I’ve used many different types of organic digestive over the years…started with Hygrozyme…the cost made me sick to my stomach to I quickly found alternatives…eventually settled on this product as fit perfectly into my program, ultra cheap($30) and concentrated!! (80,000 gallons of treatment from a single gallon!)
It’s not special in anyway(many brands sell a similar product)other than it’s ability to consume organic matter…
This particular product is MicrobeLift Barley Straw Extract…and that’s it!!
Barley Straw creates a bacteria that itself created a enzyme that consumes organic matter…all organic, safe for all plants and animals…
Like I said there are a ton of pond/lake clarifier’s that are even more concentrated than this…sometimes too concentrated is not always better(hard to measure out dosage)
Dilution rate @ full strength is 1 TBSP per 100 gallon.
Yeah, I read your post and thought it sounded familiar! I resurrected this thread last month to ask about alternatives that are being used successfully. I’m still interested in the one you suggested. Is it possible for
you to post pics of the roots from plants in late flower that you’re growing in a hydro setup that you’re using this on?
I’d have to look what pictures I have on this phone…when I deleted FB last year it took years worth of my facility grow pictures with it!
But the roots were nice n white and smelled like bean sprouts…made me want to eat them! Seriously!!
If you have FB you might want to see if one of my old pages is still up…
Alaska Bud Brothers Aero-Gardens or Alaska Horticultural Solutions…there will be a ton of pictures of my custom built aeroponics systems, root, plants pics
they’re mostly studied in the context of waste water cleanup and mostly discussed as a diy cleaning chemical, but proponents insist it’s also a fertilizer, pesticide, and more. Basically it’s a homemade vinegar/alcohol solution with lots of enzyme activity
from above: ‘The result showed the garbage enzyme possesses protease, amylase and lipase activity and reduced 37.2% of total solids, 38.6% of suspended solids and 99% of pathogens in dairy waste activated sludge.’
from above: ‘The results showed that GE addition significantly increased fluorescein diacetate hydrolase (FDA), cellulase, and nitrogenase activities during the composting process [of sewage sludge]. GE addition reduced the cumulative NH3 emissions by 66.5%, increased the peak NH4-N content by 26.3% and increased the total nitrogen (TN) content of the end compost by 39.2% compared to [without GE]’
from above: ‘The [garbage enzyme] produced compost possess better quality in terms of parameters such as decomposed pH, moisture content, organic matter, organic nitrogen, phosphorus, germination index, shoot length, root length and vigor index as compared to compost prepared conventionally’
I’m not gonna post em and quote em’ but it looks like there’s been favorable results using GE as a biofertilizer for shallots and lettuce.
It’s used in shrimp/prawn farming.
Figured the strains are all taken and cultured from soil and also perform in aquaculture to destroy sludge and algae. Has b.amyloliquefaciens in it as well.
I use a pinch of both, just a bit. Keeps the roots happy.
Prior to this, I used to get root rot always after my 1st nute change in dwc after my initial few runs. Learnt to mitigate this with h202. It’s still always a must in my garden…just to nuke the shit out of things when they get nasty!
But after beginning to use pondzyme and the probiotic for my current run, it’s never occurred even once! They’re definitely keepers in my hydro projects…
Give it a try!
Cheers!
Yes, literally a pinch. Sometimes more, few times less…
Like whatever comes in between my thumb and my pointing finger.
The probiotic come in tablets. I crush then in a tablet crusher and
The instructions on pondzyme comes down to 0.5gms or so…so I said f**k it…just dont add too much.
The probiotic increases the salinity (ec/ppm) by a bit. It’s in an enzymatic base solidified. I add just a bit and the recipe is perfect.
No perfect measurements…sorry.
I just wing it.
Weekly in a 3gal res.
It’s no biggie the rez size is important to me as I’m using 80ish gallons.
I have noticed with some beneficial bacteria products I get a biofilm when I was going to heavy handed. Something about once the beneficials die they can gunk up the works if there’s too many.
I’m still trying to understand the relationship of bacteria and enzymes.
Currently I brew a Heisenberg tea with recharge, leaving the pond enzymes out. After the tea has been in my rez for 2 days I change out the water and just hit it with pond enzymes and freshwater.
It’s no biggie the rez size is important to me as I’m using 80ish gallons.
I have noticed with some beneficial bacteria products I get a biofilm when I was going to heavy handed. Something about once the beneficials die they can gunk up the works if there’s too many.
I’m still trying to understand the relationship of bacteria and enzymes.
Currently I brew a Heisenberg tea with recharge, leaving the pond enzymes out. After the tea has been in my rez for 2 days I change out the water and just hit it with pond enzymes and freshwater.
Interesting that u mentioned this…
Using the probiotic in whatever little qty, I’m observing lesser biofilm buildup on the airline as compared to using just pondzyme alone during the weekly res change…
Even while using just h202, the slime inevitably occurs on the air lines.
Both pondzyme and the probiotic can be used in similar qty based on the instructions mentioned on the pondzyme label.
Just go easy on the probiotic as it increases the ec…
Cheers!
Has anyone tried this product? Have a friend that runs a greenhouse growing hibiscus. They say they use this to clean… I found literature online saying it’s safe to use in reservoirs. I grow DWC. Had a nasty bout of slime algae. First time ever last grow. After years of never having it. I cleaned everything with this product and i’m thinking about running it in my rez.
That stuff may be fine for ornamentals but it is absolutely not okay to use in a reservoir for growing food or weed, that’s a quaternary ammonium sanitizer, really nasty stuff. Their website has a whole section on hydroponics and they say nothing about using it in a reservoir just for cleaning in between rounds and spraying on the surface of rockwool to kill algae.
Research is starting to show that these sanitizers might be responsible for asthma outbreaks among cleaners as well as possible cancers or birth defects.
Hygrozyme is an enzyme product, they could not be more different. Enzymes don’t clean your res, they keep your roots healthier. If you wanted something SAFE to use in your reservoir to fight that, topping off with some hydrogen peroxide 3% regularly would do it, but algae only grows in the presence of light so you need to get wherever it’s growing covered with something lightproof.
probably have something called brown slime algae, which actually isn’t algae at all, but a cyanobacteria. It loves oxygen and doesn’t need light to grow. It doesn’t care if your res is chilled or not. Safe levels of H202 slows it a bit but doesn’t cure it. It can show up for DWC growers for no apparent reason even after years of successful grows. Once it shows up it’s often a nightmare to get rid of. It WILL eventually spread to other DWC tubs, although it almost never gains a foothold on older well developed healthy plants/roots.
Copy from t h c farmer. This is also how it happened to me started in one bucket quickly transferred to others and eventually jumped tents.
@Dirt_Wizard Thanks for the heads up on the cleaning product
