hi, i have a six basket nft system from ezhydrokit and have some questions about my process so far. i'm quite new to this and am learning FAST. before i was having trouble with my roots being a nasty slimy white because this system not only was not on a slant (i've fixed that) but the baskets were NOT hanging for the roots to reach down (i've fixed that also).

now the plant is thriving and loving life so far. but i've watched the roots and there is some buildup of white slimy stuff where the roots meet the film of water. is this normal? i read somewhere that this could be a healthy thing for the plant to have some slimy stuff on it, helps for uptake or something.

also one of the plants is getting to a about 17 inches and the roots are excellent. but to the point where they are blocking the flow of the film of water a bit, but with the slight angle of the system now, it still backs up a bit, but does find it's way around the roots. is this okay?

also i've added an aquarium bubbler and airstone to the rez so the water is extra oxigenated so the water that sits next to the roots is not stale and bad. i do have some more questions about other topics besides the roots so i'll post another thread later. thank you for anyone's help. take care

The nasty slimy white substance is algae. Algae builds up when light penatrates into the water of the res. Make the res light-proof. Be very careful about cutting the roots if you choose to because this can cause hermaphroditic traits.

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All that is required for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing. - Edmund Burke

thank you sensi for you response. so that brings me to another question. if what i have is algae buildup...is that bad? or have i read in some places that algae is not bad and that plants can still thrive in the presence of algae so i wouldn't get to excited about cutting roots. i do have h202 in my system and add a little bit every day. will that take care of my algae? along with blocking out all light? should i dry to rinse the roots with a light h202 solution to wiggle the algae off? any suggestions on how to take care of algae stuff would be helpful. thanks again sensi.

Add a 1/2% hydrogen peroxide solution every 3 days. This should keep the algae in check.

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All that is required for evil to prosper is for good people to do nothing. - Edmund Burke

white roots are GOOD roots.. but, if roots start to rought things can become bad very very quick.. dead roots consume Oxogen.... which causes more dead roots...

I have seen systems complety taken over with algae... fucking disgusting... yet they produced some monster buds.. : )

I personaly try to stop it at all costs : )

I have the same system as you do and if you have read my stuff about rock wool cubes and root rot then you know that I have had problems. So far with this system I have also made the trays at a slant and I have taken off the drain system and put a new one on that I can take apart and clean. Keeping the thing clean and sterile is important, I found out the hard way and have lost about 6 plants. I thought that I had it cleaned but it wasn't good enough. The system is pretty good, I did have two very successful crops and with the help of all the wonderful people here, I have learned alot and am starting all over and hopefully this crop will be great. Good luck to you. Willow