Hello, i recently put my babies into the net pots with hydroton.
Then added water and nutes to the RDWC system along with the recommended amount of hydroguard.
I have the water an inch below the net pots and i dont have any roots going down into the water yet so i am top feeding.
After about 2 days, i open the res and it smells like feet, the smell isnt overwhelming or anything, but i do smell it and then cant really smell it once the bucket is aired out i guess, but if i close it and open again i can smell it again.
I lifted up the net pots and smelled the net pots to see if it was coming from there, i didnt smell anything so im kinda sure its coming from the buckets.
I have 6 5 gal buckets with 2 inch air stones in them, and am using an 635 GPH air pump.
idk if this changes anything, but id also like to note my PPM since adding nutes/hydroguard, has risen from the initial 500PPM to 700.
and my PH rose to 6.8 which i have since corrected with PH down back to 5.9
Air in pails should look like a rolling boil. I use 1180gph for 3 pails.
The odor can be from the water itself. Smell the nutes in bottle and hydroguard to see if it’s that.
Fill a pan with water and smell it.
Smell bucket while laying down so feet aren’t near it ?
LoL had to throw a joke in.
500ppm for clean water is high. Might have a lot of junk in it.
What do you think i could be smelling then?
From what i know, hydroguard is beneficial bacteria, is it possible that’s what im smelling from my buckets?
Im really hoping im not getting some kind of mold, or root rot before the roots even get to the water.
I’ve never used hydroguard, so not sure what it should smell like. If you have 68f water and plenty of air you shouldn’t even need it. But I would check with @peachfuzz@tdubwilly or @bogleg maybe.
This is my first grow so i wanted to use it as a preventative measure because im a worrisome type a guy.
Thanks for the tags! I was actually wanting to tag bogleg as i seen in another thread that he was knowledgeable with hydro but im stoned and forgot the name, i kept typing dogleg trying to tag him thinking that was his name lol.
No pic of roots…
Make sure that you have at least a one inch air gap between your net basket and water line…
Also you want at least a 950 gph air pump for 6 plants…
With six 2"x2" air stones…
So the only thing that can smell bad that can be of any concern is organic material (not talking about hydroguard).
Organic nutrients, which you say you don’t have and roots are also organic material but you say that yours haven’t reached the water yet. Also light leaks can lead to algae growth.
If you don’t have any if these three issues then I would worry about anything unless you dropped part of last night’s dinner into the bucket on accident
The ONLY thing i can think of that could be some sort of light leak, its the water level tube on the reservoir bucket. Its dark blue, should i cover that up with some electrical tape?
Other than that, i cant think of anything else other than when i open the bucket to check PH and PPMs
What’s the expiration date on the Hydroguard? If anything you are putting in the water stinks, it will stink before you put it in. I have had Hydroguard past expiration smell like bad eggs. Otherwise my water usually doesn’t have too much of an odor. A slight loamy smell, is all.
The hydroguard doesn’t smell like anything when I smelled it from the bottle, but will check expiration when I get home right now.
The feet smell really isn’t overwhelming, it’s not like I can smell it when I enter the tent. But when I crack that bucket open and put my face up to it I can definitely smell feet
