City Water

[motofox16]

How bad is city water compared to Spring water. I moved into the city and used to have excellent water, now i have city water. I am having problems with some yellowing in the leaves and im wondering if its the soil (from club i have no idea whats in it, haven't transplanted yet) or if its something in the water. I am correcting PH and growing with the same nutes i used last grow with different water. Just wondering if its the soil mixture, or the city water?
Thanks

 

[dc2bar]

chlorine is terrible for your girls. tap water is chlorinated in 2 different ways. one type you can simply leave out for 24 hours and the chlorine will evaporate off and it'll be safe to use. there is another type though that doesn't evaporate off, call the city and see what they use. Tell them you have a fishtank and you need to know.

Another option is to use RO water. If you have a walmart near you, look for the culligan water machines in the grocery area and you can fill up there.

 

[EvilTwin]

Hi Moto...
Ya, you're sort of asking the wrong question. Spring water often has really high dissolved solids. The point dc2 made about chlorine is valid. Clorine and Chyloramine are two agents put into city water that are a problem. Spring water is from nature but can pick up calcium and other chemicals while traveling through limestone aquifers.

Measure the EC/TDS and ph of your water to determine it's usefullness for growing.. Under 250ppm should be ok.
ET

 

[motofox16]

Hi Moto...
Ya, you're sort of asking the wrong question. Spring water often has really high dissolved solids. The point dc2 made about chlorine is valid. Clorine and Chyloramine are two agents put into city water that are a problem. Spring water is from nature but can pick up calcium and other chemicals while traveling through limestone aquifers.

Measure the EC/TDS and ph of your water to determine it's usefullness for growing.. Under 250ppm should be ok.
ET

Thanks for the info on the chlorine guys. I definitely smelled that to begin with. Dont have an EC/PPM meter. my PH is 8 out of the faucet.
My water used to be 23 PPM!! sucks using city water

 

[Chesticles]

I think you all are overstating the seriousness of chlorinated tap water, although i still wouldn't recommend tap unless you know the quality of your water
1. Cl will quickly bind w/ organic matter in your soil
2. it's in such small concentrations, my water report states our chloramine level was tested at 3.6ppm and chlorine levels are usually between 0-4ppm if that's what your treatment plant uses
3. it's a micronutrient
4. it's used in Pythoff for root rot and is just an oxidizer like h202
"Chlorine damages cells by releasing free oxygen which combines with cell
proteins causing them to denature. Because the hypochlorite ion forms when
such compounds as sodium hypochlorite (NaoCl; bleach)contact the organic
materials which make up the cell membrane, it is also likely that the
lipoprotein structure is disrupted, causing cytoplasm leakage and killing
the cell. I hope this helps.
Karl J. Roberts, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Biology
Prince George's Community College"

people have brewed ACT using water straight from their tap, Cl is great at what it does in pipes and enclosed spaces like that but is almost insignificant in gardens

if anything city water is bad cause of it's dissolved solids(primarily Ca,Mg) and they're usually bicarbonates which aren't easily absorbed by the roots and can build up and hinder good Ca/Mg absorbtion and cause lockout, unless you have active microbiology in place and plenty of humates to breakdown and chelate it

but if you're that worried about Cl throw some vitamin C in there, antioxidant neutralizing the oxidant, i can't remember the dosage though

 

[EvilTwin]

Moto,
Chesticle makes a valid point about chlorine. It's not fatal to the plant or anything...but if you're doing organics, it can kill off benificial bacteria and fungi.

The dissolved solids though can be an issue. Mostly the calcium which can cause your ph ro be to high, I had 350ppm tap water at ph 8. My RO unit brings it down to around 30ppm and closer to 6 ph. Perfect for growing.

If you're going to get serious about growing...you should know the ph and ppm of your water. Go to a water store like Culligan and perhaps they have a tester you can borrow or bring a sample of water with you and they should be able to test it for you.

If your ice cubes are really cloudy...that's from dissolved solids.
Peace,
ET

 

[motofox16]

haha my grow store buddy calls me a cowboy because i don't have a meter yet. Actually seems pretty ridiculous that i don't have a meter but i have thousands invested into my growroom.

 

[EvilTwin]

haha my grow store buddy calls me a cowboy because i don't have a meter yet. Actually seems pretty ridiculous that i don't have a meter but i have thousands invested into my growroom.

Well I'll call ya Tex then...
People who know their systems well can manage without meters...but there are occasions where they're really useful. Soil is more forgiving but if you do hydro...it's a must have.
ET

 

[motofox16]

Are those hanna meters the best? my friends got one and its all ive ever seen so I was just wondering if thats the one to buy

 

[FreezerBoy]

I did an informal survey of pH and EC meters when I got here. For pH, Oakton came out on top, followed my Milwaukee with Hanna in the rear, however, none of them fared well enough to get me to give up my $5 test drop kit from the aquarium store. For EC, BlueLab was the uncontested winner.

 

[EvilTwin]

Hi Moto.
I've had several Hanna meters crap out on me. They don't seem to be too tough. Be sure to get waterproof ones because it's so easy to drop them.

Like FreezerBoy, I don't use a ph meter. Never tried the drops but people swear by them. I use narrow range litmis paper strips which gives reliable results.
Peace,
ET

 

[!!!]

You can find information about your city's water online. Here in NY we get an annual report of what's in the water. A week ago I measured it at 35 ppm w/ a pH of 7 (@ 22C)