Sounds like an excellent plan.
I dont totally disagree with you on that, and you do make a good point. Its easy for a discussion to go off topic in a bad way - and fast.
However, just saying you like 5.2-5.5, and me saying I like 5.7-6.0 - without any explanations, reasons, examples, doesnt help all that much either. You may as well just ask for a simple vote and go with the majority. When you make recommendations with no explanation, or details on your reasoning, the person your giving the advice to has no basis to judge if you know what youāre taking about or if you are just spouting crap, or repeating something they read on the internet and took at face vlaue 
Thats not automatically a bad thing, but I have found that there are a lot of things that āeveryone knowsā about growing that are just not true, or at least not the set in stone thing that many think they are. Plus, as I said, this is a complex issue. I think you need to add additional info and have additional discussion to fully understand whats going on and to make a good decision.
I am a little biased though. I absolutely hate having people āmoderateā my communications and/or threads. More often than not, threads get edited by someone trying to make them āmore on topicā, but it cuts them up, breaks the flow, and critical information gets lost. People do not stay āon topicā in real life. Trying to force them to do so on-line makes it worse more often than it helps. But thats just me
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Thatās why the FAQ is there, generic threads are thereā¦
If Everytime someone has a pH doubt/problem we have to repeat endlessly info that are already available in a clear way , readability will go in the trash
Last 2 msgs are way offtopic here anyways.
Open a new thread about it if u want and we go on; no more off topic msg here or Iām gonna need split in a new thread myself.
Ds
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ā¦and the root problems are back
Iāve had enough. The plants in the solo cups are doing great, so I bought a flood tray and some fabric bags. They are gonna go into 3gal coco DTW.
I will keep the air and water pumps, maybe try it again on a smaller scale at a later time. I gotta keep up with my wifeās consumption and this experiment is not letting meā¦
All of the DWC plants are also developing a bitching magnesium deficiency, even with foliar sulfate feeding. Solo cup plants are lush and green with no signs of issues.
So there we have it, I have decided to cut my losses and proceed with what I know. Thanks for all the help!
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Can you not rinse the slime off the roots then plant the clean roots into coco?? It will be a shame to let them go to waist. Iād even be tempted to just leave them in the net pots and plant them along with the plant as to not disturb the roots as much.
Ignore this. I didnāt ready your last post fully 
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Im having the same problem. From everything I have read, once the root rot has gotten well established, its very difficult to kill all the way.
Ive done several chlorine additions to my rez at up to 6ppm every day instead of every 3 days. I even did a direct 60PPM or so spray from a sprayer directly on the roots. Its slowed the spread down some, but its still there and growing.
Im now going to try some heavy duty bennies - the Southern Ag Garden Friendly Fungicide to see if it will do anything, but I have my doubts.
It seems the best way - by far - is to prevent root rot from the beginning in the first place. No light leaks, good aeration, safe temperature range, and start adding chlorine, or bennies, from day one.
Im going to have to sterilize my entire system before I start a new plant. Im going to try the chlorine at 2-3PPM from day one this time. I already did everything I could to block light and keep temps in a safe range - below 70F.
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Please tag me when you start again @anon32470837; I still want to succeed at this one day 
will follow your progress closely
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Most of it will be in my HPA thread.
I might start a new thread when I start the new seed in the system. That thread is getting a little long and has wandered all over the place ) I will let you know and post any new links there.
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I might have missed if you said, but where did you get the flood tray?
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Picked it up at my local hydro store, they had a pile on the shelf. Cheaper than amazon, and Canadian made
Yes, i had a chat with the owner of my local hydro store, himself a very experienced grower. He said that he does not bother carrying any sterilizing agents or beneficials because the region i am in is known for a type of brown, not green, algae that is extremely difficult to keep away. It is on everything in our wet climate, and thrives in DWC, even with very very minimal light. It does not eat the roots, but will suffocate them quickly.
