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Have a Little Slime in 1st DWC

rwdyredhead

rwdyredhead

New member
Almost to the end of my 1st week of growing my 1st dwc and to spite using hydroguard I pulled an air hose up to check it and it was a little slimy with some whitish looking buildup. I have a 4 5 gallon bucket set up & I've been trying to get my water temperature down since it's been staying at about 75 to 77 degrees. Any suggestions as to an easy way to keep the water cooler other than buying a chiller? And what can I do about the slime? My seedlings have just grown their 1st root into the water. Thanks
 
Congrats Rowdy! As longs as they are white (when you rinse off any colored solution) and smell fresh, it's normal to have a light slimy film on the roots-that's the good bacteria in their protein matrix feeding the roots. When it turns brown or snotty looking, like when you have a bad sinus infection, or smells like rotting, that's when you have a problem.
 
Sorry to hear that 'You've got slim'. Do check for light leaks, I have net pot covers, but they can still let in some light so I cover the exposed areas with silver duct tape. I keep the temperature, of my reservoirs between 64 - 70 deg. F. by using ice bottles. I use about two a day (during the lights on period) with the cooler weather, and as many as four per day during the summer. I also insulate the reservoirs with the large bubble wrap, this helps to keep out the ambient heat.
I hope that you can get the slime under control.
Best wishes rwdyredhead!
 
Thanks DW2. That's what I was looking for, a cheap & easy way to cool them without spending a fortune on chillers. Didn't know they make net covers but I'm taking care of any little light leaks today by covering the whole buckets with black plastic for now. What do you think I should do for the slime? I'm changing the water in each bucket today but will cooling the water down w/ice bottles and fixing the light leaks stop the slime? And what should I wipe down the buckets and air hoses with to clean them? Bleach or just dish soap? Thanks a million :)
 
The slime is on the air hoses and air stones and a little on the inside of the buckets. The roots look good(white) but they only just made it to the water in the last 2 days.
 
Hi Rowdy, do you have your air pumps inside the tent? If the temp outside the tent is cooler than in the tent having the pumps outside the tent will put cooler air into the water and cool in down a bit.
 
This is what it looks like dkk. This is after I rubbed it a little and the white stuff kinda bunched up but it's definitely slimy feeling. I'm getting my temps down and any tiny light leaks fixed right now so hopefully that will fix it. I haven't added any nutes yet, I'm giving them their 1st feeding today @ 5 days from sprout.
Pics below. Thanks
 
That's fine. Remember, the whole reservoir is a living environment. Things that live in water are usually slimy to the touch because they produce proteins that feel like mucus. It's healthy as long as it's clear and fresh, not murky or smelly.
 
I had better luck covering my bucket with shiny mylar rather than black. Intense light shining on black bucket will warm it up. Mylar will reflect the radiant heat from your grow light away from your reservoir. I didn't have to chill the water at all.
 
Sound like a great idea! I'll order some today & thanks. I didn't think I'd have temp problems since I'm only using 2 300 watt leds right now. No biggie tho, I'm gonna take care of the whole temp & light situation right away.
 
I have my bedroom door open with a ac on at 68 degrees and an 6 inch exhaust blowing out of a small window in my grow room. I don't have them in a tent just a small room, maybe a 10x10. Usually the exhaust just pulls cool air from around the door but I've been leaving it open & it's not enough. I've got some bottles of water freezing right now to fix it tho.
 
rwdyredhead, Green75 told some one on an other thread to rinse the roots well with water and H2O2 in it. I have used H2O2 in the reservoir to kill it, but it takes a while, rinsing the root ball may speed up cleaning out the slime. The store variety of H2O2 is only a 3% solution, so you could use it full strength to rinse the roots. The preventatives, good oxygenation of the water, lower temperature, and sealing off light intrusions, are far easier than killing it off. I replace all of the lines (air and irrigation), air stones, and water pump new each time, if you can't boil it, toss it. The reservoir and net pots get cleaned with dish soap, an over night soaking in a strong (2 cups per gallon of water) bleach solution, then rinsed first with water and then a solution of Florashield (2 Tbls per gallon) in water. I have used the Hydroguard, but I have had better results with the Florashield. Do not use the Florashield if You are using 'live' microbial supplements. An agent from GH told me, in an e-mail, that it could be used directly in the reservoir, but no more than at 2-3 ml per gallon.
 
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