Grow Mediums Using front row ag + impello dune (silica) and my lines clogg

[Cumby]

Hey everybody, I had a weird thing happen with my autopots. The trays drained completely, and they didn’t refill. I thought maybe my filter or something was clogged.. that wasn’t the case. There was a bit of stuff in the filter, but I rinsed it out. I turned the valve back on, and nothing filled into the trays.

This made me want to check my lines for a clog. I pulled the line off after the filter, opened the bleed valve on the end, and blow into the open line. Something was stuck somewhere.

I took apart the first segment of my line that goes to the first “+” that breaks into my two pots. I blew back into the line and a giant 2 inch slug of what looked like mozzarella cheese shot out. I plugged the line back in, turned on the valve, and water started flowing to the trays.

This concerns me as I’m using Front Row Ag nutes (salts) along with Dune by Impello, which is Monosilicic acid. I mix my nutes starting with the dune, and then adding slurries of the Front Row A + B. I had a friend suggest this may be silica crashing out of my nutrients. Has anybody experienced something like this before? The weird thing is, there is no sludge or anything on the bottom of my reservoir. Any thoughts? And any ideas on what to do to my autopot system? A good friend who has ran them for years suggested taking them apart and blowing through each hose.

photo of the slug is attached.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

Been running them for awhile and never had anything like that. I usually do a complete tear down and cleaning in between grows but since going to water only I'm going to switch to every other grow.

 

[JP1]

Crazy. Never seen anything like that before. I know silica can get gummy and usually if you mix a+b together it can make a film. Are you sure you're mixing well enough? Waiting a couple minutes between each addition? I've only ever had crust in the lines but nothing like that Any chance you had some paper or anything like that fall in the tank and get pulled through?

 

[Cumby]

Thanks guys @Bill.de.Cat @JP1 , I appreciate the insight.

This is my first run with these autopots, so nothing was in the lines to begin with, and the weird thing is my reservoir is completely clean. So that leads me to think something is crashing out in the lines.

I generally mix the silica in the bucket of water, let it sit for ~5 min, and then add in the two slurries I’ve made with A + B. Maybe there has been either too much silica or I’m not waiting long enough between mixing the different parts.

I am leaning towards this being silica crashing out of the solution and solidifying in the lines, but it’s weird because there is absolutely nothing inside of my rez, it’s squeaky clean.

Since I blew that giant booger out of the line coming from my rez, I have flushed the lines using the valve at the end about 1.5 L. Hopefully that helps it. Going to flush every few days.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

Thanks guys @Bill.de.Cat @JP1 , I appreciate the insight.

This is my first run with these autopots, so nothing was in the lines to begin with, and the weird thing is my reservoir is completely clean. So that leads me to think something is crashing out in the lines.

I generally mix the silica in the bucket of water, let it sit for ~5 min, and then add in the two slurries I’ve made with A + B. Maybe there has been either too much silica or I’m not waiting long enough between mixing the different parts.

I am leaning towards this being silica crashing out of the solution and solidifying in the lines, but it’s weird because there is absolutely nothing inside of my rez, it’s squeaky clean.

Since I blew that giant booger out of the line coming from my rez, I have flushed the lines using the valve at the end about 1.5 L. Hopefully that helps it. Going to flush every few days.

Might try mixing up a extra bucket and just letting it sit for 24 to 48 hours. See if anything builds up.

 

[Mizzo81]

Thanks guys @Bill.de.Cat @JP1 , I appreciate the insight.

This is my first run with these autopots, so nothing was in the lines to begin with, and the weird thing is my reservoir is completely clean. So that leads me to think something is crashing out in the lines.

I generally mix the silica in the bucket of water, let it sit for ~5 min, and then add in the two slurries I’ve made with A + B. Maybe there has been either too much silica or I’m not waiting long enough between mixing the different parts.

I am leaning towards this being silica crashing out of the solution and solidifying in the lines, but it’s weird because there is absolutely nothing inside of my rez, it’s squeaky clean.

Since I blew that giant booger out of the line coming from my rez, I have flushed the lines using the valve at the end about 1.5 L. Hopefully that helps it. Going to flush every few days.

the silica needs more time then 5 minutes.

 

[Mizzo81]

I would give at least 30 minutes but the longer the better.