First Grow with Mephisto Autos

A lot happened over the week. I did a res change with freshly prepared nutrient solution. After 2 days, I added Orca (mycorrhizae), to see if I could encourage some better root growth. The results were disastrous! A few hours after adding the Orca, I noticed orange foam and root rot. I immediately pulled the plants from their buckets and rinsed their roots out. I went out and got Hydroguard and added 2ml/gal (~50ml). At this point, I figured my babies were goners as the root rot looked very serious to my newb eyes. Some of the grow experts here agreed, but I just couldn't pull the trigger. What can I say, these ladies are growing on me. Well, a few days later, and the root rot didn't seem to come back. I dosed with hydroguard again yesterday (Sunday, 16th) and refilled the res with RO water and nothing else. PPMs are steady @ 600. Now, why the root rot? I believe I made several mistakes, but obviously I can't be sure what the root cause was. Here are the things I know I did wrong: 1. I allowed the water temps to rise because of the LED and long light cycle. Water circulation hid this from me initially, as it spread the heating over days, but slowly temps rose enough to (obviously) allow fungal growth. 2. The res change may have stressed the roots and allowed fungus to take hold. Perhaps I should not res change until later next time (week 3/4). 3. I filled the system more than I think I should have. Some of the roots had been used to being in the air, and I may have drowned them providing plant material for nasties to feed on. 4. Adding the Orca seemed to be a trigger. I'm not fully versed on sterile vs non-sterile setups, and I think I committed a cardinal sin of mixing the two approaches. Some other things I did: 1. I got a HOBO monitor for heat and light and stuck it into a grow site bucket. It sits just below the surface of the water, and has been measuring temps pretty high (mid 70's) while a direct measure in the res shows temps around 68. It appears that heat from the lights is able to create a significant difference in temp in the top inch or two of the buckets. The light detection was used to test whether putting something between the plant and the clay pellets/basket would reduce the amount of light hitting the surface of the water. The difference was negligible. 2. I swapped out the purple LED I was using with a Spider Farmer SF-1000. Wow, what a difference! The last two days of data I uploaded as pictures to this diary show the temp impact. Before the swap, my ventilation wasn't able to keep the temp steady, so I'd see temps in the mid to low 80's after several hours of light cycle. With the new lights, I can easily hold the temp where I want it which is 77. The difference is stark in the temp chart, and I'm super pleased! Temperature in the bucket (under ~1 inch of water) also is measuring lower (low 70's). 3. I've ordered a small water chiller which is not yet arrived. 4. I've prepared freezer packs to drop into my res if necessary. Despite the good advice I've gotten, I think I'm going to see these ladies through until the end. I believe I've set myself up for ongoing struggles, but the ladies appear to have bounced back with a bunch of new and healthy looking growth. The outcome will be sub-optimal, but I think it's worth going end-to-end if only to get some experience in the later stages and to be sure my setup can handle smell/drying/etc.