Bad Batch of Plant !t Media (LECA) - Aquaponic Gardening2024-03-29T06:57:24Zhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/forum/topics/bad-batch-of-plant-t-media-leca?commentId=4778851%3AComment%3A581808&feed=yes&xn_auth=noThanks Vlad. I'm setting up a…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-11-23:4778851:Comment:5873742014-11-23T03:38:35.164ZJeff Shttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JeffSullivan
<p>Thanks Vlad. I'm setting up a new GB and am going to use lava rock for a base media and top it with hydroton. I have year old GB that has always run around 7.2-7.5pH. I'm thinking about transferring some of the Growstone in that bed to see if it helps keep the pH up a little in the new bed. My smaller syastems have always had extremely low pH.</p>
<p>Thanks Vlad. I'm setting up a new GB and am going to use lava rock for a base media and top it with hydroton. I have year old GB that has always run around 7.2-7.5pH. I'm thinking about transferring some of the Growstone in that bed to see if it helps keep the pH up a little in the new bed. My smaller syastems have always had extremely low pH.</p> It doesn't matter, the color…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-11-23:4778851:Comment:5875302014-11-23T00:57:28.659ZVlad Jovanovichttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/VladJovanovic
It doesn't matter, the color of the vinegar...you can use any type of acid (doesn't have to be vinegar, it's just that vinegar happens to be what most folks have on hand) to test your media for limestone (CaCo3). You're looking for Alka-Seltzer type fizziness...if it fizzes the media is no good. It's a basic acid/base reaction, where CO2 is released and fizzes from the limestone portion of the rock brought on by contact with an acid...
It doesn't matter, the color of the vinegar...you can use any type of acid (doesn't have to be vinegar, it's just that vinegar happens to be what most folks have on hand) to test your media for limestone (CaCo3). You're looking for Alka-Seltzer type fizziness...if it fizzes the media is no good. It's a basic acid/base reaction, where CO2 is released and fizzes from the limestone portion of the rock brought on by contact with an acid... I've heard of a media test wi…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-11-23:4778851:Comment:5874812014-11-23T00:43:59.634ZJeff Shttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JeffSullivan
<p>I've heard of a media test with vinegar and was wondering if you use white or dark vinegar and what reaction are you looking for?</p>
<p>I've heard of a media test with vinegar and was wondering if you use white or dark vinegar and what reaction are you looking for?</p> The Hydrofarm rep's have thus…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-10-15:4778851:Comment:5827612014-10-15T17:34:48.126ZVlad Jovanovichttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/VladJovanovic
<p><span>The Hydrofarm rep's have thus far, been really cool, and honorable in dealing with the few small hiccups we've had with defective merchandise, or items damaged in transport. Much to their credit as a company, this time was no different. They have agreed to replace the entire two pallets of "funky" Plant It media. Kudos to them.</span></p>
<p><span>Irregardless of water chemistry issues (high pH, KH etc...) a good AP/soil-less culture media such as LECA should still be chemically inert,…</span></p>
<p><span>The Hydrofarm rep's have thus far, been really cool, and honorable in dealing with the few small hiccups we've had with defective merchandise, or items damaged in transport. Much to their credit as a company, this time was no different. They have agreed to replace the entire two pallets of "funky" Plant It media. Kudos to them.</span></p>
<p><span>Irregardless of water chemistry issues (high pH, KH etc...) a good AP/soil-less culture media such as LECA should still be chemically inert, and pH inert. Throwing unknown variables at a problem (especially when known successful solutions already exist) in the hopes of solving said problem is a pretty poor strategy to employ. You might "luck out" here or there, but generally, from what I've seen, that kind of "solution" usually causes more, or bigger problems than the one it "solved".</span></p>
<p><span>Production environments are generally not ones in which you want to be "experimenting" (guessing). Since I'm not in a production environment, I was able to keep a few of these "bad batch" systems going using carbonates, bi-carbonates, and hydroxides to battle the sulfur induced plummeting pH and make some observations.</span></p>
<p><span>Firstly, a 1000 or so ppm of sulfur in solution and what that does or doesn't do to a plant is for most of us a big unknown. I am certain of that because even in the scientific community it is an unknown. Results from S excess in terms of plant physiology can vary widely (though they seem to be able to take quite a bit of it with little "obvious" deleterious effects. (This mostly according to leaf tissue analysis and observation)...so it will depend...</span></p>
<p><span>Secondly, and more importantly for folks who are just trying to grow stuff successfully (and not so much interested in scientific curiosity)...what I got to see over time (and a relatively short period at that) was a tremendous amount of calcium precipitating not only in the rooting medium, but on the plant roots themselves. Large crystalline structures of SO4- and Ca2+ (or mostly Ca2+) began to form on the root structures of the plants (and in essence choke off absorption of other plant essential elements, and likely O2 as well). The accumulation of colloidal precipitates on the roots was impressive (I've never seen that happen to anywhere near that degree before this). And eventually things got really, really stinky (rotten egg/hydrogen sulfide smell) and after we couldn't take the smell anymore, we decided to dump the plants and sanitize the whole sha-bang.</span></p>