I have been updating him on the progress of my DWC experiment and his comment? āGo sterile from seed, in a sterile room, with one of those bunny suits and gloves because that shit is over your skin from touching outside handrails, door handles, etc. Boil all fittings, soak all hoses, pipes, stones, pumps, and buckets in sterilizing solution of bleach. Soak hydroton and sterilize for a couple of days. Run an air filter with positive pressureā¦ Or you could just go coco, it stays too dry for that shit to cause any issues.ā
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Wow. Thats a bleak assessment as far as any hope of doing hydro.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, in Wa State. We get close to 50" of rain most years, and little sun over the winter. I get green algae on perlite or what ever Im using if I leave the pots uncovered, but I get that brown crap in the rez.
So far, nothing I have done has stopped its growing/spreading on the roots.
Im hoping he is wrong about how bad it is. Im going to try sterile from day one on the new grow and keep my fingers crossed.
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Iām just north of you @anon32470837, about 70km from coast up the valley; same climate pretty much. Piled up against a mountain so a little more rain locally
We have 3 hydro stores in my little town. One is a chain, and the owner of the whole chain runs our local store. They carry a great selection of everything, very helpful, and will entertain any endeavour. Experienced anecdotally but not growers really.
The second store is useless and clueless
The third one is my favourite because the guy actually grows under MMAR, mindful of plant counts, and carries only a limited stock of things that are proven to work. Most of his business is done in skids, not bags. His advice I generally trust.
Having said that, you have to take what he says with a grain of salt ā pragmatic to a fault sometimes. Maybe for 20% more effort we could get 30-40% better result?
I hope your experiment works. I will be trying again as well, just not until the new year I donāt think. Iāve spent my āfunā budget on this hobby now, and if I kill the crop and have to buy for wifeās medical consumption, it becomes a little silly. I think iāll try on a much much smaller scale next time. Like a tiny bucket and a couple screw-ins.
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One other thing to keep in mind is that, even with the brown crap on the roots, you can - at least sometimes - still get a decent harvest. I had a pretty good yield on my last hydro grow even though I had crap roots by the end. It was a close thing though as far as making it to harvest.
@SuperiorBuds also had a good harvest and he had similar root issues in his hydro grow.
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If we look at the availability chart posted above, at a PH of 5.6 magnesium is locked out which may explain your Magnesium Def although not the root rotā¦
Glad to see you have found a solution, sometimes doing something you know that works is the best way forward when banging your head against unknowns.
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HappyHemper , ive dealt with the EXACT same root issues & sterilizing did nothing. I have been running a greatwhite / ewc tra. & my roots have had zero issues since. You cant get it on amazon & they will deliver to canada.
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What is that? Have a link? People with bad roots want to know
Also, did that cure your problem after it got started, or is this a preventative?
They are beneficial fungi/bacteria.
I also use them as a preventive, but used with success getting rid of root rot.
With DWC root rot is always there lurking, so I do my best to maintain a nice living eco there.
Here is an external link with more info:
(I am in train and not found the original Eisenberg thread, but here you have some points to start)
I keep a fresh tea always and feed a cup here and there. Mine is not super soohisticated. Worm castings, Molasses, A powder from GH that I forgot the name - but can check later, Great White and something from botanicare (will check too).
For aero perhaps you need to use a handheld mister and apply the tea directly at the roots. The umidity should keep the critters alive (I never heard of anyone doing this, but looks like the way to go to me)
Silicate is also something that I always recomend as it is amazing to build strong plants.
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Ah, thanks for clearing that up for me. Ive just been doing some reading on āteaāsā and it looks like they wont work well in my HPA system. I just read earlier today that hi-pressure systems kills the bacteria. Thats probably why my application of bennes didnt work. Plus, youāre not supposed to filter the water below around 400 microns, and Im filtering to 80 microns.
The idea to spray it directly on the roots by hand is a good one though. I will try that for sure!
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