RDWC Autoflowers

2/13/24 - VEG Week 2 Day 1 - Flushed and filled the system with 16 gallons of fresh RO water. Added Week 2 nutrients and got a PPM of 508. Light still at 18 inches, but bumped it up to 50% to get a PPFD of ~310 at top of plants. Crystal is slightly taller than Zkittlez by 1.5". Will allow the system to recirculate for 24 hours and adjust pH level. 2/14/24 - VEG Week 2 Day 2 - Added about 2.3ml of pH Down to get the pH back to the 5.90 range. PPM has also gone down. 2/15/24 - VEG Week 2 Day 3 - Added about 5ml of pH Down to get the pH back to the 5.90 range. Noticed some droopy leaves last night, so I double checked my PPFD and re-adjusted to make sure I am as close to 300 as possible. Will monitor the situation. 2/16/24 - VEG Week 2 Day 4 - Well, today is a shit day for the grow. First, my camera that I was recording time lapse footage on has failed. Then I noticed quite a bit of algae in my RDWC system despite adding H2O2 to every fill. Not sure where it came from, but now I have to focus on trying to clean it up and save this grow. Happy Friday! 2/17/24 - VEG Week 2 Day 5 - After many hours of research, I believe I have developed a cyanobacteria called "brown slime". Because these plants are autoflowers, this grow is pretty much ruined and I debated just ending this diary. But I am a man of science and so I will push on until the plants have either given up or produce a very sad yield. In retrospect, I was trying a new nutrient line with this grow and also trying to run sterile (adding H2O2 2x a week to the reservoir). From what I have read, this particular cyanobacteria does NOT need light to thrive. Water temperature (mine was always between 67°-71°) does NOT prohibit it's growth, and H2O2 actually feeds it oxygen which helps it to thrive. So this diary will be a lesson to me and might help others in the future. In the coming days, I will be trying numerous things to try and turn around this situation (for scientific data), but I have lowered my expectations for this grow and if things don't improve I will scrap the grow and start over better informed. 2/18/24 - VEG Week 2 Day 6 - Because this grow is now a science experiment, I added about 300ml of H2O2 to the reservoir yesterday. I also removed some of the slime (the picture in the blue bowl) to soak in H2O2 and after 24 hours, it does appear to have died. The plants are showing no signs of dying as of right now. I added a hefty dose of beneficial bacteria to the reservoir to try and combat the slime. 2/19/24 - VEG Week 2 Day 7 - Final day in Week 2 and tomorrow will be VERY busy. My plan is to move the plants to temporary "hospital buckets" and drain and thoroughly clean/sanitize the system. I will then move the plants back to the system and fill with fresh RO water and add Week 3 nutrients AND beneficial bacteria. As you can see from today's pictures....the slime appears to be continuing to break down after 48 hours in H2O2. The plants continue to grow and Crystal is even showing pre-flower pistils. pH has dropped slightly from 5.89 but haven't noticed any drastic swings. Can I beat this slime and finish this grow with a reduced yield? 2/20/24 - VEG Week 2 Day 7 (extended edition) - Starting Week 3, but I want to put this part here so I can try and forget about it. Setup emergency "hospital buckets" for the plants and transferred them to the buckets with a solution of water and H2O2. I was surprised that the roots looked as good as they did given the amount of slime in the system. I poured a heavy dose of Athena Cleanse into the system and ran it while I used brushes to brush off every area that was covered in slime. Drained the system completely and sprayed down EVERY surface with straight H2O2 and wiped it down. Finally I gave everything a coating of 99% isopropyl alcohol. Wiped it all down and let it dry. System clean and ready for habitation.....on to Week 3 with fingers crossed.