<p><span>Your results may vary, as I doubt that every "Bad Bag" is as bad in quite the same way (quantitatively...sulfur content may vary from bag to bag...batch to batch)...So everyone, please feel to try it at home if you are so inclined (and by home I mean Home, as investors tend to get "pissy" when engaging in unnecessary undertakings that end up costing them boatloads in cash, labor and lost production time)...</span></p> I think there is a lesson to…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-10-10:4778851:Comment:5824052014-10-10T02:42:30.612ZJeff Shttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/JeffSullivan
<p>I think there is a lesson to be learned here. We should check every new batch of media, regardless of what it is, before putting it in a system. The test Vlad did should suffice. Seems simple enough and only takes a few days. </p>
<p>I think there is a lesson to be learned here. We should check every new batch of media, regardless of what it is, before putting it in a system. The test Vlad did should suffice. Seems simple enough and only takes a few days. </p> I had the exact same problem.…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-10-08:4778851:Comment:5819622014-10-08T05:45:43.204ZMikehttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/MichaelVredenburgh
<p>I had the exact same problem. But I did not really see it as a problem, It just meant that I added a bunch of calcium and potassium to get it back into the low 6, and my plants (love it) and fish seem just fine. I got a strong buffer going from the start that way.</p>
<p>I had the exact same problem. But I did not really see it as a problem, It just meant that I added a bunch of calcium and potassium to get it back into the low 6, and my plants (love it) and fish seem just fine. I got a strong buffer going from the start that way.</p> I'd imagine that we both rece…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-10-06:4778851:Comment:5817512014-10-06T16:40:26.719ZCarson Millerhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/CarsonMiller
<p>I'd imagine that we both received rocks from the same bad batch - perhaps something was overlooked in quality control. HydroFarm replaced the faulty PlantIt media with <a href="http://www.hydrofarm.com/product.php?itemid=12377" target="_blank">Hydro Corn</a> as soon as they heard of the issue.</p>
<p>I'd imagine that we both received rocks from the same bad batch - perhaps something was overlooked in quality control. HydroFarm replaced the faulty PlantIt media with <a href="http://www.hydrofarm.com/product.php?itemid=12377" target="_blank">Hydro Corn</a> as soon as they heard of the issue.</p> That's great to hear, Carson.…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-10-06:4778851:Comment:5819172014-10-06T10:01:27.080ZSylvia Bernsteinhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/SylviaBernstein
<p>That's great to hear, Carson. What did they suggest you do? I have another customer who called last week about the same issue, which I've never seen before as long as the water isn't going over the top of the media.</p>
<p>That's great to hear, Carson. What did they suggest you do? I have another customer who called last week about the same issue, which I've never seen before as long as the water isn't going over the top of the media.</p> Hi Sylvia,
There were about 1…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-10-06:4778851:Comment:5816942014-10-06T03:46:51.944ZCarson Millerhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/CarsonMiller
<p>Hi Sylvia,</p>
<p>There were about 12in of pebbles in the grow bed, and they would all start to shift and rise after the water level exceeded 7 inches during a flood. We never did get to the bottom of the mystery, but HydroFarm was very helpful in finding a solution.</p>
<p>Hi Sylvia,</p>
<p>There were about 12in of pebbles in the grow bed, and they would all start to shift and rise after the water level exceeded 7 inches during a flood. We never did get to the bottom of the mystery, but HydroFarm was very helpful in finding a solution.</p> Just to put this out there...…tag:aquaponicgardening.ning.com,2014-10-05:4778851:Comment:5818312014-10-05T22:53:04.073ZSylvia Bernsteinhttps://aquaponicgardening.ning.com/profile/SylviaBernstein
<p>Just to put this out there...if any of you purchased the Plant!t through us let me know and we'll take care of it for you. We've had a few customers show up with this last winter, and while Hydrofarm is being pretty close to the vest about what happened our guess is what Vlad is saying. They took it off the market for a few months and it just started selling again, and we think it was to solve that problem. </p>
<p>Carson, is the water level in your bed rising above the top of the…</p>
<p>Just to put this out there...if any of you purchased the Plant!t through us let me know and we'll take care of it for you. We've had a few customers show up with this last winter, and while Hydrofarm is being pretty close to the vest about what happened our guess is what Vlad is saying. They took it off the market for a few months and it just started selling again, and we think it was to solve that problem. </p>
<p>Carson, is the water level in your bed rising above the top of the media?</p>