What is the best type of water to start with?

[tsox]

I use RO water only. I used tap my first grow and battled all sorts of issues. Not sure if they were directly related to hard water but I now have almost no issues.

3 things "I" consider to be essential tools of growing:

Digital pH meter
TDS/EC/PPM meter
RO Water Filter

Even if you know your tap water TDS value you cannot be sure what minerals make up those parts (unless you get it analyzed). I like to start with a clean slate and know exactly what I'm giving my plants this way I have the power to tweak anything I may need to.

..OK, but what exactly do you add to this "clean state"?? What nutrients (+ amount) do you add or whatever?? Because I encounter the same issues with the water. I have PH meter and I intend buying an EC meter as well as R/O system.
..By the way, I am talking about soil growth.

Could you also recommend me an appropriate R/O sytem?

 

[newbiedude]

I am following McBudz advice asap financially with regards to the water I give my plants. I originally went without a ph tester and found out weeks later I was giving them 8.7 ph. I now use leftout tap water with correct ph and my plants are healthy. Live and learn .

Hey paul1791 i am also using left out tap water and adjusting the pH with hydroponics up and down solution and the babies seem fine, only problem i have noticed is the leaves have started turning down, is this overwatering? Thanks.

 

[Elevate420]

Chloramine is now used directly in water treatment in places including Denver and San Francisco, Oakland, etc. There is a new filter on the market the will remove chloramine and fluoride without producing waste water. Check out Elevate 420 | Water filters for Cannabis Growers

 

[MountainDEWD]

what are some good products to adjust the PH of my water? I use distilled water and add nutrients... have never really accounted for PH so I am going to pick up a PH meter and a soil PH meter soon.... just need to know a good way to adjust the PH of my soil and of my distilled water after I add nutrients.

 

[OlderStoner]

what are some good products to adjust the PH of my water? I use distilled water and add nutrients... have never really accounted for PH so I am going to pick up a PH meter and a soil PH meter soon.... just need to know a good way to adjust the PH of my soil and of my distilled water after I add nutrients.

Just do your homework on this. There are people on both sides of the issue of ph adjusted water when doing a soil grow. Personally, I think it's proper to adjust the ph of the tap water from my home which comes out of the taps at around 7.5 to 8.0 ph. I always let it sit exposed for no less than 48 hours. I use a product called phDown and I got it from a local hydro store. It's the concentrated form and I soon discovered that only a drop or two to a gallon of water will change the ph level drastically.

 

[MountainDEWD]

Just do your homework on this. There are people on both sides of the issue of ph adjusted water when doing a soil grow. Personally, I think it's proper to adjust the ph of the tap water from my home which comes out of the taps at around 7.5 to 8.0 ph. I always let it sit exposed for no less than 48 hours. I use a product called phDown and I got it from a local hydro store. It's the concentrated form and I soon discovered that only a drop or two to a gallon of water will change the ph level drastically.

Just picked up some PH UP, PH DOWN, Litmus Papers and a Soil PH Tester. I think this is probably the last piece of the puzzle for my grow to be proper.. it will be the first time in many grows that I will have accounted for PH. Thanks for the advice!!

 

[OlderStoner]

Not sure exactly what product you've got there with the "soil ph tester". Like I said, people come down on both sides of this issue. I use a ph pen that I bought from a local hydro shop. It was about $80 US. They can be purchased much cheaper online but I was trying to do the local biz a favor. The water I get around here, no matter what the source, is always too alkaline for cannabis. The taps produce 8.0 and higher, and the rain is not much better. So I ph down a little and use that sparingly. Cannabis does not like lots of water.

 

[ClanCannabis]

Ro h2o!!!

 

[MountainDEWD]

any tips on using general hydro's ph up and ph down?

 

[ajright]

Ajright here,

I'm new to this, so when using distill water, I have to adjust the ph when growing in hydro.

