Oxidizer Baseline and the Cloner's Proof of Sterile

by Michael Goldsmith November 11, 2021

Oxidizer Baseline & The Cloner’s Proof of Sterile

(A smarter, easier way to confirm your system is truly clean)

If you’re serious about hydroponic or aeroponic cloning, sterility is everything. Temps matter. Nutrients matter. Lighting matters. But none of that fixes a cloner seeded with biofilm or microbes.

That’s why one of the most powerful diagnostic tools you can use—professionally or at home—is the 24-hour oxidizer baseline test. It’s simple, repeatable, and reveals contamination you can’t see.

And because PermaClone™ collars are truly heat-sterilizable (microwave, oven, autoclave, pressure cooker), this test becomes the final confirmation that the rest of your system is performing at the same standard.

What Is an Oxidizer Baseline?

It’s a small, plant-safe dose of an oxidizer (typically bleach) that stays active for 24 hours.
If that free chlorine falls to zero overnight, something organic in your cloner is still consuming it.

Persisting contamination = collapsing free chlorine.

Sterility = stable free chlorine (1–3 ppm) after 24 hours.

This test exposes:

hidden biofilm in pump housings
contaminated airstones or airlines
collars that aren’t sterilized
contaminated tools
bad handling habits
microbial loads in the water supply

If anything is off, the test will tell you.

Tools You Need

Unscented bleach (sodium hypochlorite)
Pool test strips that measure free and total chlorine
A cloner cleaned and sterilized according to the manual
Heat-sterilized PermaClone™ collars

Note: bleach works best for baseline testing because pool strips measure it accurately.

How to Establish Your Oxidizer Baseline

(Updated to follow your improved instructions)

1. Start with a fully sterilized system

Sterilize your cloner and your PermaClone collars using the official methods.
Then circulate 3–5 mL/gal bleach overnight to wipe out as much organic material as possible.

This is your “clean slate.”

2. Add a low chlorine dose & record the values

Without dumping, refill the system with your normal cloning water.
Add 0.2–0.3 mL/gal bleach (4–6 drops/gal).
Record the free chlorine reading.

3. Test again in 24 hours

If free chlorine is still 1–3 ppm → PASS.
Your system is sterile.

If free chlorine dropped to zero → FAIL.
Something is still consuming oxidizer.

4. Spike again (do NOT dump)

Add another 0.2–0.3 mL/gal bleach.
Record the values.
Test again tomorrow.

And the next day.

Repeat until your system can finally hold chlorine for 24 hours.

This may take:

just 1 day if contamination was mild
2–5 days if the system was heavily colonized
longer if the user’s workflow is consistently re-introducing contamination

Warn them up front:
A bad system may take several days of low-dose spiking to “burn out” biofilm.

This is normal.

5. Optional: test the water source separately

Only after you PASS the system baseline.

Dump → refill → add same low dose → check it the next day.

If the water alone collapses free chlorine, your water source needs treatment before cloning.

When You Finally Hold Free Chlorine

Reaching a stable 1–3 ppm free chlorine for 24 hours means:

your cloner is genuinely sterile
your pump housing is no longer re-seeding microbes
your workflow is clean
your tools aren’t contaminating the cloner
your PermaClone™ collars are properly sterilized
the system is ready for predictable, high-success cloning cycles

Once you hit that baseline, the entire cloning process becomes dramatically easier.

Final Thoughts

The oxidizer baseline test isn’t flashy. It’s not complicated.
But it is the most reliable way to verify sterility in any hydroponic cloning setup.

Your reward?

Faster rooting. No random failures. No slimy outbreaks. Just clean, uniform, commercial-grade propagation—cycle after cycle.

Pair this method with true heat-sterilizable PermaClone™ plant collars, and your system operates at the same standard as tissue culture labs and commercial nurseries.

If you’d like help interpreting your chlorine strips or fine-tuning your sterilization workflow, reach out anytime.

If you have any questions or want help troubleshooting your setup, feel free to reach out through the contact form—I'm always happy to help.

Warm regards,
Michael Goldsmith
PermaClone.com

PS: Everything I share comes from years of hands-on experience and thousands of successful customers. If this article helped you, spread the word—PermaClone collars are the most reliable, long-lasting cloning pucks on the market for aeroponic, DWC, and hydroponic systems. #PermaClone #getsterilegetcloning