Doing my diligence

[G_B]

Hi all,

My name is Gregory and I am not new to grow our favorite herb. I am extremely interested in buying a Grobo. I love the idea that of having full automation because I really don’t have time to monitor it as much as I want to. I use to grow in a BC northern light Bloombox but parted ways because of severe case of root rot that infested my equipment and couldn’t ever get rid of it because it was embedded into the plastic reservoir from me scratching the plastic. I still had multiple successful grows with it. Can anyone or everyone explain to me problems and troubles you experienced during your grows? I heard some people put recharged in the system but I am scratching my head as to why? Because recharge has molasses in it and by adding it to your tank you’re basically asking for root rot. Any I digress, I just need more details to finalize my decision to buy it.

Thanks for reading

GB

[Ray2nasty]

Tempature plays a big deal , there is alot of us who have grown with 72 through 74 f no problem no root rot as I speak right now , I have a plant growing at 72 at a daily basis also with hydrogaurd and recharge , it’s always good to get a water chiller because somewhere down the road it will or could lead to root rot , it’s all about knowledge to the success everyone is very helpful on this fourm there is small things you can do , we have non grobo growers but most of them have a grobo also . Everyone enjoys it : )

[SilverGrobo]

@G_B,

@G_B

Hi

((#Welcome)):

Introduce yourself

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@G_B

explain to me problems and troubles you experienced during your grows

Grobo Support

I’m personally not a professional, but I share all kinds of stuff that I find online: This link will send you where you are looking for issues others have had with their grows and Grobos alike: They haven’t quite got the kinks worked out of it, but they are working on them:

((#TeamHasGotYouCovered)):

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[chris_barfield]

Adding sugar doesn’t amount to root rot in your tank … having the wrong conditions does… recharge will actually attack the Pythium as it has myco and bacteria that feed on that… the molasses is a small amount and is used to keep the bacteria and myko colony fed especially in dwc

[Russel_Richardson]

@G_B I’ve had no issues really with my unit at all. I had root rot on my last grow but it was beginning of summer and my house was hot before I turned on my AC. I ended up getting hydroguard and it cleared up. I’ll just continue using it so I don’t run into it again but other than that I’ve had no need for chillers etc

[Todd.grobo]

@G_B
I have nothing modded in my unit or extra other than a thermostat and an extra air stone. I dont add any out of unit chemicals. If all parts of the unit are functioning then no issues in grows in Alberta Canada

[Ray2nasty]

Glad to hear there are people out there like me with no chiller keeps me comfortable, I do use hydrogaurd and recharge . But I was still worried with my temps getting a max of 74 but roots look beyond good in my unit , in the morning throughout 12 it will stay about 70 , or so which I love to see .

[Todd.grobo]

My unit hovers in low 80s in the summer. I just keep a lot of air flow on it

[Ray2nasty]

Water temp ?

[chris_barfield]

I never used a chiller … 70-74 degree in res is not always a bad thing … the warmer temps will create a bigger root mass but at the chance of pythium… if you take measures to stop pythium like going sterile or using hydrogaurd mykos bacteria etc in the beginning will attack the pythium befor it has a chance to start … that’s what I did and never had an issue in my unit but it’s really a matter of preference and what you feel
Comfortable with …

[vegetato]

I’ve been running somewhere between 71-74° as an average reservoir temp and had (root rot) issues with my first few attempts to grow. I believe that bleach cleans better than vinegar but that’s purely anecdotal - it’s what I used to get rid of the root rot and am now using as a primary cleaning agent between grows or if root rot strikes again.

After “going sterile” (using straight chlorine, pool grade) for a while, and learning of the success others were having with recharge, I eventually achieved better results switching to using a combination of these products:

• 12-24 mL:
• 1/4 tbsp:
  
• 1/4 tbsp:
  
• “barely even a drop” per res fill:
• roughly 950mL of distilled water

I mix the above and let it sit for about an hour while I prep a bucket of distilled water mixed with (vendor) recommended dosage of AN pH perfect 3-part nutes + some GH Armor Si + some cal/mag. That usually takes about 20 minutes and I let it sit for another 40 stirring occasionally before filling. Then I add the above formula (changes from pink hue to almost black color) and do a res fill. The water is always clearer/light pink when it’s drained. The formula makes quite a mess of the reservoir but it’s not that bad to clean with a scrub brush.

The reason these were used instead of recharge is only because they were already on hand from other soil grows and combined they are a similar if not equivalent formula to recharge. I’ll be trying recharge when my supply of great white & root rescue run out.

Applied to a clean res the recharge (or equivalent) produced amazing results in my environment. There were days where my res was at 75-76° for periods of time and it didn’t seem to have any ill effect (where in the past root rot set in). It didn’t help much to alleviate an infestation, I had to sterilize the res & roots (including cocopod) and then it seemed to do the trick.

That said, I have noticed some gunk building up in the crevices of the plastic that no amount of scrubbing seems to get rid of. It’s very noticeable when it happens on the lid, but since the reservoir is black it isn’t as easy to locate such spots.

I’ve also “blacked out” one of my reservoirs by covering the top with cardboard and am in the process of a side by side test with one not blacked out. There are also 2x additional small air stones in my reservoir to augment (and serve as a backup to) the main airstone.