Tap water composition suitable for DWC.

[Mich000]

Hi,

I wonder if the tap water here is suitable for a DWC setup,
I'm particularly concerned about the amount of Chloride 84ml/l, sulphate 50 mg/l, Natrium (Na) 92mg/l
at the moment I have a dwc running with 1 plant where I use rainwater,
but I would rather use tap water because it is easier, no stock needed etc.

 

[Creeperpark]

No, it's not the best water and all that stuff you see on the right of the page will block receptor sites from getting macro and micronutrients. The high pH is due to the stuff the city puts into the water to reduce cation exchange, so heavy metals won't leak into the drinking water. RO is the best choice if you have a choice. RO has to be fortified with calcium and magnesium at just the right ratio with cal-mag. I just add a couple of ml to a gallon of water for the best hydro water.

 

[tobedetermined]

Or you can try to go cheap and just buy a filter to get rid of a random amount of the right column and - in particular - the chlorides (a Small Boy with a KDF85 works). The problem with this is, you will have to micro-manage your grow trying to keep the pH stable. And sooner or later, you will realize that you really need an RO system. And then there is the chiller you will probably have to buy unless you can keep your system at 20C or less . . .

I tried to go cheap and in the end, I switched to coco.

 

[troutman]

The pH is high and should be dealt with 1st. The Sodium levels are a little high too.

I just purchased some DI Cation and DI Anion resins to attempt to reduce some elements in my tap water.
I'm more focused on Sodium knowing it isn't really required by plants and it will causes problems with
Calcium and Magnesium absorption in plants.

 

[Mich000]

thanks for the answers,

it is clearly not the most ideal water,
I will stick with rainwater for the time being, (it still rains every week now so no problem for the time being).

Temperature is not a problem now either,
I have to heat it to 20 degrees.
Last summer the temperature rose to +/- 23 degrees and that didn't seem to cause any problems.
but it was a pretty cold summer.

 

[Creeperpark]

The way I heat up my rain water in the Winter is by taking a couple of quarts in a saucepan and bringing it to a boil then adding it back to a five-gallon bucket. I stick the whole hot pot into the 5 gallon bucket of rainwater and let it sit until It hits the 70s.