 

[ChippyMalone]

My tap water is above 7, and I will be installing some rain barrels to capture rainwater from the roof for the long term.

However, I have a bottle of Alaska Kelp Plant Food (NPK 0.13-0-0.60) which I like to use as a natural source of trace minerals that doesn't have very much strong fertilizer to worry about burning when used in addition to my actual nutrient schedule (which I have not yet nailed down for this mostly natural, not quite organic, grow.). When I mix up a half strength gallon of this using 30ml solution to 1 gallon tap water, it brings the pH down to 6.5 or even a little lower.

So my question is this: Because this stuff is really super weak for N-P-K and I am using it at half strength, would this be a simple and easy way for me to some of the time adjust pH without adding excess salts like pH Up/Down chemicals that are not needed by my plants?

Makes intuitive sense to me to use beneficial trace minerals in my watering solution for pH adjustment, but I haven't read of anybody using this stuff for that.

 

[Budddyy]

i use slicon as ph up, plants love it.

 

[Bigjoemeat]

I go to the water dispenser machines that are in front of stores..$ 1.25 for 5 gallons..it is a pain but my plants love it

 

[micron]

any tips on using general hydro's ph up and ph down?

swirl/mix it well after adding, and let the water you've added it to sit for at least 10 mins before testing, it can take a while to fully adjust, try to avoid frivolous battles of going back and forth adding one and then the other to adjust and either just start over with fresh water or adjust by adding fresh water, really you should only need one of them (up/down) depending on your water source once you get the # of drops dialed in, if your water source is consistent/always the same and you know how many drops to add you can get by with only doing one ph testing session for the entire grow

 

[facemir]

So what is the "correct" PH for clones, and growing ????

 

[cawwwrin]

Fuck that, I have many 18gal DWC Hydro buckets that I made. I live in socal, my hose water is 7.0-7.1 and the TDS are usually about 150. I add/Change water frequently though.

I don't know if anyone does this but I just put fish tank dechlorinator in my water that has benficial bacteria...anyones input on this? my DWC plants seem to love it.

 

[OldMedUser]

I just picked up a Ro/di system and it turned out the de-ionization filter was faulty but when I talked to the company they asked what its use was and when I told them gardening they actually suggested I switch from ro/di to Ro/mineralized as the mineralized filter adds calcium and magnesium. Now my unit is producing 6.4ph water at 75ppm should this added calcium and mag be enough to be able to avoid using calmag supplements?

Those things are supposed to make high pH water for human health so if you're getting a reading of 6.4pH then either the machine is hooped or your pen. Just a straight RO system, screw the DI, is all pot needs. I have to buy my RO for drinking and my plants. It's all they ever get. My 5 yo, $150, BUNN coffee maker still works like new. 3 min for a fresh pot.

If that 75ppm is really Ca and Mg you won't need to add CalMag. Might even run into problems from too much.

L8r

 

[OldMedUser]

The best water hand's down is RO water. Eliminate so much guesswork about your plant's problems and you will has many less ones to worry about as well.

If you must use tap water the be prepared to change out your nutes more often and be flushing pots more often too. Lots of town water is 200 or even double that and those minerals build up the more water that goes to the plants. You can't accurately track ppm in hydro if you're always adding extra ppm that's in your water. Get a water report from your provider.

You should be able to get a free water report from your town emailed to you or it might be online at the town website. Tell them you want to make beer and you need to know what's in the water if they get nosy. ::

Make it way simpler and easier by getting some pH Perfect nutes and using RO water. Grow great in hydro or soilless mix. Cheap nutes like GH aren't much help to new growers and they aren't that much cheaper than AN 3-part nutes. Now owned by Miracle Grow as well. Yuck! I'm using Sensi Grow and Connoisseur 2-part combos and loving them.

L8r

 

[JoseQuervo]

I just picked you a 100gpd RO system. It was pretty affordable.

 

[Sweetbuds1]

I've tryed be for but dont know if i did it right