Hey guys! So I am considering experimenting with tap water for my next run. Have you tried it or known anyone to do it an not have a huge disaster? lmao. So it will be in RDWC, with a chiller running. My idea from what I have read is to pour enough to fill my system into my mixing container, an have it sit under the lights (UV rays) to get rid of the chlorine. I will try 24 hours an see where the ppm ends up at. I will just run it through some kinda GAC filter that I can purchase or jimmy rig myself (dependant on whats cheaper) to remove the chloramine. What do ya think? Is this leaning towards being a waste of time or does it sound somewhat plausible? My city water as it stand now is sitting at a TDS of 220 and pH of 7.8 outta the tap. Any thoughts on this are totally encouraged to be shared. ~have a chill day~
Your tap water should be fine........not necessary to remove the chlorine or the chloramine. I've been using it for years without issue.
my tap water is around 58ppm and around 6.8Ph I used to let it bubble for 24+hrs before adding to the res, but i've been going straight from the tap/add Nutes&phdwn and into the res for about a year or more. not sure if it would work for you though. best of luck!
Unless you're on some crazy bad city water, the chlorine or chloramines in the water are well below the amount that harms plants. IIRC, national limits are 5 ppm and it has to be over 150 to affect plants.
I just perused through your grow journal, if that is from city water I am def willing to give it a go looks like you got some great results!
This is good to know! I keep running across posts where people mention that the levels of minerals/chemicals in city water can ruin a plants ability to uptake nutes but if you have been fine for a year I am def willing to give it a shot I haven't checked the ppms yet. That is something i will be doing tonight.
I tried my 190 ppm tap water, and my plants didn't like it. Tap water also messes up ultrasonic humidifiers, which I use a lot of. I have a $70 RO system that gets ppm down to about 15 (500 scale). Other than humidifiers, my main objection to tap is that I don't know what those 190 ppm are, and how to consider them. There could also be things in tap that don't produce ppm, like petroleum.
I’ve only ever used tap water for my DWC. I’ve never had any problems. I guess if my water had a funky smell or chlorine smell I’d worry.
No worries at all. Mine is 400ppm out of the tap, full of necessary micros that people spend a whole heap of money taking out and then putting back in….
Nice, that makes sense. The water here has a fairly strong chlorine smell after you pour it, that is why Im thinking about just letting it sit out for like 24 hours under lights with a bubbler and to try an kick some out.
lol that is totally why I am thinking about switching that and there wouldn't be sucha huge waste of water either.
Everyone's water is different. The reality is that tap water is a mystery box full of nutrients but you don't know exactly how much of each(like reaching into a bag of Mixed Nuts w/ M&Ms). Every week you may be pulling out different % of each nutrient and at 400ppm, that's a lot of food to be unsure of. The same feed may burn your plant one week but not another. Many people use tap water. I DO. But if you want to know exactly what's going into your plants, therefor actually learn how to fix the water consistently, then just get a cheap R/O system.. hook it up to the washer or something. They're roughly 100$. P.S. Leave out a bucket of water over night and stir it a few times. It will smell like a pool if the tap water is that high PPM and you'll probably start drinking bottled water