Phyto problems

[adnup]

I have been growing phyto in my garage for years. About 9 months ago I started to up my production gearing up for breeding clowns. In the last 2 months my cultures keep crashing and I dont know why. The only thing I can think of is that I am more diligent at cleaning and switching bottles. I clean them out and then throw a 1/2 cup of bleach in there, shake it around and dump it out. Rinse a couple of times and then let air dry for a week. After time do you think the bleach is leaching into the plastic 2 liter bottles and since I am using them x amount of times they are just fouling the cultures?? Wold glass culture vessels be a better choice?
Any help, ideas or input would be appreciated...

[dublo8]

i definetly think the bleach is leaching in there. I could almost gurantee it. Just for sanitary reasons bleach requires only the smallest amount to be effective. For example in a 5 gallon bucket you need less than a capfull to make that water sanitary technically only a couple of drops would do it as well just not as effective. Does the heat maybe have anything to do with the phyto crashes? And yes glass would be a great choice. I have never cultured phyto myself but have a friend that does it and I know enough about it to tell you not to reuse those bottles. FWIW my buddy uses old 40oz bottles for his cultures lol they were cheap enough to buy and dump the booze than to buy a container of similar size. because honestly who drinks 40's?

[adnup]

because honestly who drinks 40's?

LMAO - I would think maybe the heat but I've done it for years out there. I'll try new bottles.

[dublo8]

Or you can just blame it on global warming. who knows but bleach would be my first guess. Also, plastic breaks down after time and could leach other baddies into the cultures too. good luck

[sterling18]

Hey Adnup, I think I've got some of your stuff. My cultures are still running up. Great stuff. Ok, now to your use of bleach. Do you rinse your bottles with dechlorinator? 1/2 cup of bleach is a lot. A cap full should be enough to sanitize those vessels. Get a chlorine kit to test.

[tom499]

i use chorine myself works great and cheap from a pool company.bleach works to but half a cup is overkill. glass is easier to clean thats the way i'm going.a friend of mine had rotifers in his cultures, over night his bottles were clear.the fertilizer i use is from florida aqua farms maybe your fertilizer is old?