Foamy Water??? Help!!!

[dhmessiah]

I'm a total noob at this whole growin thing, so plz bear with me. I'm runnin a water culture setup with 1 90w led, 1 60w grow light, a 30w halogen, and a 14w cfl. Water temps are 72 deg. Ph level is around 6.2. I'm usin Pure Blend Pro Grow and Liquid Karma nutes. Things have been goin good till this mornin i woke up and noticed a foamy water line. What could cause this? Is it something i need to worry about? Plz help as i dont want this clone to die!!! Here's some pics. Thx in advance!!!!!

dhmessiah Reviewed by dhmessiah on 06-20-2010. Foamy Water??? Help!!! I'm a total noob at this whole growin thing, so plz bear with me. I'm runnin a water culture setup with 1 90w led, 1 60w grow light, a 30w halogen, and a 14w cfl. Water temps are 72 deg. Ph level is around 6.2. I'm usin Pure Blend Pro Grow and Liquid Karma nutes. Things have been goin good till this mornin i woke up and noticed a foamy water line. What could cause this? Is it something i need to worry about? Plz help as i dont want this clone to die!!! Here's some pics. Thx in advance!!!!! Rating: 5

[cigarettes42]

Alge may be forming in your tub. The Rez shouldn't be see through and the root zone shouldn't have any light.

[tinytoon]

drop ph to 5.5-6.0
light proof the rez!!! top, sides and bottom if need be. no light to the water!!!
Did you clean tub before using and if so with what??
I'm guessing clone is already rooted so how old or how long have you been running setup??

[dhmessiah]

Ive only been runnin it for about a week, the clone was already rooted from a buddy of mine. I'll def light proof the water, i had no idea that was bad. I bought the tub new and cleaned with with just tap water. Thx for the advice, do you think that is what was causing the foam?

[Prodaytrader]

Foam is most definitely the beginning stages of algae. There are 3 things needs to grow healthy algae. The first is light and lots of it, so look for holes in your lid or elsewhere. Water that comes into contact with light will begin to grow things. The second thing needed for a healthy crop of algae is nutrients. Tap water in most cities has a ppm of about 200 to 250 which is plenty of yum yum for algae to grow. No need to waste money on fancy strength nutes if your after a healthy crop of algae. Finally, heat is great for a healthy algae crop. Any water that is above 75 degrees will begin to support happy algae so keep your water temp's low.

These things are no joke and will kill ur crop very quickly not to mention foul up the place.

[tinytoon]

/agree

no doubt not the type of green you want to come out of your grow :wtf:

[dhmessiah]

I totally re-did the setup, no light leakin into the water at all now!:thumbsup: Thanks for your input guys, ill keep you updated as things progress. Here's a pic of the new setup. BTW, how the hell do you keep the airstones at the bottom of the res? I've thought about using epoxy, but im not sure if that is ok, What do you all use to keep these blasted things down?

[khyberkitsune]

I just let the airstone hang with some extra service loop, that usually keeps it in the bottom without the need for suction cups and what not.

Most epoxies don't stand up to water very well, I've learned. You could hot glue it down and that would likely work better.

[Horsemanrocks]

To hold the hose down...just slip some stainless steel washers over the hose.

HMR

[tinytoon]

Good ides there HMR with the washers :thumbsup:
the stones I use are from Petco and are 4" airstones, they sit on bottom with no problem. Dont forget to let airstone soak in water for about an hour before using, kinda like primes the stone so the whole thing works not just part of it