"I suppose light is getting into my system, I'm just not sure how."

That is what you ahve to find out. A bar of soap in the res. should help it is what the pros use.

Michael255
Given your description it sounds like you have a fungus in the system, not algae. Most of the time algae is a green color, and will always die off when the light source is eliminated.

A fungus can thrive in darkness, as well as in many conditions. It also can make the water cloudy and frothy/foamy, as well as brownish in color. A Fungus will also often have a bad smell along with the other symptoms you mentioned. Somehow you have gotten fungal spores in your system, or were transferred from a live plant when transplanted. If you washed soil off the roots to transplant them into the hydro system the fungus could have been soil born, and already on the roots when you transplanted them. Otherwise spores have gotten into the system from any number of sources.

Check this link out: Introduction to Hydroponics----(scroll down the page to see the individual chapters of the manual)

Particularly check out chapter 4 page 7, titled "DISEASES." that will give you an idea of how fungi, bacteria, and viruses are spread in hydroponic systems. On a side note: the reference to "Surfactants" (soaps like TheMasterGardener1 mentions) in the nutrient solution having given 100% control over the spread of the disease in that chapter, is referring to just that (the spread if it, not getting rid of it). Basically suffocating the spores so they cant spread and grow more fungi.

That slime can be caused by many things...ive grown in totes for years and its unlikely that lit getting through is the problem...could possibly be from the nutrients you use that do not completely break down in water...seems like your res temps are a little low too which probably doesnt help dissolving the nutes.

Put a bottle cap of food grade H2O2 in the reservoir and that should fix it...

Oh btw basic chemistry indicates that if you premix liquid nutes, some of the elements will bind together which then makes them unavailable to the plants...a little google search will tell you how to properly mix before introducing food in the system

"cloudy, frothy, slimy brown water with stuff floating in it"

That's your root system decaying. Your not getting enough air into your system. The ph change caused the death.

First off pH change wont kill any roots. Well unless it's so high you get burned when you stick your hand in the water.

The only possible connection between pH and root disease is in the type of fungus/pathogen/bacteria causing the problem. They don't all thrive at the same pH or water temps. It's the fungus, pathogens and/or bacteria that causes any root death/disease. That root death also feeds the fungus/pathogen/bacteria causing the problem.

While it is always best to get as much oxygen to the root system as possible, that isn't a pH issue. Lack of oxygen will suffocate any root system, and do so regardless of pH levels, plant type, or age. Low oxygen levels can cause fungus, pathogens and/or bacteria that causes any root disease to thrive (thus feed on dying roots in the process), and perpetuating the problem. But fungi and/or pathogens cant survive in well oxygenated water or environments. The pH spike is likely a result of increasing levels of the fungus, pathogens and/or bacteria that may be causing any damage (not pH issues). pH only directly affects the plants ability to uptake nutrients. Indirectly, pH problems will cause plants to become unhealthy, and much more susceptible to disease. But not in a mater of a few days.

I have pictures of this problem because it happened to me. It was a small water melon. There's only a picture of it when it recovered in the list. But remember my system is completely different. The air line was tripped over. If your using air stones in your container switch to air bars and a bigger pump.

Ya, I have pictures of the problem that happened to me as well in a couple of systems. But pictures wont prove what pH your system is at, nor any changes. Pictures also wont prove the plants health unless it's clear they are unhealthy, pictures wont prove what caused the issue, or what strain of fungi that has inhabited the reservoir/water is in your system that your dealing with (much less how it got there). Or even what disease your roots have. Pictures just wont prove squat in any shape or form.

As I mentioned I have pictures of cloudy, brown, frothy/foamy reservoir water too, as well as root systems. But their not all the same problem, even though they look very similar. In one case for me it was due to high water temps, in the other case it was due to soil borne disease/pathogens that made it's way into the system. There was also another case where it was a result of having two competing types of pea (Legume) plants in the same system.

Slime mold will be introduced to your water if you use municipal water.

Treat your water with hydrogen peroxide (3%) at 500-1000 ppm to control pathogens.

