Anyone seen this before?

[Mick420]

This is a small 2gallon hydroponics container and every 3 to5 days it gets this white chalky stuff at the bottom of the bubble stone!
Not sure what it is and have never seen it anywhere else.
I use well water and my friend thinks it's calcium settlin at the bottom!

I also have another question for you, why do they look like this!
What is this brown crap, I don't like my girls looking all busted up.

Mick420 Reviewed by Mick420 on 09-13-2007. Anyone seen this before? This is a small 2gallon hydroponics container and every 3 to5 days it gets this white chalky stuff at the bottom of the bubble stone! Not sure what it is and have never seen it anywhere else. I use well water and my friend thinks it's calcium settlin at the bottom! I also have another question for you, why do they look like this! What is this brown crap, I don't like my girls looking all busted up. Rating: 5

[stinkyattic]

Your friend is correct.
Something is precipitating out the calcium as lime.
Are you using tap water? Your water must be very hard.
Have you checked the pH of your reservoir?
The problem with your small plants is a serious micronutrient deficiency caused by some chemical problem with your water.
Please list the following:
-what are you using for nutes, if any
-what is your water temperature, and does it fluctuate?
-What is the water pH?
-is that air stone turned on?

I think you're seeing the effects of bubbling atmospheric CO2 through very hard water and precipitating out CaCO3.
I am also going to guess that the pH is not constant from the time you refresh the water to the time when you see that white precipitate on the bottom of the container.

[HighTillIDie]

don't ever use that water again... i would rinse/flush everything, with mineral ro water

holy hell

[Mick420]

Well im new to all this in general, I am a soil guy usually but wanted to try for the big bang lol.So please bare with me I will learn in time.
I am using scotts fert 20-27-5 it says it helps develop vigorous root system and am on a very limited budget right now so this is what I found in the garage.
I was also using Miracle Gro all purpose plant food that I bought (water soluble)if that helps at all.
The miracle gro has a spoon that comes with it ans it has a outdoor sppon and an indoor spoon.
I was putting one little scoop of the scotts fert ans one little scoop of the miracle gro to a gallon of water.I am pretty sure that I was doing all that wrong.Way to much nuts for it.
But im not a greenthumb,aiming for that but not yet hehe.
Well I don't have anything to judge the water temp. but when I dip my fingertip in the solution I can almost not feel it.I would say that just a hair colder than luke warm.
The water temp does not really fluctuate.
I do have a Ph test kit from wal-mart the Ph is...just a sec ill go check.Damn it says 7.6
I just changed it yesterday it was about 6.6 when I walked away from it.
I have some stuff called wArdleys bullseye 7.0 neutral ph regulator for use in aquariums is what it says on it.Yeah the air stone stays turned on.This time i tried something diff though
when I put clean water in it last night I did not add anything to it and I have still yet to see that chalky white crap.
After reading what I just wrote I think im going really wrong here

[stinkyattic]

Yeah... there's several problems here.
First off the ferts you are using aren't the best quality.... Rhizome HAS been able to grow hydro using miracle gro, but that's a guy who has been doing this stuff since God was a toddler and he says the buds tasted like shit.
Temps shoudl be okay then if they stay relatively constant.
It's the pH and the rest of the water chemistry that I'm concerned about. Some combination of your tap water, atmosphere, and fertilizer is just BAD. Like, bad with a capital B.
If you're going to do hydro be prepared to buy quality nutes, testers, and even bottled water.
Tapwater that bad, stick to soil... yikes. Maaaaan I feel for ya.

[PlantBoxer]

I run well water, thats like 570ppm's!! and I have never seen shit like that!! You really need hydro nutes man. I'm guessing whatever they used to make the those ferts, has some kind of soap, in it to break surface tension when watering.

[Mick420]

Ok well do you think that my wArdleys bullseye 7.0 neutral ph regulator would be good enough for now until i can get some bottle water? I want to try and make the ph go down if i can.Im not using any nuts now im gonna leave the water in there and see if its the water or the nutes i as giving them that causes this problem.
Another thing, the Ph kit i have is for fish tanks i believe will this cause a problem?
Is there any other pictures that you could use to help figure out what it is maybe? If so I can get pictures of my roots water again etc. Just let me know.Thank you all for your knowledge im sucking it up like a sponge.

Oh yeah lol can you tell me a name of some hydro nutes that are not gonna cost me a whole lot if that's possible

[stinkyattic]

PlantBoxer is correct; I know those ferts DO contain some sort of surfactant for foliar application.
7.0 is NOT the pH for hydroponics.
Hydro nutes can be found at any good grow shop, or mail-ordered from an online store. PLEASE use Google; it's the beauty of the internet.... :wtf:

I hope that everyone on this thread telling you that what you are doing is NOT going to work will push you to fix it before your plants die. You need to do a lot of reading; check the 'grow log' or 'hydroponics' section for logs and instructions.

[BobBong]

D.N.F.

Synthetic but reliable.

[Mick420]

Ok I do know that the Ph should be 6.5 if your running hydroponics, I belive anyway from what I have read.I stopped using the nutes and just left normal water in there.
It's been about 3 maybe 4 days and no sign of the chalky white stuff.I guess that 1 less thing im messin upon.I was also having trouble with my temp in the room.
I had poor air supply, I made it work for me better and now im at 80*F and 40% humidity
If that's wrong as well just let me know.Here are some more pics.
I want to see if you the Dr. canhelp me further! lol