Hard Water PPM and Nutrient Corrections

S

SeaBow

New Member
I've got a question for you pros out there.
I just got my first ppm meter and tested my well water. It's 580 in the house, 475 from fridge filter, and straight from the hose outside 608! I cannot go RO system with my ghetto grow system so what's a guy to do?
My question is do I compensate for these numbers when adding nutes? Say... if I should have a nute ppm of 1000 am I ending up with 1608 with my hose water? Other additives call for a solution of say 150 ppm. Do I take the previous ppm of 1608 and run it up to 1758 (adding the 150 ppm additive)?
Please help. Common sense is getting in my way.
 
RO system is worth it for hard water. The content within the water can mess with the nutrients ratio. Get a good one for about 100 usd and really good one for couple of hundreds. Or you can go with the less expensive route by getting a Faucet-Mounted Filters which can help cut down the water PPM.

Without filtering system you will have to compensate by lowering the nute strength by 1/2 and slowly work it up from there.
 
Thanks for the reply twelve/12
So I read 1000 ppm should INCLUDE the water ppm. That sure makes very little nutes in solution at my current ppm rate.
Unfortunately, I can't spend any more cash on the system. I'm way way over budget as is. I'd like to look into tap filtering.
What do you think of the fridge filtered at 475 ppm? I can go with larger drinking water filters?
 
Walmart now sells the ZeroWater filters for like $30 and can do 50 gallons per filter depending on how hard your water is, Target carries them for a little more $. I used the Zerowater system for a year and was happy. Zerowater filters will bring the ppm to "0", but then you have to add a cal/mag supplement. Replacement Filters are like $30 for 2.
 
Thanks Noob,

Again, the budget is WAY shot and another $100 ain't happening. I looked at the ZeroWater filters Batcave suggested and thought about adding this treated water to the reservoir with the well water to at least reduce the ppm's. I mean, really. Is everybody here using RO or Zero ppm water? I doubt that and most have some average level of ppm.

What is a take on the average ppm of everyone's water? Or better yet What is acceptable levels?
200ppm - 400?
 
I subtract the hardness from the total ppm. So if I am running 250 ppm raw water then if I want 800 ppm nutrient solution I add the two numbers together and get a total ppm of 1050. I believe you will find this is the proper way to go. If you look in the thread about water

Right now I am using General Hydroponics Hardwater micro. I would recommend it for your situation. I would also suggest adding Cal\mag.

Check this thread out: All about water
 
SeaBow said:
Thanks Noob,

Again, the budget is WAY shot and another $100 ain't happening. I looked at the ZeroWater filters Batcave suggested and thought about adding this treated water to the reservoir with the well water to at least reduce the ppm's. I mean, really. Is everybody here using RO or Zero ppm water? I doubt that and most have some average level of ppm.

What is a take on the average ppm of everyone's water? Or better yet What is acceptable levels?
200ppm - 400?
Click to expand...

A 75% tap and 25% zerowater would bring my 230ppm tap water to 140ppm to 150ppm range, but always ended up having to add cal/mag in the end so I just went back to straight tap left out bubbling overnight and have not had any problems since.
 
My city water is hard as hell too, running 500-700ppm. I have not heard of a single sole in this area that uses tap water. Most either have an RO system or buy RO water @ $1.25 per 5 gal jug. I just yesterday filled 5 jugs at the store. I can't afford an RO system now so it's less painful. Obviously I add cal-mag. But starting from 0ppm I know I have full control and any screwups are on me.

Also, when referring to your ppm meter readings, it's important to relate what conversion scale it is on. A .5 conversion scale will give a far different reading than a .7 conversion scale. If you note this when mentioning ppm, you'll have a more likely reliable set of responses.

I personally use a .5 conversion meter and adjust my feed (51 days into 12/12) to about 750 ppm and my plants absolutely love it. They just dont need 1k ppm or more and it's a waste of nutrient and $ even before I get to the point of burn.

If I were using a .7 meter, my target ppm may be about 1200 ppm or so. Hopefully that gives you an idea.
 
