thank you weezard for chiming in. I don't know what "tron dust" is. I'll look into it after work. I did however wash the hydroton. I didn't use any solution, just rinsed it out with a garden hose until the water wasn't reddish anymore. I spray painted the outside of the buckets and then lcovered it in duct tape. I like the black bag idea. It'd be easy to just pull the bag back around it after checking everything.