Ive always used distilled water and things have been fine but I'm wondering if I can save money and just use my own water. Is leaving water sit opened for 24 hours gonna be the same as distilled or will there still be negative chemicals in the water if I use this method? Also would leaving the water out for days past the first have any harmfull effects on the water?
We have hard water where I live and its PH is usualy aorund 7.2 out of the tap. I let it sit out for 24 hours or so to evaporate the chlorine. Now if you have soft water that is treated with a water softener some of those systems use salt to make the hard water soft. Not good for plants.
Hard water will leave water stains on various types of surfaces. On my car windows it leaves clearish white spots. You can also contact or maybe be able to go online and find out from your local water company. I visited my sister in Ohio one time and she had soft water and it tasted like crap. I think theres also some type of home test you can do to determine if you have hard or soft water.
Thanks I'll try and find out. So what you're saying is soft water would be fine as long as its left out 24 hours?
No, hard water left sitting out for 24 hours or so. Some soft water has salt in it and thats bad for plants. Its due to some water softeners useing salt to make hard water softer.
My water comes out of the RO filter with a pH of 8.0 or higher I use pH up and down to balance it out to 6.5 before watering
How many stages is your RO sytem? I bought RO water a few times at Safeway and at Walmart, two different brands out of the machines and one had a 5.0PH and the other a 5.5PH. But both machines also used a UV light as well.
I use to buy my water from one of those machines out front of Safeway... The water came out of the machine with a pH of around 8.0 and needed to be balanced Hydro Logic Stealth RO 100 - Customized Reverse Osmosis Filter Hydro Logic Stealth RO 100 - Customized Reverse Osmosis Filter
here's a good thread on RO ph: http://forum.grasscity.com/absolute-beginners/1026157-ro-water-myths-calcareous-soils.html the water store's 95% pure RO and 99% pure DI h2o here were both coming out at 8.6. crazy, but it happens.
I buy my RO from the grocery store dispensers too.....I always check to make sure but never get anything other than 7 ph. I know my dispensers offer pure RO water as well as mineral enriched and ph corrected water depending on which button I select....maybe that is what is happening with the wonky ph in some cases?
The machines I used at Safeway and Wallymart had just two button. One to lower the dispenser thingy and the other to start it. it dispensed the water 1 gallon at a time. I think the safeway machine was Glacier brand and the Wallymart one was Culligan brand if I remember correctly.