What's new

How should I deal with my poor quality tapwater?

B

ballplayer 2

Active member
Hi all. Just wondering how folks deal with terrible tapwater. My tapwater out of the faucet reads between 750-770 ppm consistently. I'm pretty sure there are large amounts of calcium, magnesium, and sodium. My tapped municipal water supply also uses chloramine.

I have been going to the store and buying 10-15 gallons of water every week or two to supply the garden. What is my best course of action in my scenario. I will be using the blood, bone, kelp, greensand mix for some; and will be using the guano recipe for others just to do a side by side comparison.

Also my lime says "garden and lawn" lime on the package. I was told it is the same as dolomite lime. It contains 22% calcium and 12% magnesium. It is in powdered form.

Comments, advice, critique, and answers to any/all my questions are welcomed and greatly appreciated.

Thank you. BP.
 
Dirt Nasty

Dirt Nasty

Member
Drop the lime and cut your water source with clean water. Lime is your worst enemy when it comes to hard water. I have 400 ppm water source. I try to get it down to >200 whether it be by alternating with R/O water or cutting the ground water. Tried lime a while back and had nothing but problems...
 
C

CMoon

My tapwater out of the faucet reads between 750-770 ppm
Click to expand...

ouch! and I thought mine was bad at 300........i can reduce it with a large fish pump/filter within a day, but I think yours is kinda off the treatable scale, rainwater or an R/O machine as burnone says would be the best alternative imho.

bests cmoon
 
habeeb

habeeb

follow your heart
ICMag Donor
Veteran
R/O system from what I hear don't brake chloramines , so either you can buy some add on's for chloramine, which I'm not sure as no one has tested them here before so you would be a guinea pig, or do a R/O system and then take the filtered water and run a carbon / zeolite filter ( homemade also will work) in the water to get rid of the chloramine / chlorine / ammonia. the carbon will brake the chloramine and eat the chlorine quick, its the ammonia that takes a while. I have learned to just filter your water overnight to make sure the slow working zeolite has absorbed the ammonia

good luck

here is a link on chloramines: http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=123941&highlight=chloramines
 
B

ballplayer 2

Active member
Thank you for the prompt responses all. I appreciate the feedback. I'll have to check out that link on chloramines, thanks for the info habeeb.

Gotta love being in a place where the main water systems are in very close proximity to quarries. Hard water like nobody's business. Not to mention the chloramines to top it off. I actually go and purchase RO water from a neighboring town, which may or may not use chloramines, I will research that shortly. I'm fairly certain they also get their water from the same source I do. The ppm of the water from the store is always 10-20 ppm.

Let's say the RO water source's municipal tap does NOT use chloramines. Would the consensus be to continue using ONLY RO water to avoid any imbalance/lockout issues?

Also is the lime I have likely the correct item? Considering it does contain 22% calcium and 12% magnesium. I have read in the threads in this forum that inferior lime sources contain no magnesium, or use pelletized polymers. My garden and lawn lime is powder(like flour), but I also purchased another 50lb bag of lime that actually says "dolomite lime" on the bag and has large amounts of both cal/mag. However, the latter lime is like part powder, part pelletized. I would likely be best using the former source, correct?

As an aside, one of the few times I have actually been successful in my attempts I DID NOT use lime. I used my terrible tapwater, Peruvian Seabird guano, Maxicrop Kelp, Indonesian Bat Guano, and Liquid Karma (all in tea form). I went really dilute on the teas, using half the recommended dose, then further diluting that by half when applying (don't ask me why I did not just go quarter strength when originally mixing, it just seemed safer that way). The teas were applied like every third irrigation or so depending on how everything looked. I made the mistake of cutting N just a bit early by switching to the INDO bat guano. But everything finished up nice and yellow even losing some leaves while everything ripened. To be completely honest it was probably more luck than anything. However, I do not believe my municipality used chloramine at the time (4-5 years ago).

I have been largely unsuccessful since 2006. It has been a ROUGH 2-3 years around these parts. I REALLY want more than anything to be successful for myself, and two close family members (one with leukemia and one who is a tradesmen who has terrible chronic pain and has had multiple surgeries on his shoulder). I have a really nice setup that I worked REALLY hard laboring to earn the money to build from scratch outfitted with the ability to work perpetually. Veg room of about 5x3 with a 4 bulb T5 HO fluoro. A flower room of about 6x3 with 2 400 MH Sunmaster Warm deluxe, air cooled Daystar hoods, CO2 tank monitored by ppm meter, hooked up to atmosphere controller which activates exhaust of 265 cfm dayton, carbon scrubber for both rooms (not that I have needed them in reality, for I have not made it that far, usually about 4 weeks max into flower before IT hits the fan) 449 cfm vortex for lights. Walls, floors, ceilings painted flat white. I suspect my main problem has been overferting. The only reason I say this is because when IT hits the fan I suspect lockout. The plants typically have a myriad of deficiencies that makes it really difficult to figure out what the problem is. I have tried both chem and organic bottled ferts and has so far been a tremendous waste of funds. So I figure its time to try the dry fert route. I just want more than anything (LITERALLY), to be successful at this hobby. The few times I have been it felt so rewarding to be able to hook up family members with the best they ever had. I have a solid lineup that includes DJ Blueberry, DJ FLO, Fed Rom, Sour Diesel, and White Rhino. However, I have been using bagseed and veggies to practice on in order to perfect my methods. Good thing too, because every last plant has died for the last two-three years before bearing ripened fruit. I have made it somewhat close with peppers and tomatoes, but deficiencies have ALWAYS reared their ugly head. This hobby has humbled and frustrated me beyond belief, and I'm not certain how much more I can take of failure. I figure like everything else if I put in the work, the results will follow. However, after years and years of reading and researching I feel no closer now than I did in 2006. Ultimately what I need now is some reassurance and hopefully a few of you guys will stick with me and help me through to a successful end.

Thanks for listening guys.

NOTE: The CO2 is not being used, just to make sure there are no complications brought on by its usage. The Co2 has never dropped dangerously low, so its not a shortage of that. I guess the most common deficiencies I seem to always encounter are Cal/Mag/Potassium not always mutually exclusively, they often occur at the same time, especially Mag/Potash.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top