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Cleaning grow rocks


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  #21  
Old 01-03-2010, 12:17 PM
Amigatec Amigatec is offline
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Here is the feeding program.

GH KeepItSimple Recirculating.pdf

It says to use about 1/3 to 1/2 of the FloraNova nutes compared to the Flora nutes.

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  #22  
Old 01-03-2010, 08:34 PM
Amigatec Amigatec is offline
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I did add 10 ml of Floralicious Plus tonight to 15 gallons water. And my pH was 7.5, it normally goes low.
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  #23  
Old 01-05-2010, 06:53 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Well I am a bit surprised as the white distilled vinegar seems to have done the job. I only took a before picture of the grow rocks I put in the vinegar and added the pH down to, but that's basically what they looked like before the test with the vinegar by itself also. I think you can guess the before picture. The second one was with the vinegar alone, and the third one was with the vinegar and pH down. I did these tests with full strength white distilled vinegar, and both tests soaked for 48 to 55 hours.

I did rinse them at least 3 times before I set them aside to dry but there is still a strong noticeable smell of the vinegar. The next steep is to see If I can get all the vinegar out. I plan use bleach water to sanitize them, then rinse well and then soak with plain boiling water overnight a couple of times. That should do it I hope.

From my experience the vinegar has been able to clean even better than the Florakleen did. But the Florakleen is designed to be safe for the plants, you can flush the system with the plants in it with Florakleen, something I wouldn't do with vinegar. With regular use of Florakleen you can control the buildup of salts in any growing medium as the plants are growing. A defendant plus, because these salts can keep the plants from uptaking the right balance of nutrients. Although for a through cleaning between crops the vinegar could be useful, provided you can get all the vinegar residue out.

The next steep is to find out how much to dilute the vinegar. The distilled white vinegar is not real expensive, but it can be to use full strength when you need 4 or 5 gallons of it. Especially compared to the Florakleen at about $9 a quart, and they recommend mixing it at 1 to 2 teaspoons per gallon. Although I have been using about twice that for cleaning between crops, but not more than recommended when flushing the system while the plants are growing.

P.S. I will also do a test using just plain water and pH down to see if it's purely the pH that dissolves it, because there are many types of acids.
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  #24  
Old 01-10-2010, 02:33 AM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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I completed the test using strictly pH down and plain water, and apparently that works. I am not sure at this point how much pH down is needed to get them clean, and how economical it would be to do in large amounts. I used Earth Juice Dry pH down at about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon, and about 4 oz water (or half a coffee cup full). That is about half the amount I need to adjust 8 gallons of nutrient solution depending on how far off it is. I simply wanted to see if it would work so I intentional made it extremely strong. But as you can see by the pictures it did. I let it soak for over 48 hours to be sure also.

After using the bleach water to sanitize the grow rocks, and then soaking in boiling water a couple of times the ones from the vinegar tests, all but maybe a faint trace of vinegar is left that I can smell. I will soak them in boiling water again once or twice just to be sure. I am at this point cleaning all the grow rocks in about 1/4 vinegar and 3/4 water solution, and will let them soak for a couple of days also. Then fallow the same sanitizing and rinsing/soaking procedure to get them ready to reuse.
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  #25  
Old 01-10-2010, 08:26 AM
GGM GGM is offline
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yep thought as much, wouldn't surprise me if Flora Kleen is just a fancy name for ph down/weak acid...
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  #26  
Old 01-10-2010, 05:56 PM
GpsFrontier GpsFrontier is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GGM View Post
yep thought as much, wouldn't surprise me if Flora Kleen is just a fancy name for ph down/weak acid...
Thought about that and even though it has a pH of 4, they recommend you mix it with the water at up to 2 teaspoons per gallon. Over all that wouldn't change the pH much mixing it in that small amounts. You would need to use it full strength to keep the 4.0 pH level.
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  #27  
Old 01-10-2010, 06:02 PM
Amigatec Amigatec is offline
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I bought a quart of this last week.

It's also supposed to help with nutrient lockout.
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  #28  
Old 01-19-2010, 06:31 AM
watercatwn6535nd watercatwn6535nd is offline
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Default cleaning clay pellets

I just pull them out when I pull the plant and boil them on the stove, rinse them in the sink and put them back. I dont use anything as far as chemicals.

YouTube - watercatwn6535nd

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