This might sound silly, but what color is your rubbermaid tote? If your tote isn't black or gray, then it probably isn't lightproof as assumed. (I doubt light penetrating through the hydroton is the culprit, but it does sound like a light problem to me.) Years ago I tried DWC in a couple of rubbermaid green totes and developed the cloudiness pretty quickly.

Thank you to everyone that has taken the time to provide some advice; it is much appreciated. I've now tried this 3 times and continue to have the same results - cloudy, slimy brown water within 2 days. I really dont't think light is getting in - I've spray painted the totes black and covered the top with panda film to make sure no light was peeking through the hydroton. I've tried hydrogen peroxide and a product called ClearRez, but still no luck. I used municipal water, but have also tried using bottled spring water. All this was happening with 2 days of putting seedlings into the system.

Micheal,
What is your water source? a slime mold, as willard mentioned, may not be algae and thus may not be so affected by light.
you could try boiling your water before putting into a clean system. This will kill a good number of seeds, spores, and what not. but to really kill everything, you'd need a pressure cooker to bring the temperature above 250ð
Other things to try would be cleaing with straight chlorox, though I still don't believe that will kill all spores, and putting a fine enough filter on your water to remove spores.
Make sure you sanitize and clean your hydroton as well.
Oh! possibly dropping the pH to extreme levels will kill a lot of things. I remember reading about a product one time that dropped the pH to the range of 2.5 (I believe) to kill bacterias. I wasn't looking for it for that, but distinctly remember them referencing it dropping the pH for that reason.

I know this is an old post, but I thought I'd bump it with a new comment. I'm having this exact same problem, and I'm betting it's due to the same microbe/fungus/whatever that the original poster had.

Two days after changing my fertilizer water it becomes brown, cloudy, with a slight brown film on the top. The PH jumps to well over 8, which locks out nutrients to the plants.

If I adjust the PH to below 6, within a day it's over 8 again.

I'm running an ebb and flow system. I've hit it heavily with peroxide--repeated flow/hold, drain, flow/hold, drain. The stuff bubbles like crazy for a while, then settles down to a few bubbles here and there. This seemed to delay the problem out to four or five days, but it returned.

I'm repeating that test now, but was hoping that some one could identify this pathogen and tell me how to eradicate it.

Please resist the temptation to tell me it's root the root system decaying--it's not. The roots are very healthy, as are the plants. It's me that is dying from so many fertilizer changes, PH adjustments, etc.

There's no doubt in my mind this is a microbe of some kind. Can anyone identify it? The symptoms seem very specific.

Thanks!

Hi quivil,
I can't identify the pathogen but you have to find out how it is getting into the system.
If its the water, add chlorine to it to kill the stuff and then let it air out so the chlorine can evaporate.
If it is something in or on the plant or one of the surfaces, i has to be removed and /or sterilized.
As a preventative measure you can use a very low chloring concentration in your nutrient solution. I can't remember right now but I believe it was something like 500ppm without detriment to the plants. search this forum for "danielfp" as I believe he is the one who discussed doing this some years ago.

500ppm would be enough to bleach cotton whiter than white :) A constant background of 0.5-1ppm is plenty.

Oh! maybe it was 5ppm. I only used it to keep the kiddie pool algae free a couple of years ago. Worked well too! Unfortunately it didn't stop the frog orgies

Thanks for the answer. Surprisingly enough, I think my problem had nothing to do with biology. I'll post this follow-up in case it helps some one else.

I had been using lemon juice to adjust the ph. It seemed so benign! Well, it turns out, citric acid (and probably acetic acid too) break down quickly, like in a day, causing the ph to jump. I've seen posts from others around the web, and one photo, that looked exactly like my problem. I'm betting they were using citric acid too.

I had some sulfuric acid in the garage, from some anodizing I had done (no lead) and switched to that. End of brown muddy water. End of ph swings.

The very slight foam and brown film had made it look like something biological, but now I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

Thanks again for the reply.

I've been seeing lately things about natural solutions for algae and other hydroponic issues. There is a free guide here. It amazes me how natural extracts and uvc lights can do