Bassman, I have a TDS-02 meter and I read over the papers and no mention of conversion.
My res is at 1770 ppm and taking into account the hard water starting at 600 I'm at 1170 ppm nutes. Is this how I should read into it?
I checked the grocery store fill stations, you know the BYOB filter machines. I have 2 5 gallon water bottles.
I called the number on the machine and they actually had Feb 2nd tests of before and after. Coming from the store tap is 475 ppm and at the machine is 20!
$.30 per gallon! I believe this may be the way to go.
 
I have a well. My PH is 7.8 . Wanna drink some of that shit?? lol and my PPM I think is 120. I was using a Brita but turns out those are bad too. I investing in an RO set up. Amazon.com has some good prices. I was using brita well water and it put all my plants in nute lock. . I then broke down and bought a PPM and PH meter.
 
SeaBow said:
Bassman, I have a TDS-02 meter and I read over the papers and no mention of conversion.
My res is at 1770 ppm and taking into account the hard water starting at 600 I'm at 1170 ppm nutes. Is this how I should read into it?
I checked the grocery store fill stations, you know the BYOB filter machines. I have 2 5 gallon water bottles.
I called the number on the machine and they actually had Feb 2nd tests of before and after. Coming from the store tap is 475 ppm and at the machine is 20!
$.30 per gallon! I believe this may be the way to go.
Click to expand...


Is there any paperwork on the meter?

Is it made by Huixia Supply?

Can you take a pic of it or the specifications on it from your paperwork?

Might be able to find the conv factor being used.
 
is there no paperwork on it with a manufacturer name or website?


**I'm pretty sure it's .5 conv. But want to be sure. With that in mind, @.5 you would never want over 1000 ppm. and if you got 500 tap full of shit, you have little room for nutes.
 
ZOKKUFU said:
I have a well. My PH is 7.8 . Wanna drink some of that shit?? lol and my PPM I think is 120. I was using a Brita but turns out those are bad too. I investing in an RO set up. Amazon.com has some good prices. I was using brita well water and it put all my plants in nute lock. . I then broke down and bought a PPM and PH meter.
Click to expand...

Hey Zok, I did a lot of research and looking around to get a R/O system for my plants and found a really good place to order from, where you can customize your R/O filter for your own needs. I looked all around at ebay, amazon, growing suppliers etc and this place had the best deals, excellent customer service, and the results, I couldnt be happier with. Especially when I was spending 20$ per week for water at the store, this is saving me tons of money and trips to the store, I'm producing 001ppm water, and the system cost me 180$.

Advice: Check with your local water supply and see if you have chlorine and chloramine's added to your water, If you do, then you will need to get GAC or carbon block filters, to prevent destroying your R/O membrane as well as to keep these from getting into your water....

I also highly recommend adding a D/I filter as well... This will bring you to near 0ppm water, vs R/O alone without D/I which should sit you under 40ppm. If you plan on drinking your filtered water, Do NOT drink D/I water, R/O is fine, but I have read that D/I is not good for you...So getting a 3 way valve is nice to be able to select between the water types...

Make sure your water pressure is strong enough, most R/O systems I looked at needed at least 35psi, and lower than that you will need a booster pump.

Check this link for photo's and more details if your interested....
Reverse Osmosis - what are you using?
 
full


IMAG01098
 
Yeah Bassman,

It looks an awful lot like the HM TDS Tester that states a .5 conversion. It must be a knock off.

I re filled the res yesterday at 1720 ppm which would give an 860 ppm and my water would be 300, not 600! :thedoubletake:

edit: Oh, by the way, I stopped by your current journal and saw the same problem with a bro there, as well. (and congrats on the job issue)
 
I may be misunderstanding you. But you say you filled at 1720ppm. If your meter says 1720 ppm, then that's what it is. You don't divide that number buy .5 in your head and come up with 860. The meter is giving you the ppm at the conversion rate already, if that makes sense.

At 1720 ppm you are going to nute burn the hell out of your plants. Even if the meter was .7 conversion you would burn them most likely.

iirc Mr. Krip posted some charts in his grow journal showing the differences in conversion factors.

I was told by a grower that manages 75 1k lights that with a .5 meter never ever nute over 1000ppm and mostly try to be in the 750-850 area. He also stated with .7 never above 1400ppm.
 

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