I never cleaned the reservoir until the end of grow. EVen in commercial
greenhouse we never clean until June when we shut down for the Summer.
When I clean I use common dishsoap and a sponge with scotch brite on one
side (green). Rinse really well, and if you want buy some kleerex or
other flushing/leaching product. I also clean my hydroton the same way.
I soak hydroton in a bath of Kleerex or other commercial flushing
agent.These flushing agents dissolve salts and allow hydroton to be used
over and over. I have a friend who used his so long that it is now
bleached whiteā¦LOL
I use tap water and a dechlorinator (water conditioner). I have 2 - 20gal trash cans for my plants, and one for the reservoir. I do all my checking and additions in the reservoir. I have a drain valve piped outside, so when Iām ready to drain, I just open the valve. I tried the 5 gallon buckets, but seemed to be a lot of work changing water every week.
This seems like it wonāt work with a scrog net in place. I could see adding drainage valves and hoses but then how do you sanitize without harming the roots?
Once my scrog net goes up, it doesnāt get moved and I never see the roots again. As @latewood said, you sanitize between grows. I KNOW it will work with scrog.
I use a separate pump for my small 5 gallon set up, while the water is being pumped in a separate tub I prepare my nutrients by the time Iām done so is the pump.
Weekly is recommended by most, even with nutes that says itās āPh stableā should be checked daily. Many many factors go into play. If you got sludge after a week itās probably from the light.
Wonāt happen much if you use hydroguard and keep the light out of the water. Hydro is still low maintenance, but growing itself requires daily observation at least.
Most of the time it is just looking and refilling the reservoir. If you use a good nute line your pH should be pretty stable within the range of 5.8-6.2. Just need to make sure you donāt build up slime and the PPM is below 1500(preferably @1200 during flower)
Nice scrog. How soon do you start training the plants? It looks like you start earlier than I do, I like yours better. I canāt really get mine that wide because I have six pots in a common reservoir, and theyāre pretty close together. But I have been waiting until they were about 2 feet tall before starting with the scrog net. Is that too long?
If you veg and flower in the same placeā¦
I use to grow in 20gal trash cans. I set my net approximately 13" above the trash can, ( this was so I could get my old self underneath.)
I would then let the plant grow through the net approximately 8", then supercrop and start tying down. Continue tying down until net is approximately 60% full, then flip lights. Continue tying down until you get flowers showing.
I have a hydroponic system with a 3 x 4 x 1.5, 25 gallon common reservoir with net pots above the water level for 5 plants and Iām still experimenting with changing intervals. So far, 3 weeks is where Iām comfortable. I have encountered root rot with longer periods (before I learned about HydroGuard). With the autoflower short cycle, you might be able get away without changing it at all, but you are going to want to change it over to your flowering fertilizer at some point anyhow.
The water in my reservoir is pretty stagnant. I have a small pump in there just to create a little motion, plus a couple of air stones. It is a wick system using cotton cord to wick the mixture into a vermiculite / perlite mix. No watering, no soil (or bugs), no sprinklers or pumps to fail (the pump I put in the reservoir is not really necessary), just top off the reservoir now and then and check the vitals. To change the mix, I use a separate pump to empty out the reservoir into buckets, then refill with fresh mix the same way.
