So my well water gave a reading of 350ppm of TDS, and a PH of 9. I will be running 4 recirculating bubbler buckets with a 20g res. I plan on flushing every 2 weeks. Do I need to worry about the current ppm of my water? Should I do RO, or distilled water? Thanks for your feedback!
1. Hmm, yes. 200-250ppm is about the limit for tap water before it needs filtration. You should be allowing your water to dechlorinate before use but I'm not sure if that lowers the ppm. 2. R/O is more popular but I'm not sure if there is a difference. I guess I'm lucky. My tap water is 30ppm unfiltered and around 20-25 filtered. I don't even dechlorinate anymore.
Thanks for the reply! I was afraid of that... I plan on installing a RO system on the second go around, for now I need to keep the budget down. Would half distilled, half tap be ok, should bring the ppm to 175 or so...
Use your well water. It doesnt have any Chlorine, unless you chlorinate your own supply The one issue I see is your PH...9 is too high for soil let alone hydro. You will need to test and adjust after you mix your nute solution...Otherwise your plants will NOT uptake any of them. I wish I had a well....but thats neither here or there. You should check the content of those PPMs in your water though..It may be calcium..which is your friend
That is much better news. I believe my association has water quality records. I was hoping that being on well water would be to my advantage. Do you think I should adjust my nutrient solution to compensate for what is present that is also in the nutrients, or should I disregard the existing ppm as long as there is nothing harmful? My first instinct is to just include my existing ppm when mixing my solution, and just flush weekly... Thanks for the encouraging advice. I am hoping to get some Purple Kush cutings from a friends outdoor crop into a cloner and T-5s this monday. Should have the framing done in the next couple of days. I was considering begining a journal to keep me on track.
Hard water is a killer, yea you can lower your PH but it does nothing for the PPM and the roots cannot absorb as much nutes with the high calcium gunk still in the water. I have the same problem and using bottled water is my only solution beside installing an RO system. General Hydroponics has a hard water micro nute medicine that I might try out with my hard tap water. I start with distilled water for seedlings and young plants then changed over to drinking water (bottled) not bad but now they are growing with leaps and bounds and they are thirsty. If the water is changed on a weekly basis the calcium and salts will not build up as much allowing the plant to uptake the nutes at an optium rate. With hard tap water its a crap shoot. Herb
Thanks for your input Herb. I will not have much choice this go around. I plan on just flushing once a week, the cost of nutrients are much cheaper than an RO system, or 30g of distilled water counting my buckets and res... I took the same water sample to the other hydro store in my area, and I got a 315ppm reading. I plan on using the Lucas formula and keep it simple, if nothing else, this will be a good control batch that I can improve on next time.
Oh yea, I forgot PH water is always super hard, lol. Invest in a quart of PH down. @Matne - I was on a personal well for 4 years and we had to put erosion release chlorine thingys in our pump housing. It all depends on the quality of the water in the ground. I would assume most people have to use chlorine in some for or other like I had to, but it all depends on the system I suppose.
Back at ya! From what I have learned by both reading and actual experience is that Chlorine dissapates at such a rapid rate that it doesn't really have any residual effect on the plant. Due to the higher cost of bottled water I am going the GH micro for hard water on one set of plants and bottled water on the other set. What the heck its worth a try. RO has its draw backs in there is a lot of waste water with the system and when you need 80 gallons for your babies its a long wait. Herb
I have a well with some sort of in-line acid treatment for the high amount of lime in the water (the shower stalls were actually turning green). PPM out of the faucet is 450-500, PH almost 8. I'm doing ok with it. I'm new, so I guess I'm not a good judge of what "doing well" is, but a friend with experience remarked on how remarkably good my babes looked (unfortunately all but one were homeboys, but that's another thread). I started out without monitoring it at all, in fact, in DWC. It wasn't until later on that I picked up some meters and PH down. In short, I wouldn't worry about it unless a problem crops up.
I use well water and its the best love it .. my ph of the jump is at 6.0 and ppm reads at pretty much nothing
very lucky!! I tried my well water (ph 7 ppm 200 on my first grow and had all sorts of problems.... I started picking up water from another place which uses communal water (same p'h but 50 ppm) and It changed my life.... no more problems...
PureWaterClub.com click the link.... just filter the water at your sink... its cheap and effective...