Hi All,

As my family's diet is becoming more healthy our demand for good leafy greens has increased greatly. I have begun the learning curve for mastering hydroponic farming for my family.

I started some spinach and kale from seed in egg crates with a bit of dirt. Last week I transplanted them into my DIY hydroponic setup (DWC).

The nutrient I am using is it has been running for a bit over a week and there is a lot of foam building up and some brown sludge on the bottom of the net cups. I did not have any rockwool cubes to start the seeds in at that time so there was some dirt left on the seedlings when they went into the net pots. Maybe the brown sludge is the left over dirt? Not to mention this nutrient smells very bad. Probly because it is derived from fish oils?

I have two separate 5L tupperware bins one with a "foam stick" air bubbler, and one with a standard air stone. Both however are developing a lot of foam under the lid and the smell is quite bad.

Anyway just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this. I am thinking of getting away from the fish nutrients and going with something like General Hydroponics Flora Duo A and B.

I also used unfiltered rain water so maybe that is it?

As I'm sure you can tell I have a long way to go before I am able to stop buying greens at the grocery store but I will get there.

Thanks!