Here are the water results from Region of Waterloo tap water

[ice minus]

Hello again, I escalated my inquiries all the way up the chain to one of the people in charge at the Mannheim Water Treatment plant, and he has provided me with these results

Is there any way I can dilute and then use this water, with the main goal of making the naturally present CaMg available to the plant?

 

[SuperFarang]

it looks excellent
the high alcalinity will provide a good buffer once neutralized by acid
you have a lot of calcium (good)

and around 25ppm of mag, for most style it must suffice. otherwise if you get some interveinal chlorosis (under high light) => epsom salt
sulfur in the epsoms won't hurt. 50ppm of sulfates is not high

70ppm of chloride is fine because it's not only a waste ion contrary to common belief, but an essential element necessary in stomata openings

IMO you can use it straight out the tap, no need to mix with RO, it will be detrimental actually

be sure to use the right ph down, I really insist on this point

a few "nitric" ph down available on the market

also, acid, once diluted in your solution, does nothing wrong to microbes

 

[ice minus]

You are awesome, a sincere thank you for taking all the time to go over my threads and reply like this!

This is my local shop, I actually have unused gift card balance here so I'm wondering if you think any of these are suitable? https://indoorfarmer.ca/collections/ph-control

And I'm very delighted to see you touch on the microbes aspect as I do typically keep watering microbes in, and very frequently. I don't even know if this does anything. But I bought it, so I use it!

 

[ice minus]

These products are often concentrated acids, so many are available in store only and cannot be shipped. Customers should be extra careful handling these items safely.

Ah shoot nevermind, they say the majority of their products are in-store only and won't be listed there, damn. Can't ship acids without a permit in Canada.

We recommend powdered pH up and down for new growers because it's safer to use.

And indeed, that's what they told me to use as well. So I do have a bag of this TNB DOWN here.

Here is the MSDS spec sheet, showing composition:

https://hydrobuilder.com/media/pdf/safety/TNB-Naturals-MSDS-pH-DOWN-2020.pdf

I'm guessing something like this is not nearly as effective.. and I have doubts about the long lasting effects as some reviews I found on Amazon said it actually drifted

 

[PadawanWarrior]

You are awesome, a sincere thank you for taking all the time to go over my threads and reply like this!

This is my local shop, I actually have unused gift card balance here so I'm wondering if you think any of these are suitable? https://indoorfarmer.ca/collections/ph-control

And I'm very delighted to see you touch on the microbes aspect as I do typically keep watering microbes in, and very frequently. I don't even know if this does anything. But I bought it, so I use it!

That TBN stuff is just citric acid like I told you before. So if you insist on using it just buy citric acid next time. It's much cheaper. But really you don't even need to mess with the pH since you're in organic soil.

 

[ice minus]

Totally understood !! I was more comments on what's available to me or already own!

If I ever ran out of this bag I can buy citric acid next time

That TBN stuff is just citric acid like I told you before. So if you insist on using it just buy citric acid next time. It's much cheaper. But really you don't even need to mess with the pH since you're in organic soil.

I think other poster is saying I need to in order to make the natural Ca available to the plant, I'm not positive!

 

[PadawanWarrior]

Totally understood !! I was more comments on what's available to me or already own!

If I ever ran out of this bag I can buy citric acid next time


I think other poster is saying I need to in order to make the natural Ca available to the plant, I'm not positive!

You don't need it to make the Ca available. The plant and microbes give off it's own acids. Plus cannabis soil should be slightly acidic to begin with. The citric acid will make the Ca more available in solution but the only time I've used citric acid is when I'm trying to get rid of some of the Ca in the soil. Too much Ca can be a bad thing. It can make K and Mg harder for the plant to access. Ca has a stronger bond than Mg and especially K. Lately I've been using sulfates in the form of langbeinite and potassium sulfate to counter the excess Ca. The sulfate can bond with the Ca creating calcium sulfate which can then be flushed out of the medium. The Mg and K can replace those Ca ions. The only thing is Ca has a stronger bond so it's harder to remove from the soil particles than Mg or K.

This explains a bit more:

• Lime or calcium carbonate’s reaction with an acidic soil is described in figure 1, which shows acidity (H) on the surface of the soil particles. As lime dissolves in the soil, calcium (Ca) moves to the surface of soil particles, replacing the acidity. The acidity reacts with the carbonate (CO 3) to form carbon dioxide (CO 2) and water (H 2 O).

Basically the Ca attaches to the negative soil particles and replaces the H ions that were attached to the soil particles. That raises pH slightly and now the soil particles have Ca ions attached instead of H ions. At least that's my understanding. But this stuff is complicated and I'm not sure I fully understand it yet.

 

[SuperFarang]

yes because it is formulated with a weak acid, citric acid

it is not meant to be used in a reservoir that will be mixed for days

i'm sure you must be able to find nitric acid in diluted form somewhere
indoorfarmer dot ca only sells phosphoric acid

phosphorous acid will work too, it's just inferior to nitric acid on several aspects for our applications

 

[SuperFarang]

yeah he's right
also going fully organic route is different from mineral feeding

If you are really doing organic without any bottle nutrient it's maybe not necessary to correct the ph of the water with acid

in these conditions you can consider using RO water buffered with a small amount of tap water (less than 10%) to raise the ph around 6.5.
it will also eliminate the small amount of chlorine that will be nefast for your soil life

but be sure to get big ass pots with a rich mix of compost and other goodies that will be able to deliver nutrient for 8 weeks minimum

it's another world

 

[ice minus]

I have both dry and liquid versions of both All Purpose, and Bloom. Both are organic as far as I know. No, I do NOT use gigantic pots and it's not "true living soil" as in no worms and critters and gigantic rhizospheres

Clackamas Coots used 2, 5, 7, and 10 gallon pots and I have the same sizes.. It needs feeding along the way, for certain

https://www.direct2farmer.com/3738/triple-ten-2/

 

[Ca++]

I have seen MKP listed as pH down recently. It's not a quality I had noticed tbh.
Citric is short lived. The plants and soil remove it. I have found that 24h later, the pH is higher than before it was corrected.

In this situation, Citric might do. Perhaps in no other, but here it's reasonable

 

[Creeperpark]

Hello again, I escalated my inquiries all the way up the chain to one of the people in charge at the Mannheim Water Treatment plant, and he has provided me with these results

View attachment 18993281

Is there any way I can dilute and then use this water, with the main goal of making the naturally present CaMg available to the plant?

You can reduce the alkalinity just by diluting the water with RO or RAIN. I don't like using any kind of acids if I don't have to.