Tap water ppm question

[The Germinator]

My tap water is 825 ppm. That's really high right? I am not sure where to get RO water but will check around. I know walmart sells water in those big five gallon jugs. Is this an option? I am setting up my hydro now. Just waiting on seeds to germinate. My first hydroponic grow. Any advice is appreciated.. started 12/12 today on my potted soil plants. Ty you guys as always.. one more thing. If I used water that's 800ppm and I want my nutes at 500 then my meter should read 1300 correct?

 

[Dwight Monk]

The big jug bottle water (Primo brand is what is here in town) goes thru a variety of filtering processes including RO. I had switched our drinking water to that as the Park has it's own water system (and was built in the 70's so old pipes) and ended up using that for my plants too once I started growing. As you don't have to worry about chlorine that way either along with other stuff, but it takes out most of the minerals so I'm still figuring how much Cal/Mag they need and if I'm missing something else. Kind of depends on how big a grow you have going as I'm in the 2-4 plant range so 5 gallon jug lasts us a week for us and the plants (if you bring back empty it's like $6 for 5 gallons). You can buy the whole filter system and filter it yourself, but the cost of filters and original set up is quite a bit if you did it yourself, but that might be cheaper if a much higher volume of water is needed. No idea how accurate my meter is (bought a cheap one as soil more forgiving and unsure if I will keep growing long term yet) but my tap water is around 650-700 PPM and the Primo 5 gallon water comes out at 130-150 PPM.

 

[Rifleman]

My tap water is 825 ppm. That's really high right? I am not sure where to get RO water but will check around. I know walmart sells water in those big five gallon jugs. Is this an option? I am setting up my hydro now. Just waiting on seeds to germinate. My first hydroponic grow. Any advice is appreciated.. started 12/12 today on my potted soil plants. Ty you guys as always.. one more thing. If I used water that's 800ppm and I want my nutes at 500 then my meter should read 1300 correct?

Yep, that's some hard water you've got. A decent carbon filter will bring that down some, and not break the bank. Don't know what type of hydro you're going to do, but I run 5 gallon buckets and when I have large girls flowering it isn't unusual for them to drink 3 or 4 gallons a week. More for a beast. Buying ro water might get expensive. If you do go with the 800, and wanted nutes at 500ppm, then yes your meter should read 1300. Good luck.

 

[The Germinator]

I let the water in the buckets set for two days and ppm is now 225. Did I misread first time or can it drop like that for setting.. or did everything settle to the bottom. Going to stir and recheck.

 

[skunkpilot]

I went with a RO System due to well water and dropped from around 480 to 20's ppm. It's cheaper in the long run and I didn't want the pumps getting clogged from the hard water deposits. A coffee maker lasts about 3 months around here. If you go with a RO system, you will need to add CalMag to make up for the Calcium and Magniasuiam removed by the filters.

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[The Germinator]

Ty guys