Do I need calmag if I'm on well water?

Discussion in 'First Time Marijuana Growers' started by Loughbrew, Nov 30, 2023.

  1. Hey all. First time poster. I have a water well and use Dutch Pro ph down to bring the water to neutral.

    There is calcium and magnesium present in my well water. I bypass the water softener to take water for plants and my aquarium.

    I'm doing an outdoor, in ground SoG.
     
  2. Just an idea but If you took a water sample to a pool place for free testing, that could at least give you a Ph??? Without a good water test who knows??? Keep us posted on those in ground sips, the thought occurred to me also.
     
  3. I actually have a full water test kit.

    Ph 8.2

    I have a saltwater aquarium, my corals are always in parameter for calcium and magnesium with well water top offs.
     
  4. If you can keep your fish healthy, plants should be a snap. :confused_2:
     
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  5. many labs for farms by the GOVT will test for free, if you consume the water you will need to test for bugs in any case, some guys I know test 2x a year, dry season and wet season with wild results

    worth it for the peace of mind IMO
     
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  6. IF the calcium is present but in the form of carbonate, you will need to free it up. You can use nitric acid to do this.

    CaCO3(s) + 2HNO3(aq) ⇨ Ca(NO3 )2 (aq) + CO2(g) + H2O (l)

    Where Ca(NO3)2 is Calcium Nitrate = fertilizer. A similar reaction occurs with Magnesium carbonate.
     
  7. You can do this around roots? Or just treating the water only?
     
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  8. So should I switch to nitric acid for ph balancing my water?

    It's likely calcium carbonate, lots of limestone in the area.
     
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  9. no man, I would not pour nitric acid onto roots or the soil. I would use it to neutralize the water prior to feeding. I suspect the OP has high pH in his well water, so using the nitric acid to pH down will make the calcium and magnesium available to the plant.
     
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  10. yes sir. I got my hands on some 67% nitric acid; it fumes (!) and is highly reactive. I still need to grab some bottles and dilute it (using distilled or RO water) as it's pretty strong the way it is. Be mindful working around it, don't breathe in the fumes.

    btw, welcome to the forums.
     
  11. Thanks for the advice! I mix 30 gal at a time for all of my plants. Food, ornamental, medicinal, inside, outside.

    I usually titrate the acid in over a period of 2 days and let it sit another before ph'ing. That's how long it takes the Dutch pro to fully react with my water.
     
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  12. BY ITSELF, my well water did not cut it. Here with all the chemicals people use on their lawns & plants :eek::eek::eek: I tried it by itself & it was a no go! Let us know if it works for you,??? it would sure beat schlepping water at my age.
     
  13. I was planning to fill the 55gal drum with the (hard) tap water and use that in the garden. Might want to consider doing it that way.
     
  14. I NEVER TRIED IT BUT... leave it sit a while to settle & air off before using??? It helped with drinking water.
     
  15. Yes, let it react. I don't advise drinking that water; in fact, don't. The carbonate should gas off as CO2, so if you are doing that in a grow room, bonus.
     
  16. By "garden" you mean non cannabis then go for it. For cannabis you may want to introduce it to a few plants & see how it goes, if you can. :confused_2:
     
  17. yea I meant, I wanted to fill the 55drum for the outside garden (next year) instead of just using tap which is not good for it the way it is. For the cannabis plants, I have been using it. Looks like it's working fine.
     
  18. Apparently Dutch pro ph- IS 38% nitric acid so maybe it will work.
     
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  19. I just looked it up and yea yur right, it is nitric acid. They also have a Dutch Pro ph down Bloom which uses phosphoric acid.
     
  20. Ill check that out. Thank you.
     

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