit.
hellraizer30
Rebel From The North
Heis tea didnt fail! Just always trying new stuff, helps me get a better understanding of what works.
and whats working for other folks.
facestabber
Active Member
IF it's true that beneficials are the ONLY effective treatment against cyanobacterial brown slime then I say it's time to finally declare a "live" rez to be the winner in the age old debate of sterile VS bennies. Honestly makes me a little sick inside to think of putting live stuff in my Rez
It really is a fuct world.....
hellraizer30
Rebel From The North
Its good to learn option face, not saying you cant continue the h202 and if you see the start of slime start brewing!IF it's true that beneficials are the ONLY effective treatment against cyanobacterial brown slime then I say it's time to finally declare a "live" rez to be the winner in the age old debate of sterile VS bennies. Honestly makes me a little sick inside to think of putting live stuff in my Rez
It really is a fuct world.....
to not jack ALs thread to much we could talk shop if you like! Just hit me up in pm or in my thread.
facestabber
Active Member
Thanks a lot HR, I may just do that but I think this thread is also an appropriate place to discuss this because Al is such a strong proponent for H2O2. Maybe he's got another solution we don't know of.......hopefully...
doniawon
Well-Known Member
if your trying to use organics in your hydroponics? this is the wrong thread for you.. AL says dont do it. Organics have no place in most hydroponic systems.
on the other hand if you want to try organic hydro. its recommended to use enyzmes like hygrozyme or pondzyme.. I also hear the Benificial bacteria would keep things in balance.. I have tried this with coco and it made me fucking nuts trying to keep things in check..
never been happier now using fully synthetic nutes and H2o2
facestabber
Active Member
I'm totally chemical as well and have no desire to go organic. This is about an H2O2 resistant/ Zone resistant problem. "Brown slime algae" I've had awesome success using DM Zone but some say it's no match for cyanobacteria.
What gave you the impression that I wanted to put organic nutes in my rez?
doniawon
Well-Known Member
i was out of line .. my apologies..
facestabber
Active Member
Oh,no need for apologies. I appreciate your interest.
Im new to hydro, but have many years of experience from fish tanks, so take this with a grain of salt.
The uv unit would work very well to keep the water in the res sterile, so its a great way to prevent problems and kill algae (including cyano) etc. in the water.
It will not do anything to any pathogen already established in the root zone (assuming flood and drain), for that you still need some kind of agent in the water.
I think you could easyly get away with running a uv unit instead of the maintenance dose of h2o2, if you keep an eye out for problems and use h2o2 to fix it when they show up.
facestabber
Active Member
Great advice for the most part but the cyanobacteria we're discussing is said to be resistant to peroxide, chlorine, and chloramines.
UV-C radiation will certainly kill cyano bacteria in the water that is passed through the uv filter. But as I said it wont do anything for the rest of the system.
In fish tanks this is often enough to get rid of cyano over time as the old heavy infestation dies of old age and the new smaller offspring is light enough to be sucked through the filter.
With ebb and flood however, you could have a cyano culture living happily in the root zone and never get in contact with the uv unit.
Cyano in fish tanks is a very old problem, try google for lots of tips and tricks.
facestabber
Active Member
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Unfortunately we ARE talking about curing existing root infection.
You're obviously very knowledgeable about fish tanks and UV sterilization so maybe you can answer a different question. Does the UV-C radiation have any effect on nutes?
hellraizer30
Rebel From The North
Yes it does! Using uv will distroy minirals in your water leading to iron deff!
Well. To be polite:
You were talking about fighting existing pathogens while I was answering a question about replacing regular use of h2o2 with uv.
Yes, some reports of this occur every now and then.
Personally I have never experienced this problem, and my corals typically show me right away when something is wrong with the mineral balance (sensitive creatures, these little bitches complain about anything from micro nutrients to the neighbours being to loud Saturday night).
I dont think that with a normal uv filter sized for fish tank duty you would ever run into this problem, given that we change the entire reservoir so often.
Link to outside source:
http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.200401/msg00668.html
mountainboy
Well-Known Member
Thank you for the response. I dont know why facestabber is jumping down you throat, your are responding to my post not his. I think what you said makes sense.
As far as effecting the nutes, I have no clue. I just dont understand how it could effect them,as it is not a physical filter. The water is just exposed to the light as it passes through a glass tubing.
The theoretical possibility to lock out certain elements due to ionization is very real, but its a slow process.
Really what uv filters do in this regard is very similar to what h2o2 does, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Here is a lengthy read about the subject that also goes into detail with h2o2, chlorine and more. Just look at the first picture for easy to digest explanation if you don't want to read the whole thing
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/redox_potential.html