Commercial cultivators lose tens of thousands in yield and labor every year—because of bacteria they can’t see. This conversation between Tyler Simmons and Egan O’Keefe of Front Row breaks down the hidden contamination risks in your fertigation setup, RO filters, HVAC, and humidifiers—and how to fix them before it’s too late.
From preventative sanitation tips to in-cycle emergency solutions like enzymatic cleaners, this video is packed with actionable steps to protect your crop and facility.
If you’re running a facility and want to trial Front Row nutrients or level up your operations with our Certified Technician Training. It's free, mobile-friendly, learn-at-your-own-pace, and no credit card required!
Chapters
00:00 – Introduction: Why Bacteria Builds Up in the First Place
00:15 – Common Contamination Points in Water Systems
01:22 – Shocking Agricultural Wells and Pre-Tank Sanitation
02:09 – Storage Tank Strategies and Preventative Chlorination
03:33 – Free Chlorine Residuals and Systemic Demand
04:38 – What to Do When It’s Too Late: Enzymatic Cleaners
06:08 – Retrofitting Lines for Maintenance Access
08:04 – Air and HVAC: The Overlooked Contamination Vector
09:02 – Humidifiers: A Perfect Pathogen Breeding Ground
10:46 – Cleaning Between Rounds: Veg vs Flower Rooms
12:05 – Diagnosing Biological vs Mineral Blockages
13:14 – Sampling and Mapping Out Contamination Sources
14:00 – Environmental Triggers: VOCs, Leaks, and Construction Materials
15:00 – Why We Built the Front Row Certified Tech Training
16:00 – How Support from Our Team Helps Commercial Clients
Transcript:
Bacteria is everywhere—in the air, in the water—and tracing the exact source can be tricky. In cultivation facilities, contamination most often aggregates in water holding tanks, RO systems (especially carbon prefilters), stock and fert tanks, and throughout irrigation lines. Without upstream sanitation—chlorine or calcium hypochlorite, ozone, or UV—filters become reservoirs that continuously re-seed the system downstream. Carbon filters do not sanitize; they tend to harbor microbial growth, so anything after them can be re-infected if you’re not actively sanitizing.
Start at the source. If you’re on a well, take source-water samples, check bacterial levels, and know when the well was last shocked. Shocking an ag well before water ever enters the building can be the first and most important sanitation step. From there, build a defensible train: prefiltration → UV → RO → clean storage. In storage, keep water moving—recirculate, maintain dissolved oxygen, consider a recirculating UV loop, or dose low levels of sanitizer. Many facilities maintain a residual chlorine target of about 2 ppm free chlorine at the dripper. Depending on upstream microbial load and “residual demand,” you may need 6–8 ppm upstream to still measure ~2 ppm at the dripper by the time water travels through skids, day tanks, and lines.
If prevention slips and biofilm builds, you’ll usually see it first as reduced flows or stringy/slimy brown/black growth on filters and inside lines (vs. chalky/crystalline mineral precipitate). At that point you’re into corrective actions: replace filters, shock the system, and consider a bio-enzymatic line cleaner to dissolve biofilm mid-cycle without harming plants. In severe, long-neglected systems—especially with common headers you can’t take offline—design matters: install union/ball valves and blowouts so you can isolate, mechanically clear key sections, and then let enzymatic cleaners and normal flow finish the job. Without isolation points, every hard clean turns into cutting lines and managing a mess.
Air is the other major vector. Warm, humid rooms (and the equipment that serves them) are perfect breeding grounds. HVAC filters and coils accumulate load; humidifiers often hold warm standing water that aerosolizes microbes (fusarium and others) directly into rooms. Clean and replace HVAC/dehumidifier filters on a schedule. Open and sanitize humidifiers routinely. Don’t forget condensate pumps and sumps—out of sight is out of mind until you crack them open and find sludge. In coco operations, fine dust settles on lights, racks, and duct tops, then migrates toward coils and any wet surfaces. Between harvests (every 8–10 weeks), change filters, clean coils and condensate pumps, and reset rooms. Flower rooms are easier to break down between rounds; veg spaces often run perpetually, so clean in zones as they empty.
Diagnosis is two-part: (1) notice a functional change (reduced flow, clogged emitters), then (2) confirm visually and with lab tests. Collect samples from strategic points—drippers, filter housings, the RO tank—and run total bacterial/fungal counts. You can also deploy air quality monitors (including VOC) to flag risks to open stock/concentrate tanks. Track down leaks (e.g., at manifolds, unions, poorly taped threads); slow drips atomize and continually seed rooms, especially in fertigation spaces where critical components sit.
Finally, match sanitation tactics to the building. GMP-leaning details help: epoxy floors, rolled cove bases, sealed materials, and surfaces that can truly be sanitized. Understand each facility’s unique risk profile, then set a maintenance cadence your team can sustain. With the right upstream sanitation, storage practices, isolation points, and scheduled HVAC/humidifier/condensate maintenance, you prevent the slow, cumulative exposure that otherwise becomes a costly, labor-intensive cleanup months down the line.
