Those running a sterile system

Sorry another post but I'm having a hard time finding information on this subject.

I'm using 50% calcium hypochlorite to sterilize my system. My understanding is a dosage of .10g per 10 gallons is 1ppm but that's not working for me.

I premix the pool shock with water and then add that to my reservoir. Today I added 1tsp of hth which is roughly 4g and my total chlorine reached 5 finally but my free chlorine is maybe at 1. My system is as sparkeling clear as anyone could hope but there is a lack of chlorine smell, I even had another nose check on it. There's zero sign of root damage from to much chlorine as well.

Anyone who actually knows the answer to this quandary if you could please help out I'd appreciate it greatly.

So you WANT your water to smell like chlorine? If its dosed right you generally wont smell it in those small concentrations. Not sure what kind of answer you are trying to get.

How about bennys and root hormone Shawn lol!

shawnery said:

Sorry another post but I'm having a hard time finding information on this subject.

I'm using 50% calcium hypochlorite to sterilize my system. My understanding is a dosage of .10g per 10 gallons is 1ppm but that's not working for me.

I premix the pool shock with water and then add that to my reservoir. Today I added 1tsp of hth which is roughly 4g and my total chlorine reached 5 finally but my free chlorine is maybe at 1. My system is as sparkeling clear as anyone could hope but there is a lack of chlorine smell, I even had another nose check on it. There's zero sign of root damage from to much chlorine as well.

Anyone who actually knows the answer to this quandary if you could please help out I'd appreciate it greatly.

Click to expand...

Check this thread
https://www.rollitup.org/t/how-to-operate-a-sterile-hydroponic-system.849475/

I hope it helps

Badrice08 said:

If its dosed right you generally wont smell it in those small concentrations.

Click to expand...

at 0.3g/10 gal or 3ppm , if you don't smell the chlorine, your sense of smell is off.

check your scale for accuracy @shawnery a new penny should weigh 2.5g

I've been using hth for years at this point. Once I add it to the system I never smell it again.

Thundercat said:

I've been using hth for years at this point. Once I add it to the system I never smell it again.

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me too. but i can smell it in my stand alone res for at least 48 hours. then it dissipates.

I've been testing and going to continue today to see how long it takes to dissipate. I can tell you this so far. I set my ppm to 4 with 1/2 a tsp which holds roughly 2 1/2 grams added to 25 gallons roughly, that should have me at 10ppm right. That dosage is from the website not the scale.

I tested it this morning about 18hrs later and it is completely gone. I would love for another sterile grower to test this out. Everything I've been reading about chlorine, not pot growing, says most is gone in 12 hours or less and 24 to be sure. There are some instances were a dosage of 5ppm can be gone in a few hours though. Not opinion of mine but found in studies and tests.

My only question or more so concern or quandry is how is my dosage of hth so high with so little chlorine in the water? 1g per 10 gallons should be 10ppm but I added 1/2tsp or 2 1/2 grams to 25 gallons this morning and only get a reading of 3ppm. I should have easily got a reading of 8 to 10 ppm with that kind of dosage.

Fine its at the ppm it should be but everuthing Ive read on here and in that link a while ago states my numbers are way off.

Confusing and Ive read more about chlorine and nutrients in hydroponics in the last few days than most could even find in the same time span.

P.S. I'm testing with a dripper and a strip; both are resding the same so its not the testing equipment. My confusion is based in my reading of all the information from here and everywhere and my personal experience being far outside the lines of all that information not a lack of information.

Mont@n@ said:

Check this thread
https://www.rollitup.org/t/how-to-operate-a-sterile-hydroponic-system.849475/

I hope it helps

Click to expand...

Read it a while back but thank you! I would have pointed me to the same exact place.

rkymtnman said:

at 0.3g/10 gal or 3ppm , if you don't smell the chlorine, your sense of smell is off.

check your scale for accuracy @shawnery a new penny should weigh 2.5g

Click to expand...

I agree on the scale.

Anyone willing to test the data I found online stating there are 4 1/2g in a teaspoon of pool shock. Atleast if I have a tested and proved conversion my scale will be null and void.

Here's the results of my chlorine test after 2hrs.

10am added 1/2tsp to 25 gallons and got a chlorine level of 3.

12pm tested water and only have .5ppm of chlorine left in the water.

My guess is there's still brown algea hidden in tiny crevices and the chlorine is being lost here. If this is the case then shouldn't I continue adding chlorine until I can achieve a stable reading of atleast 2 if not 5ppm?

Sorry if I am reading this wrong, but where I am lost in your story is where you are testing your chlorine. In your nutrient solution or just the actual sterilizer mix you are making.

Well I am going to guess its your nutrient solution you are testing and found this paragraph interesting:
https://www.maximumyield.com/tap-water-and-its-impact-on-hydroponic-nutrients-and-supplements/2/959
It states: As previously discussed, chlorine is technically a micronutrient. When high-quality hydroponic chelates come into contact with it, chlorine becomes even more likely to enter your plant’s vascular system. In other words, chlorine is even worse for your plants in the presence of high-quality nutrients.

So my understanding of this possibility is that the chelates in your nutrients could be allowing your plants to uptake more chlorine then they would without nutrients.

Good guess but if that was the case everyone running a sterile enviroment would run into this issue and yes it's the nutrient mix.

I've had this issue with overpriced water nutes and well priced dry nutes, which I'm currently using. The article is explain8ng the benifits of chlorine as a nutrient and how in fact it works. If my plants were absorbing 8g of hth and the chlorine it produces they would be dead.

I think the answer is,

There is still unseen algea and contaminates in my system which is neutralizing the chlorine. It takes great amounts of chlorine to kill algea that is currently blooming but small amounts for control. At some point I would assume that my algea problem going away will change this weird situation but that's a guess based on a week of research.

But this is the reason I was looking for peoole who truly understand the situation. I can read all the articles and have but that in no way equips me with the experience to understand it much better than I currently do.

What do your plants/roots currently look like?

The roots look great considering they sat dry for two hours a couple days ago when cleaning my system.

The plants old growth is deficient looking from ph lockout but the new growth is green since double checking ph with two calibrated pens. It was around 7 between 3 and 4 weeks.

Honestly they look great, I have the same problems. Started a run without a key nute so went into deficiency. Those leaves look like poo poo, but the new ones are fine and even the ones that were bad dont look horrible now.

Is Poo Poo a scientific standered.

These girls have a long way before they are considered great but I appreciate the thought.

Finally headed in the right direction.

Set the chlorine at 3ppm at 10am then checked it at 12pm and it was still damn close to 3ppm. Compared to yesterday when the level had dropped to .5ppm in the same time span. I assume this means I'm well on the way to removing any left over contaminants

Hey, @shawnery! Sorry to pick off an old scab but I ran across your thread just as I'm transitioning to Calium Hypochlorite to control the critters in my rez, and it looks like you went through the same issues I'm going through so if you don't mind, I thought I'd lean on your experience to get some questions answered rather than starting yet another thread on the topic.

1) I assume you're still using pool shock at 3 PPM with good results, true?

2) How often to you add the Ca(ClO)2 to your rez?

3) What's the vollume of your rez, and how often do you change out the solution?

4) I've read from semi-reliable sources that Ca(ClO)2 reacts with nutes to form Chloramines, which dissipate quite slowly and accumulate over time in your rez, which requires changing out the nute solution more frequently. Have you found this to be true?

Seems like a cheap and easy alternative to the Peroxide treatment I used previously, but the residual products are of concern. Thanx for any help.