Saul Silver
Member
Very sound advice!
Is RO water necessary for indoor growing?
- Thread starter calstar
- Start date
Very sound advice!
you said you had yellowing due to high ph lockout. that wasn't because you were using tap water, or because you checked your ph. it's because you didn't adjust your water's ph to the correct range.
if your tap water's ph is 8.5, all you need to do is lower it to around 6.5 using something like ph down, vinegar or lemon juice. you dont' need RO water just to drop the ph.
AtomicHaze
Member
I use R.O. always because I want a clean canvas to create my nute cocktails
nukklehead
Active member
I initially did that too.. wound up with soil saturated with unwanted salts. Im telling you the ppm/tds of my water is poor and "limey" no one will even drink it.. Not only did ph ing the tap water cause salt buildup, you couldnt even keep the ph down for 24 hours before it started to rise above unacceptable levels. Face it some of us have to have our water purified in our locale. For those of you with good water I shall say you are as lucky as going through life without glasses... you dont know how good you have it until you have to do something about it.
Alright that makes sense, but thats completely different than high ph lockout like you said, which is why I was confused about your original post. Glad you got your troubles worked out with ph
C
Carl Carlson
The ppms in tap/well water are related to total alkalinity.
Total Alkalinity content in the water, not the water pH, is what has the biggest affect on medium pH.
pH Management and Plant Nutrition, Bill Argo
Part 2 Water Quality
Total Alkalinity content in the water, not the water pH, is what has the biggest affect on medium pH.
pH Management and Plant Nutrition, Bill Argo
Part 2 Water Quality
Alkalinity is a measure of how much acid it takes to lower the pH below a certain level, also called acid-buffering capacity. Alkalinity is usually measured with a test kit where dilute acid is added until a color change occurs at a specific pH. Alkalinity is not a specific ion, but rather includes the concentration of several ions that affect acid-buffering capacity. Under most conditions, the ions that have the greatest effect on alkalinity are bicarbonates like calcium, magnesium, or sodium bicarbonate and, to a lesser extent, carbonates like calcium or sodium. Several other ions including hydroxides, phosphates, ammonium, silicates, sulfides, borates, and arsenate also can contribute to alkalinity, but their concentration is usually so low that they can be ignored.
[..]
Alkalinity (calcium bicarbonate, magnesium bicarbonate, and sodium bicarbonate) and limestone (calcium and magnesium carbonate) react very similarly when added to a substrate. And just like too much limestone, the use of irrigation water containing high levels of alkalinity can cause the pH of the substrate to increase above acceptable levels for healthy plant growth. cont.
[..]
Alkalinity (calcium bicarbonate, magnesium bicarbonate, and sodium bicarbonate) and limestone (calcium and magnesium carbonate) react very similarly when added to a substrate. And just like too much limestone, the use of irrigation water containing high levels of alkalinity can cause the pH of the substrate to increase above acceptable levels for healthy plant growth. cont.
Hybrid Whooa
New member
Water Softener?
Water Softener?
How does a water softener effect all of this?
Water Softener?
How does a water softener effect all of this?
B
Bob Smith
Water softener = bad.
You soften your water by using special salt..........plants don't like salt.
You soften your water by using special salt..........plants don't like salt.
my tapwater is around pH 9. the water companies in the UK add lime to the dometestic water supply to make it more suitable for drinking.
i let it sit for a day or 2 to get rid of the chlorine and i use citric acid to reduce the pH to around 6. my plants are very happy and i never get cal/mag issues.
i think tapwater is fine as long as it doesnt contain chloramine. reducing pH with citric acid also has other benefits for your grow too.
VG
i let it sit for a day or 2 to get rid of the chlorine and i use citric acid to reduce the pH to around 6. my plants are very happy and i never get cal/mag issues.
i think tapwater is fine as long as it doesnt contain chloramine. reducing pH with citric acid also has other benefits for your grow too.
VG
B
Bob Smith
Just like in any other application applicable to one's own garden, "it depends".
My tap water (7.5/125) is perfectly suitable to use, but some of the higher PPM (300+) tap water mentioned on this thread would be very difficult to use in any type of hydro system (soil is another animal).
