Watering with distilled water

[Rtaym22224]

I have an indoor grow 1 month in and I want to switch to bottled distilled water. What is the ph typically of distilled water?

Should I be combining my water and nutrients and then testing the ph of the solution and using a ph up or down fluid to correct?

And with distilled water I just have to remember has no nutrients so everything the plant gets or needs must be added correct?

And I have a 760w LED setup it has a full spectrum mode and a UV/ir mode. I can run both at once or one or the other, and each can be dimmed. Should I run both full spectrum mode and uv/ir during veg and flower?

I have a 48” x 48” x 8.5’ grow tent. My light is 48”x48” and rated at a true 760watts at full power but can be dimmed. Does not run very hot. Multiple fans oscillating on my plants. Co2 dumping down from above. I have an 8” strong inline fan that can be speed adjusted, it is above the light exhausting air. I have a 20lb supplemental co2 tank and controller system

I’m assuming I have a fan that is much too powerful at like 1000cfm. I would be exhausting all my co2 at full speed.

How many cfms approximately should I be exhausting this fan at to remove any heat from the led light without exhausting my increased co2 supply? Will adding an intake fan 1/4 the strength of my exhaust fan help me maintain co2 levels? The light honestly may not get hot enough to even warrant the use of any inline fan around it at all. My ambient indoor temps are a consistent, steady 72 degrees

 

[exploziv]

Some distilled water has residues. Usually the use they state is for should give you an ideea on how bad it can be. Depending on where you source it could also get costly. So at first maybe you should think of other solutions or better said other sources of water, and only use this as a last resort?
Really pure water should really "have no PH" but ofc it's almost neutral ph, but anything you add will be what impacts ph more than the ph of the starting water matters. You can't even measure the ph acurately when the ppm is low, so you need to start measuring it after you add at least a bit of cal mag to be able to take a steady reading. Ph-ing is last.
Theoretically true and corect. In practice depends on what is really in your "distilled water". Even if you seen it being distilled in front of you, by the time its cooled it has picked up some contaminants, unless it was done in lab grade glassware. Which I only found once in al my life, as "lab grade distilled water". Your luck might vary. The usual stuff in the car parts isle is usually industrially made and sometimes they even state it contains some residue. They will say it's for filling radiators so ofc it doesn't matter for that use. Yet cannabis is a bioacumulator type plant, like most true "weeds" are, so it will gather and deposit those contaminants in the plants tissues which you will later smoke or vape or eat.
If you trust your distilled water, then you can treat is as really pure water to which you really need to add everything. In the right ratios as well, to some degree. Could be easy to figure out, or could be imposible without some really good nutes. You would need to feed what the reverse osmosis water guys feed, so shouldn't be hard to get your starting point recipe with some digging or asking around the forum.

 

[RockinRobot]

Always mix nutrients before adjusting Ph. Ro and Distilled water has no buffering ability.

 

[Creeperpark]

Remember distilled water is heated turned into vapor then cooled and condensed back into liquid. It's stripped down to nothing but H2O. I don't like using distilled because it strips and swipes everything from the soil. If you do use distilled water be sure and mix the distilled with the old water for a while before switching all the way. .I would use RO or Rainwater instead of distilled water, however, distilled water is better than tap.

 

[Three Berries]

Get mineral added drinking water. It is RO usually with some Mg or K added. Source is usually a municipal water system with the bottler running huge RO set ups.

 

[Redrum92]

Distilled is fine as long as you add some calmag and/or liquid nutes. If your distilled water is contaminated with any signficant amount of anything, you need a new distilled water guy

 

[Three Berries]

I add 20% well water to my rain water for my base. Last batch tuned out 7.0 and 110ppm, FWIW. Well water is usually 7.4/440ppm.

Getting a long rain today so I drained the barrels and am letting the first half hour clean off the roof and plumbing.

 

[Rtaym22224]

How much is a good but more affordable reverse osmosis system?

 

[exploziv]

You should be able to get a undersink one for around 150 usd/euro. It's not more quality you pay with more expensive models, it's usually the flowrate, a cheaper one will take a lot of time to make a few gallons of water. Bigger models will have a better flow. Some models have a tank that gets filled so u have some water before you have to wait for more..

 

[Rtaym22224]

Thanks

 

[Rtaym22224]

If someone can answer this

I have a150 cu ft grow tent. I have an 8” online fan rated at around 900cfm on full speed, 8 adjustable speeds on it. I’m using a dimmable 760w led grownlight that can be dimmed in increments of 10%. My par meter shows I can run it at below 100% power and it doesn’t put off much heat, that 8” in-line fan I will likely be running on low speed maybe 150-200cfm?

I have a 20lb co2 tank and titan regulator and tubing no master controller measure meter yet. Is it possible for me to use the tank and regulator without a controller/meter at least initially for a few weeks? Would I be able to set a low flow rate to be run 24/7 and bring my co2 to an approximate range with the fan accounted for? Or am I fucked until I can afford my atlas controller

Passive tent mesh intakes open. No forced air intake

 

[exploziv]

Not worth bothering with co2 when you bring enaugh fresh air in, even more without a controller. You will probably fail and waste the Co2. Just increase airflow and make sure your air intake is fresh (from outside or well vented space).

 

[Three Berries]

If you could flood the room with CO2 the intake is in would be the way to do it assuming it's small enough. Especially is the intake an exhaust are in the same room.