If it isn’t flowering i’d just use peroxide, and then next flush reintroduce beneficial bacteria from either mycozorrae additives or if entering in flower toss in some microbial mass or somethin.
Give it a few days and keep an eye on temps, the roots recover fairly quickly once conditions improve. Should be nice and fishbone-y white new growth shortly. There may be some debris from the dead/dying roots as well may need a swap out in a few days.
The bleach will dissipate within a few days (but a little will convert to chloramine, which is more persistent), make sure to do a follow-up dose with the next reservoir change.
I strongly recommend running sterile all the time, but it’ll be less important as the temperatures go down.
Temps were likely your main issue, the nutrient issues and live reservoir just exacerbated the symptoms.
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ok I got a question. Why are people telling him to put peroxide or bleach in his hydro system? Anyone can foot this question, in fact, everyone who said OP should do something like that, please explain.
Helps sterilize the solution. More of a prophylactic measure. Gives you wiggle room if temperatures get a little higher. Eliminates biofilm buildup.
Cannabis roots do not need microbes in any way. More of a hindrance in hydroponic culture than any benefit.
It’s popular in commercial greenhouses and nurseries for a reason. They usually use calcium hypochlorite but…the same result.
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100% accurate. I love mine, but holy shit…it really puts numbers of plants into perspective LOL.
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I’ve been looking at calcium hypochlorite since starting this thread. Worthwhile investment or is clorox just as good(the sodium does worry me a bit)
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While calcium is better than sodium…the amounts of sodium produced by adding a mL of 6% bleach to a 5 gallon bubble bucket are infinitesimal. Literally a drop in a bucket, don’t sweat it. Too tiny to even consider a negative impact. The fact that a $6 jug of plain bleach is already in liquid form and will last you a decade is just too convenient to justify using pool shock instead.
If my grow was any bigger and I had more vertical space I’d be doing ebb and flow. I have about 8-12 5-gallon buckets full at any given time and a bunch of smaller pots. I’m a large guy and it can wear me out if I have a bunch of grow shit to do in one day.
Biggest labor reduction is avoiding having to flush the heavy ass pots. Which is why I’m so fanatical about getting the pH of the grow media just right, so I can just water the pots in place, instead of shuffling them around. Wish I had a drain in the floor, too. I also need to invest in a bigger reservoir but I like fresh nutrient solution better than older solution, it’d take less time if I didn’t make them on demand 5-10 gallons at a time.
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True. I’m the same way, but I mix mine by the gallon LOL. INSANE!!! The things we do for our meds and hobby.
Makes a huge difference when you put the exact right ph in though, leaves less for guessing when stuff goes sideways. 
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I’m about to start keeping buckets of nute solution ready to swap out. Res changes are so frigging time consuming especially with a small/cheap ro filter. Takes over an hour to put 4 gallons of water in a bucket.
You tried a big storage tote? You can get used plastic 55 gallon barrels pretty cheap.
Are you absolutely sure you need an R/O unit? My water is incredibly hard and it works fine. Never need calmag lol.
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Not 100% sure. Water comes out the tap at 130ppm and I drink it without issue so it can’t be that bad.
I get that it’s nice to “start from zero” but mine is 350-400ppm and I grow plants just fine.
130 is nothing lol. IDK if the juice is worth the squeeze. Just think of it like someone added calmag for you already. Thanks, water company.
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ok! I’ll assume the sterilization is the singular reason to add any peroxide or bleach. Anyone can post another reason if they feel like it.
Alright… so as far as I can tell, there are only a couple things that can attack your plants root environment.
Rotifers, algae, and pythium fungus.
Rotifers and algae are linked, if you deprive them of light they die.
Pythium fungus blooms when ppm of oxygen goes below 7ppm then your plant is dying as the fungus eats the roots.
So the answer to those problems is cool water(18/68F) with bubbles/flow and block light with blackness. I use black buckets. Anything opaque works.
Anyone got a different pathogen that attacks their roots? If so, what is it’s origin?
Water chillers are expensive, and not everyone can afford to setup an optimal environment right off bat so we work with what we can. Optimizing my grow room will probably run another $1500-$2000 and I just don’t have that, and being on disability won’t until I get a good harvest out of this setup.(which thanks to a fellow OGer sending a bunch of auto seeds should be doable in close to the timeline I had planned out before I caught the rona and things went to shit)
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well, for sure, I hear you on that. We’re not made of gold. OK well if you can keep the temps down to like 22C that’s alright. The thing is this:
30C 7ppm oxygen - 18C 13ppm oxygen.
So as the plant increases in size and respires more, it will need more oxygen to survive. You reach a dangerous point when the plant is big and the oxygen levels are lower due to heat, then the whole thing falls over. There is no dose of peroxide or bleach that will help you at this point. The plant needs oxygen to live.
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It also reduces general biofilm. The gunk you clean off your reservoir and tubing. That substrate of bacteria & mineral scale consumes oxygen, as well, and can be laborious to clean. Not as much of an issue if you don’t mind cleaning every cycle and can maintain perfect reservoir temperatures. Heavy biofilm accumulation can also mess with pH.
A sterile reservoir provides a bit of a buffer if things get a little warm. Not everyone lives in nice cool Canada. If you do have root disease, a sterilizing agent kills it much faster than a return to optimal temperatures will.
It’s really a prophylactic measure. People claim peroxide adds oxygen to the reservoir but I’m not sure it does in enough amounts to be significant. I recommend bleach (but I’ve been messing with glutaraldehyde lately).
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I’ve got 2 dope ass air pumps(75w 1602gph and 32w 940gph) and use 2" air stones. More than enough dissolved O2 in my res.
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heh heh, well to tell you the truth… I studied the hell out of these little buggers. Pythium was one of the first. I studied the rotifers and algae later. Those things are living out on the razors edge! For example in the pythium tests I could have a plant die in a bucket from lack of oxygen, then I would restore the oxygen flow and put another plant in there. The pythium was unable to damage the new plant it returned to hibernation ASAP to avoid oxygen. The rotifers and algae died real quick as well, though they hang on for a couple days not like the pythium. The algae colony once you scrub it with a brush and water, they’re toast.
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Due to the laws of physics, dissolved oxygen levels are actually linked to temperature, not the number of bubbles or the flow of water.
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