And VerdantGreen, it's not so much the pH of differing tap water that's the problem (although pH of 9 does suck, no doubt), it's the PPMs - if you're starting out at 500PPMs, your ability to deliver useable nutes (of your choosing) is severly diminished.
My tap water (7.5/125) is perfectly suitable to use, but some of the higher PPM (300+) tap water mentioned on this thread would be very difficult to use in any type of hydro system (soil is another animal).
And VerdantGreen, it's not so much the pH of differing tap water that's the problem (although pH of 9 does suck, no doubt), it's the PPMs - if you're starting out at 500PPMs, your ability to deliver useable nutes (of your choosing) is severly diminished.
hi bob, i understand the ppm issue, but given that the ppm of tapwater will be made up of mostly calcium and magnesium, and calcium especially is required in pretty high quantities, then tapwater imo can do you some favors, but on those occasions that you want to add nutes other than cal/mag in higher ppm than the water hardness allows i guess r/o or clean rainwater could be used.
i could use rainwater if i wanted - but i find my pH9 high alkalinity water a bonus because of the dissolved calmag and because it allows me to add plenty of citric acid which helps to keep P in solution and available to the plant.
i am talking about soil btw because this is the soil forum
what i would advise everyone is to contact their water company and find out about the mineralisation of their tapwater and whether chloramine is added or not.
VG
i could use rainwater if i wanted - but i find my pH9 high alkalinity water a bonus because of the dissolved calmag and because it allows me to add plenty of citric acid which helps to keep P in solution and available to the plant.
i am talking about soil btw because this is the soil forum
what i would advise everyone is to contact their water company and find out about the mineralisation of their tapwater and whether chloramine is added or not.
VG
Whether or not one needs to use RO water depends on what kind of tap water you have and its mineral content.
When I had public water, I had no issues at all with my grow. Never even left it out to let the chlorine dissipate.
When I moved to a residence that had well water, I had all kinds of issues that I came to find out were caused by the mineral content of my water. However, this seemed to be strain dependant. Some strains could tolerate my water, while other strains were killed by my water.
Once I switched to RO/Distilled water, most of my problems went away, however I had other problems arise, which had to do with the fact that the RO/distilled water did not have enough (meaning zero) mineral content, so I ended up using 2/3 RO/distilled water to 1/3 tap water.
I could also have used cal-mag, but I didnt want to have to deal with buying and using another additive, and my dilution method has worked well the last couple of grows.
If your able to, have your water tested, many companies and municipalities will do this for free. Im not going to guess at what a good cutoff for hardness is, as I dont want to put bad info out there, (and there are plenty of places on the web to find that), but my water tested as 160 ppm, and 16 grains/gallon calcium.
Also, be careful about buying an RO filter. These devices waste ALOT of water. I think its something like 3 or 4 gallons of waste for every gallon of RO water made.
When I had public water, I had no issues at all with my grow. Never even left it out to let the chlorine dissipate.
When I moved to a residence that had well water, I had all kinds of issues that I came to find out were caused by the mineral content of my water. However, this seemed to be strain dependant. Some strains could tolerate my water, while other strains were killed by my water.
Once I switched to RO/Distilled water, most of my problems went away, however I had other problems arise, which had to do with the fact that the RO/distilled water did not have enough (meaning zero) mineral content, so I ended up using 2/3 RO/distilled water to 1/3 tap water.
I could also have used cal-mag, but I didnt want to have to deal with buying and using another additive, and my dilution method has worked well the last couple of grows.
If your able to, have your water tested, many companies and municipalities will do this for free. Im not going to guess at what a good cutoff for hardness is, as I dont want to put bad info out there, (and there are plenty of places on the web to find that), but my water tested as 160 ppm, and 16 grains/gallon calcium.
Also, be careful about buying an RO filter. These devices waste ALOT of water. I think its something like 3 or 4 gallons of waste for every gallon of RO water made.
actually one of my projects for this summer will be to install a rain water collection barrel. Did you buy one or make one yourself?
rainwater and snow should be ~6.5, and should be <100 ppm.
At least get yourself a ph meter though:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003UPO8E6/ref=oss_product
They are very useful making sure that nutrient solutions and cloning solutions are the proper ph.
