Cleaning your Grobo

[Cornholio]

Thanks so much for the heads up! I don’t know which is which, so I’ve got both probes soaking in distilled water now.

[SilverGrobo]

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- - - [2018-11.16]:

Nov 16, '18 4:40 AM

@Cornholio,

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@Matty,

@Matty

Just realized now the air stone went too

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@miami5th

• miami5th Champion

Have you actually started a recipe in the Grobo? I ask because the air pump/stone will not turn on until a recipe is loaded up and a “plant” is growing. If you were to power on your unit and leave it sit with no recipe loaded it will seem as if the air pump is dead

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@Stephen

• Stephen Grobo Team - Horticulturalist

Bonus cleaning If you notice your airstone is slowing down the flow of bubbles into your tank, you can clean it too. After step 7 above, prepare a 35% hydrogen peroxide solution (mixed 1/1 with water) and pour enough into your tank to cover your air stone. Let the system sit for an hour, then fill and drain your unit. One final wipe down and you are ready to fill your unit and begin growing again!

• (Also Remember When You Do Your [Drain/Fills] Your Grobo Bubbler Will Not Bubble, Untill You Finish With Your Task):

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- - - [2021-10.06]:

@Hayden_Gregory,

@Hayden_Gregory

cleaning your air stone at the end of your grow?

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- - - [2021-10.11]:

@DRaider,

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@DRaider

Best way to clean air stones after a grow?

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[Pete]

@Stephane. My PH probe has unfortunately not been in water for a couple days. It is now in distilled water. Am I official screwed?

[Osage]

Hey Pete you’re fine. If you have calibration solution 7.0, let her soak in that otherwise you should be fine soaking in tap water even.

[Stephane]

What @Osage said

[Stephen]

Hey @Pete,

Get it out of the distilled water ASAP! Here is the official way to rehydrate your probe.

If you don’t have the solution that came in the cap (and honestly, who kept that around?), you can rehydrate in tap water.

You will need to calibrate it after it has been soaking for 24 hours, so please contact support@grobo.ca and we will get you setup.

Stephen

[Stephane]

Good to know @Stephen. So it’s fine for our pH probe to stay wet in the grobo water but not good to rehydrate if it went dry?

What about the cheap amazon probes. I have one of those and trust me I don’t expect it to be accurate like the bluelabs probe but should I store it in a little cup with the above mention solution?.

[Pete]

@Stephen. so I have officially started to soak my probes in tap water. I will contact the support team in a couple days. I actually did save the solution that came in the cap but it has evaporated. HaHa. where would I get that Bluelab ph Probe KCL storage Solution so that I will have it on hand in the future. Thank you so much for your advice. I feel stupid.

[Stephane]

Bluelab STSOL100 pH Probe KCI Storage Solution, 100ml https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00CJIDH7Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_z7CBCb17AT85Y

[Osage]

If you have a local hydro store, they’ll have it too most likely

[Stephen]

Hey @Stephane,

Yep, the pH probe is fine in the Grobo, as we dose the water soon after the distilled or RO water is added. (Even in the germination stage) However, if you are caught needing to re-hydrate your probe due to it drying out, don’t use RO or distilled. Think of it kinda like this…

You are in a large room with carpet, furniture, people and pets. The sound from your voice is absorbed by the room and at a nice understandable level when you speak. Remove everything from the room, and suddenly there are echoes and understanding you becomes much more difficult, eventually leading to madness. That’s kinda what happens with your probes rehydrating in ‘empty’ water. The probes lose their reference point due to changed chemistry in the probe itself.

Hope that makes some sort of sense…

Stephen

[Stephane]

Thank you for the explanation @Stephen. I’ll take my cheapo probe and put it in KCI solution until I need it and I’ll do a quick calibration prior to using it.

I bought it to pH my water for my outdoor grow I’m planning this summer.

[Stephen]

Awesome @Pete,

You should be fine. You will need a calibration kit for this project that can be found here.

Good luck!
Stephen

[Pete]

@Stephen. Should we then be taking the probs out of the distilled water during flushing?

[Stephen]

Now you are really thinking @Pete! In short, no.

During the flush stage, the system maintains the pH balance required, while the EC is drastically reduced. This does cause strain on the probe, and contributes to it’s needing to be replaced eventually. If you take the probe out and ‘soak it’ in tap or other water for the flush, your pH will not maintain balance and your plant will suffer. It’s a bit of a trade off to be honest, but I’m going on 1.5 years in the lab with the same probe with no issues, so one I’m willing to do.

Great question.

Stephen

[BigNif_313]

Could you possibly make a cleaning step by step video?

[SWSVIC]

Good suggestion

[tightt]

This may sound childish but, is there any suitable replacement for vinegar? I HATE vinegar and will most likely refund my lunch if I have to clean my grobo with it!! Maybe alcohol/water solution would work?

[SWSVIC]

I purchased a product called ZeroTol HC which I plan on using for sterilization in between grows. @Stephen, do you have any experience with or input regarding this product?

BioSafe ZeroTol HC Organic Disease Control Kills Mold and Mildew On Contact for All Plants, Fruits, Vegetables, Use Till Day of Harvest, One Gallon

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WVFJV7T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_5FhiFbMWBBSGA

[omacoder]

@tightt

Maybe alcohol/water solution would work

I don’t think vinegar has anything to do with Grobo particularly. Vinegar is widely known as an excellent cleaning product. You must not drink coffee? Gotta clean the coffee pot with vinegar too!

Search on google for hydroponics cleaning recommendations surely you can find something that appeals to you better