Can I use AN ph perfect sensei range with tap water if I regulate the ph myself ?

[Slapalottapuss]

Distilled water will bind and lock onto a large amount of your nutrients. Basically you will need to add nutrients to make the distilled water into normal water then you will have to figure out what will be available for your plants. EC and PH measuring will assist but just use tap water which is most likely at 7 ph and ready to roll. Personally I used RO water for years, total waste of time and money imo. These plants are not fragile.

 

[bluter]

Personally I used RO water for years, total waste of time and money imo. These plants are not fragile.

i've been running RO for a long time here. i've lived other places where i didn't need it. we filter all the drinking water here as well.

we're the kidney stone capital of the country.

 

[Slapalottapuss]

i've been running RO for a long time here. i've lived other places where i didn't need it. we filter all the drinking water here as well.

we're the kidney stone capital of the country.

I should clarify that I have a whole house RO system. Most municipal water is garbage. I grew up in the middle of nowhere with a 600 foot deep well. Went back and forth with using tap for the plants. Still use RO since it’s what I have available but I use a double stage post filter to add back in minerals, Ca/Mg etc…
water is a major rabbit hole we can go down. I won’t drink city water anywhere. It’s poison in many places.

 

[bluter]

I should clarify that I have a whole house RO system. Most municipal water is garbage. I grew up in the middle of nowhere with a 600 foot deep well. Went back and forth with using tap for the plants.

i've had experience on iron rich well water. yikes. looked like rust from the tap.

Still use RO since it’s what I have available but I use a double stage post filter to add back in minerals, Ca/Mg etc…
water is a major rabbit hole we can go down.

similar experience. the RO strips enough out that i wind up adding calmag back in. ironic as there's piles of it in the raw water, it'd be good if could get rid of the other stuff.

I won’t drink city water anywhere. It’s poison in many places.

this is one of those places. filtering or even buying bottled is standard for drinking. anything except the most stable of buffered soil needs RO for indoor growing.

5- 10 yrs ago our water used to be not bad in winter. now with climate change it's terrible all year and projected to be worse.

 

[Frosty0121]

have you invested in the dwc gear yet ? the buckets, hydroton, net pots, air pumps etc etc ..

Yeah got buckets net pots air pump, chiller, air stone etc

 

[Frosty0121]

i've had experience on iron rich well water. yikes. looked like rust from the tap.





similar experience. the RO strips enough out that i wind up adding calmag back in. ironic as there's piles of it in the raw water, it'd be good if could get rid of the other stuff.




this is one of those places. filtering or even buying bottled is standard for drinking. anything except the most stable of buffered soil needs RO for indoor growing.

5- 10 yrs ago our water used to be not bad in winter. now with climate change it's terrible all year and projected to be worse.

To be honest i think I’ll just use tap water for this one and the trio of base nutes maybe calmag just incase there’s not enough in the water. Then my next 2 NL I’ll do one of each and see if there’s a difference.

 

[LKABudMan]

To be honest i think I’ll just use tap water for this one and the trio of base nutes maybe calmag just incase there’s not enough in the water. Then my next 2 NL I’ll do one of each and see if there’s a difference.

Do you know what's in your tap water? You can get a test from Ward labs for <$30 and then you know what you're working with. Some municipalities will release a water content report as well. I'm lucky, my well water is only around 100ppm with little sodium, so I can just use it as-is.

 

[bluter]

Yeah got buckets net pots air pump, chiller, air stone etc

you're good to go then. make sure you go through other uk grow journals to get a sense of how they do it. pay attention to others growing under the same conditions to reduce the learning curve.

To be honest i think I’ll just use tap water for this one and the trio of base nutes maybe calmag just incase there’s not enough in the water. Then my next 2 NL I’ll do one of each and see if there’s a difference.

as mentioned it'd be good to know what's in the water. do you have ph and ec meters yet? at the very least you'll need to test the raw water.

 

[Frosty0121]

you're good to go then. make sure you go through other uk grow journals to get a sense of how they do it. pay attention to others growing under the same conditions to reduce the learning curve.




as mentioned it'd be good to know what's in the water. do you have ph and ec meters yet? at the very least you'll need to test the raw water.

Last I checked it was usually 6.5-7 but like I said got new place I’m moving into. It’s close so water supply is same. Also think my ph meter needs re calibrating.

 

[bluter]

Last I checked it was usually 6.5-7 but like I said got new place I’m moving into. It’s close so water supply is same. Also think my ph meter needs re calibrating.

do you have an ec meter? wondering how you monitor the plants. hydro lives and dies by ph and ec.

 

[bluter]

if you are running hydro you will find this useful for trouble shooting :

suggest you save or print it off. i know guys who have it posted outside their tent lol.

 

[Frosty0121]

do you have an ec meter? wondering how you monitor the plants. hydro lives and dies by ph and ec

do you have an ec meter? wondering how you monitor the plants. hydro lives and dies by ph and ec.

Yeah I have one to check ph, last grow I done was in soil. So just checked water I was feeding it. Pretty sure it’s no longer accurate.

 

[Frosty0121]

Yeah I have one to check ph, last grow I done was in soil. So just checked water I was feeding it. Pretty sure it’s no longer accurate.

This is first time using hydro

 

[bluter]

Yeah I have one to check ph, last grow I done was in soil. So just checked water I was feeding it. Pretty sure it’s no longer accurate.

a ph meter does not measure ec. they are different.

edit : do you have a combo meter ?

 

[Frosty0121]

Ah then no I’ll look into that right away

 

[Frosty0121]

if you are running hydro you will find this useful for trouble shooting :

suggest you save or print it off. i know guys who have it posted outside their tent lol.

Cheers bud

 

[Frosty0121]

a ph meter does not measure ec. they are different.

edit : do you have a combo meter ?

A lot of the ones I see say ec/ph meter. Infact one I bought says this. Is this reliable in your opinion?

 

[bluter]

A lot of the ones I see say ec/ph meter. Infact one I bought says this. Is this reliable in your opinion?

it'll work. i like having them separate. i've yet to meet anyone who hasn't broken a ph meter. the bulbs are vulnerable, and they are more exposed on the combo meters.

i also recommend getting meters that have replaceable ends for this purpose. if you break the ph bulb, you can still use the ec part of the meter. just get a dedicated ph meter if it happens.

 

[LKABudMan]

it'll work. i like having them separate. i've yet to meet anyone who hasn't broken a ph meter. the bulbs are vulnerable, and they are more exposed on the combo meters.

i also recommend getting meters that have replaceable ends for this purpose. if you break the ph bulb, you can still use the ec part of the meter. just get a dedicated ph meter if it happens.

I like by Bluelab pH/EC combo meter, it has separate probes for pH & EC. I've had to change the pH probe a couple of times, the EC probe is not affected. Also, I can store the pH probe correctly without worrying about the EC probe.

 

[bluter]

I like by Bluelab pH/EC combo meter, it has separate probes for pH & EC. I've had to change the pH probe a couple of times, the EC probe is not affected. Also, I can store the pH probe correctly without worrying about the EC probe.

blue lab is the bench mark. they wrote the book and back it with quality.
i use apera 60 series. they are lab level quality with replaceable ends and the closest thing to blue lab in a budget.

i like hanna and h/m as well. any of them are great. i stay away from the little usb style meter sticks though, even in the better brands.