Owderb Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 (edited) Ive already done a thread on the preparation of rockwool so now its the turn of clay pebbles Although pretty much similar this is how I do mine First off i take the full bag of pebbles and burst loads of holes in the bottom 6 inch of the bag while standing it in the bath. I then turn the shower on to the coldest setting(cos more water comes out) and rinse the bag through for about 5 minutes. This gets rid of most of the crap I then as with the blocks soak them in ph 5.6 water for 24hrs preferably bubbled at around 20 degrees Tip all the water away and replace with a mild nutrient solution with an ec and ph of which you intend starting your plants on. As long as they have around 12 hours soaking in this solution they will be fine Your pebbles should then be nice and clean and ready to go into any system you wish, in fact even after soaking in just ph water your pebbles can be used, I just like to get a bit of nutrient into them Hope this helps Owd Edited August 13, 2009 by Owderb 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icanicant Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 cheers for this owd, would have saved me some grief if u had posted it a month ago ! does the procedure differ if you re cleaning already used ones ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owderb Posted August 13, 2009 Author Share Posted August 13, 2009 If i were cleaning old pebbles I'd soak in a solution to kill all the old root matter first like h202 then yes mate as the above Owd 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icanicant Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 cool cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snake Eyes Posted August 13, 2009 Share Posted August 13, 2009 The first time I ever used clay pebbles was in my flood and drain system about 2 and a half months ago. I had 2 x 45 litre bags. I opened them and poured them into my 1 m2 table. That was all I did, i wasnt even aware that I was supposed to prepare them. Grow went great, I dont believe there was any adverse effects. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlowwolF Posted November 1, 2009 Share Posted November 1, 2009 Hey OwdWould bubbling old pebbles with bleach and then rinsing them 3 to 4 times before phing them be ok? Just that i clean all my old hydro equipment with bleach and good rinsing and have had better results that way than using H202. CLV Hiya mate - from personal exp. I'd say no to the bleach, especially any soaking (I use it just fine to clean out my system though) - household bleach contains surfactants (soap-alikes), and I've found that this gets the bleach et-al right into pebbles (and some of my clone collars I soaked in it... ugh... ), and takes shit-loadsa soaking and rinsing to get out (I got new pebbles and collars in the end). The problems caused were unmeasured amounts of chlorine leaching into the nute mix and screwing things up, and the surfactants causing everything to stay soaked all the time (the collars' 'sealed cell' foam kinda, 'unsealed'... and they beame 'sponges') - my clones almost all suffered stem rot before they could root, and with the pebbles I just had heaps of trouble getting them to root out at all. As an alternative if you're adverse to using H2O2, I'd suggest Pythoff for the soak, but still rinsing really well and soaking in clean water/rinse again first. Always worked well for me at least. Cheers! ',;~}~ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesemonster Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 This info is crucial... I used clay pebbles and never bothered the first time to rinse. The ph went from 5.5 - 6.0 every day... and it made things alot more intensive and im gratefull that this info could solve this issue asap OWD nice one 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaChunky1 Posted April 6, 2010 Share Posted April 6, 2010 There not expensive so replace every grow. After a grow you can pull them out in one big gooey lump, bar the top few layers. Always seems more hastle than its worth sorting that mess out. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCC Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 I'm new to hydroponics, and this website. I've got some plants growing in earth in 7 inch pots - not hydroponically. They are about 10 inches tall and probably root bound. I want to transplant them to Wilma pots using clay pebbles. Should I put them in as they are - root ball, earth and all, or should I shake the earth off the roots? Should I trim the roots? cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d_L_t Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 I'm new to hydroponics, and this website.I've got some plants growing in earth in 7 inch pots - not hydroponically. They are about 10 inches tall and probably root bound. I want to transplant them to Wilma pots using clay pebbles. Should I put them in as they are - root ball, earth and all, or should I shake the earth off the roots? Should I trim the roots? cheers Wash the compost off, as much as you can without damaging the roots. I have done it many times before. Fill up a bucket of water and the put the rootball submerged in it for an hr or two, keep emptying the bucket and replacing the water while gently removing the compost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CCC Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 thanks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artificial Emotion Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 I hope this gets answers, what with the thread being a sticky. Do I need to follow this procedure to prepare LECA pebbles for use in an autopot? I'm going to just use them to fill the very bottom of the pot but will fill the rest of the pot above with fytocell and coco. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stigz Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I hope this gets answers, what with the thread being a sticky.Do I need to follow this procedure to prepare LECA pebbles for use in an autopot? I'm going to just use them to fill the very bottom of the pot but will fill the rest of the pot above with fytocell and coco. Yea I need to know this can anyone give any answers? This will be my first coco grow and wondering if you need pebbles in the bottom? Does it help or is it not worth the hassle? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Road_Runner Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 Guys, I understand why we should soak them in water at PH 5.5 or whatever but I'd never be able to do that. If I set my PH to 5.5/5.8 whatever, it rises 0.6-0.8 in 24hrs so wouldn't be soaked in PH 5.5 for more than an hr or two before it rises How do I get around this, or does the PH staying constant not really matter? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sikovdeelas Posted March 17, 2011 Share Posted March 17, 2011 I only clean the pebbles every other grow, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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