Hydroguard vs FloraShield (and other nutrients)

[MajorTom]

I'm running a small DWC setup (first grow); using GH FloraDuo with GH CaliMag. I started adding Hydroguard as a preventive measure. I know next to nothing about what to feed these pups and put in the reservoir (organic, nonorganic, whatever).

They seem to be doing pretty well so far - but is Hydroguard or FloraShield the way to go? Any thoughts about which is better? Are they complimentary or mutually exclusive? Is this something I should be adding each water change for maintenance?

And what about these other GH products listed on their feeding charts?
Liquid Koolbloom
Floralicious Plus
Armor Si
Diamond Nectar
FloraBlend
FloraNectar

Do I need to be adding all of these as well?

I'm 23 days into the grow and my auto girls (Blueberry and Northern Lights) are a compact and somewhat bushy 2-3". So on the feeding charts I'm in "early growth" - correct?

Thanks again for any input...

[Obi-Wan]

You will get a variety of opinions from growers here regarding your questions so be prepared for your head to spin. Hydroguard and FloraShield are 2 very different solutions to root rot. Hydroguard works by building a colony of beneficial bacteria around your root system. FloraShield works by killing all bacteria in your reservoir. You will need to choose one or the other as the FloaraShield would kill all the beneficial bacteria provided by the Hydroguard. I will probably get roasted for my next comment but....There is a common misconception amongst growers that root rot is caused by light leaks and warm water temperatures, when in fact root rot is caused by specific types of bacteria that overpopulate the root system. Light leaks and warm temperatures provide an environment that is ideal for these bacteria to thrive but absent the harmful bacteria will not cause root rot alone. So your choice is to create a colony of beneficial bacteria that will out compete the harmful bacteria using a product like Hydroguard or run a sterile environment where no bacteria can survive using a product like FloraShield. Whichever treatment you choose should be applied with every reservoir change in order to maximize the effectiveness of the treatment.

As as far as the supplements......the short answer is no you don’t have to use them and your crop will grow just fine without them.
Liquid KoolBloom is a pk booster and it works IMO.
I use floralicious plus but can’t say I’ve seen any improvement because of it, same fora FloraBlend, Diamond nectar, and Flora nectar.
Armor Si works as well, definitely stronger branches with fewer issues ie. light burn, reactions to extreme cold and heat.

At 23 days I would say you are firmly in veg, at 2-3 inches your plants could be stunted but pictures would help make a determination.

[oldjarhead100]

Well said Obi-wan and good advise

[DoctorJohnson]

I had great results using just FloraSeries (3 bottles) and CALiMAGic (1 bottle).
I firmly believe that just NPK + trace elements is all you need and the rest is marketing hype. Save your money until you see how the basics do. That said, a lot of people seem to like silicon supplements.
I used HydroGuard in a too-small reservoir that got up into the 90s F a couple of times during a heat wave and my roots were beautiful, but the stuff is very expensive and has no shelf life. I think that instead you're better off using a big reservoir and an in-aquarium circulating pump with a venturi bubbler--about $25 at the pet shop--to keep things moving an aerated.
My .02. YMMV. One last thought: You're better off spending an extra $100 on a better light than 5 more bottles of magic soup.

[DW2]

Howdy Major Tom, I am using the GH Maxi series and supplements (GH RDWC feeding schedule) and have had great results with it. I used the Hydroguard for the first two grows and did not have good results. I found out later that You can not use ant H2O2 or any disinfectant type of additive when using the Hydroguard because it is a live bacteria itself and they will kill it as well as the algae. Using the FloraShield along with blocking ALL light leaks and keeping the water temperature below 70° F has given me the best results.

[MajorTom]

Ok, thanks for all the comments - very informative. So it sounds like not using the Hydroguard and using either the FloraKleen or FloraShield with each water change is the way to go; along with trying to plug up light leaks, and keeping the water at a cool 65F which I've been able to do recently with a chiller.

I also noticed the HydroGuard lowering my ph and some kind of chemical reaction or something going on when I added the GH PH UP solution;

And yes, I do think my girls are shorter than they should be even though they're short strains Auto Blueberry and Auto N Lights. My temps/humidity has been swinging more widely than I like but I've finally got it down to a consistent 75F w 55% humidity. I've also made some light changes and and just added a MaxBloom LED (200w/400w?) unit set to 90% veg and 15% bloom (see below).

I'm leaving them alone for a good while (12 days!) and wanted to go ahead and start some gentle LST so I bent them over slightly this morning to expose more of the nodes. Noticed some slight browning coming in on the new growth on the Blueberry; not sure what to make of that. Will have one more time to check on them tonight before leaving them to fend for themselves.

[MajorTom]

Yes, I know. Don’t have anyone to check up on them yet. Up past 2am this morning working on increasing the size of my auto ph reservoirs (which were rather small to begin with) so ph s/be ok. Temps and RH have been stable around 75/55; water change yesterday with HydroGuard and nutrients; backup water reservoir s/be able to handle it. My biggest fear now is blowing a breaker in the box; or developing root rot. I’ve been away for 5-7 days pretty regularly; but 12 is indeed a stretch. This takes a lot of dedication.

[DW2]

MajorTom, I had a 'senior moment', I wrote FloraKleen when I meant FloraShield used to control brown algae and root rot. I hope that I did not confuse things for You, evidently, it is very easy for me to confuse myself! LOL!

[MajorTom]

Thanks for the clarification DW2; it did throw me a bit, but I totally get it...