How Do You Clean a Hydroponic System?

If you already have a hydroponic system set up, it is important to clean and maintain the parts and plants throughout a growing cycle. Even though hydroponics doesn’t use soil, it’s still possible for dirt, debris, and dead plant material to clog your system and affect the growth of plants. In turn, unclean matter can be a breeding ground for pathogens. These types of issues can be warded off by taking proactive cleaning measures every month. This article will discuss hydroponic maintenance, steps for cleaning a hydroponic system, and the best hydroponic cleaners to use.

How to Maintain a Hydroponic System

Before we cover how to clean a system, many issues around unclean hydroponic systems are manageable by performing weekly or monthly maintenance tasks. Practicing good upkeep is essential for growing healthy plants and producing a favorable output.

Changing Your Nutrient Solution: The frequency for changing nutrient solution depends on the size of the system and the quantity of plants being grown, but generally it is good to replace it once per month. Old nutrients, aside from being incapable of properly feeding plants, can become a breeding ground for mold, mildew, or pests if left sitting for too long. Use your pH and EC meters to check the quality of your solution weekly and adjust.

Plant Care: Be proactive with your plants by trimming and pruning so that dead or excess material doesn’t fall into the reservoir and clog the system. Trimming also helps to increase airflow to all plants and create a healthy environment for growth.

Water Quality: Using clean, filtered water helps with keeping your system uncontaminated. If using rainwater, make sure it is sterilized before applying to your reservoirs. Add air diffusers or air stones to the system to oxygenate the water and prevent stagnation and root rot.

How To Clean a Hydroponic System

Even as you perform regular maintenance and upkeep on your plants and system, a full drain and clean needs to happen at least once per month. The cleaning and sterilization process can be broken into the 3 parts – draining and disassembling of system, sterilization with hydrogen peroxide, and reassembly.

Draining / Disassembly

1. Empty water and nutrient solution from the reservoir and remove all plants.
2. Disassemble each part of the system – tubes, pumps, reservoirs – so that you can clean them separately.
3. Using a spray bottle of water, rinse and scrub out all parts of the system to get rid of debris, residue, and loose or dead plant material.

Cleaning and Sterilization

1. Reassemble the pump/reservoir components of the system
2. Add water back in and dilute with 35% hydrogen peroxide solution. Only use 3 ml of hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water. This is the primary hydroponic cleaner you want to use.
3. Run the diluted solution through your system for about four hours, ideally on a high speed so that it really gets cleaned. When finished, rinse to ensure that all remaining hydrogen peroxide is removed.
4. Soak all of the smaller parts of the system in the hydrogen peroxide / water solution.
5. Clean devices such as pH meters and EC meters with rubbing alcohol.

Make sure that you do not use bleach as a hydroponic cleaner. Bleach can remain in the system after use and stain or destroy leaves. You can clean a hydroponic system with vinegar or soap products, but they should mainly be used for the smaller components while hydrogen peroxide is used to flush out the entire thing.

Reassembly

1. Let the parts dry.
2. Refill the reservoirs with water and a new batch of nutrient solution.
3. Put plants back in their original positions.

A Clean System is a Happy One

Growing healthy plants in hydroponics is all about developing good care habits. Check on your system weekly to make sure nutrient solution, plants, and water are all cleared of any excess particles, dead plant matter, and algae. Make sure to do a full clean and sterilization of the system every 3 weeks to a month, and use the appropriate cleaning solutions when doing so. Proper management of your system will result in the long-term success of your plants.