I just ran auto pots for the first time this grow with a 12.4 gallon reservoir.
I have a few things going on.
I am starting to get a lot of growth in the bottom of the reservoir and film on the top of the reservoir now, I didn’t really get the film until temp broke 70F down there.
The trays in the tent are super nasty now with salt build up and film and growth, but good news is only 2 plants left that should be finished within a week. Also, I got a clog a about a month ago I cleared out. Now, there are even a bunch of white bugs now in the trays.
I plan on completely decontaminating and fully cleaning before the next run.
I guess I am wondering how I can keep it clean on the next grow?
Or is it not a problem really a problem.
I started using Jacks, but was getting a lot of growth so switched over to Kosher which helped until temps went up down there.
So my basement was 50F to 60F all winter so I didnt get too much growth at all until now. It is already up to 73F degrees and will likely hit 77F/78F by peak summer. The reservoir was needing changed every 3-5 days in veg, now that they are finishing its 7 to 9 days. So I get that is helping to cause more growth too.
My first mistake was using a vivosun submersible pump on the very first use of the reservoir, not realizing it would add a bunch of heat. So growth happened the very first day/first use. When I saw temps and growth the next day, I completely emptied it and changed it out, but there was probably still growth all over in there and especially on the filter which I foolishly didn’t clean. So that has probably also been compounding over time.
I saw a few places online saying add Hydrogen peroxide.
Would you recommend?
How many ml per gallon?
Also I have an air pump and air stones I use to make compost tea I could clean or get new stones for and run that in the reservoir.
Would that help?
I heard somewhere oxygen holds less water over 70F, my reservoir is currently 73F.
So that may help or be needed anyway?
I also heard about adding frozen water bottles regularly to try to keep temps down but that may require going down there like 4 times a day to switch out so maybe only under extreme heat.
I also heard about products like hydroguard and easy2flow would you recommend anything like that? They both look kind of pricey, but if it works or an less expensive alternative I would try it.
This is a 10X zoom, so the are very small by the eye, they just look like they bounce around on the top of the water. They were all over the roots of the first 2 plants I cut.
I use hydrogaurd (1 tsp per gallon) and I have an air pump that comes on every 6hrs to keep everything mixed up. My reservoir stays around 73 in the summer with no issues.
It’s important to clean everything well between grows. I also clean my reservoir every other refill and open the drain line for 1min after every refill to clean the lines out
Could try hydrogen peroxide, hydroguard, southern AG, or even UC roots. But what it sounds like what you are looking to do is keep water temp around 65-68° so sounds like you need a water chiller, can get one on Amazon for like $150
That’s thrips, Captain Jacks Deadbug to the rescue. They need multiple treatments to break life cycle. Spray every three days, drench whole plant, don’t put back under lights until dry. Do this for two weeks and their should no pests on your plants.
@ready2rip as @DanB covered, you’ll want to thoroughly clean all contact surfaces with H2O2 3% solution after your plants are removed and you’ve Deadbug’d. I feel for ya bother, overcome!
Thirps need killed prior to harvest right? Thought I read somewhere that they will feast on harvested plants as well if its the only source of food?? At least a place to winter and lay eggs.
Im praying they are springtails.
I really dont see them on top of the coco or on the plants.
Its all in the trays, and the 2 plants I chopped I saw them in the roots.
I took some pics of my tray and reservoir this morning for reference. The water temp has been over 73 the last week (currently 73.4) and my plants are happy happy happy. Other than the discoloration from the nutrients the water is clear.
I think the root of your issue was system maintenance tbh AutoPots are a good system but the water sits stagnant so it takes a little maintenance to keep everything clean and running smoothly
Don’t use both, the HG is just good bacteria, peroxide will kill all bacteria good or bad. I use peroxide because it more sanitary and it kills algae as well is bacteria. 5-8 mls per gallon of water
