What water to use?

[MegeBudz]

Hey all...

About a month into my grow and have used nothing but distilled water in my ebb and flow system (coco/clay pellet medium). Been doing some reading and I see two different camps on distilled water... some say don't use it.. others say do.

The reason I went with distilled is because our house is on county water and we do not have any type of filtration/softener set up on it. The fridge has a filter on it for the ice and water dispenser and that is good enough for us. The water in this area is HARD.. back when I was running a bunch of aquariums in the house, the hoods were covered in THICK scale. So I am hesitant to use it on the plants because 1 - it won't be very good on the plants and 2 - it will cause all sorts of scale/buildup issues with the ebb and flow system.

So my question is... what water is more appropriate for my situation?

I'd love to get a system out in my grow area to filter the water right there (since it is out in our steel workshop on the back of our property) instead of carrying buckets back there but have no clue what I am looking for.

- M

 

[JJ Bones]

The water your using should be fine. Are you experiencing problems?

 

[slapheadscott]

Keep an eye out for Calcium and Magnesium decifiency if you are running distilled water. One thing you could do is put a little bit of tap water in just to add a little hardness

 

[JJ Bones]

Definitely always use CaMg for your grows.

 

[MegeBudz]

The water your using should be fine. Are you experiencing problems?

None so far... just looking for alternatives to going to the store and loading the shopping cart up with gallon jugs of distilled water. Normally when I go to the store it is just for a few things I need around the house.. so while I am there I pick up water too. The other day I went through the checkout line with 10 gallon jugs of distilled water, two 10 lb bags of charcoal, 4 cans of SeaFoam, and a four pack of Monster... sat there looking at the cart thinking "what would someone make of this odd combination?" lol

Was just that as I was looking for those alternatives I was seeing some people write about how distilled water can actually be bad for the plants. Some I saw said that some bottlers used salts (which would that not defeat the purpose of distilled!??!) and some said that since it was distilled, it lacked some of the key micros needed for plant health.

Here is a link to my grow journal

- M

 

[JJ Bones]

I would recommend checking out our water filtration section for alternatives to going to the store: Water Filteration for Hydroponic and Organic Gardens

 

[MegeBudz]

Keep an eye out for Calcium and Magnesium decifiency if you are running distilled water. One thing you could do is put a little bit of tap water in just to add a little hardness

I'm using FloraMicro and Cutting Edge Solutions MAG AMPED which I am thinking should make up for that... but adding some tap water in there sounds like a good idea as well. I meant to take some tap water out to the shop tonight to test but completely forgot.. will definitely do that tomorrow when I head out after work.

 

[MegeBudz]

Tested the tap water tonight... pH is at 7.1 and the particulates are 404.

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Mmm let me think...


Hard water would suggest alkaline PH more than likely due to bed rock this would suggest mineral or PPM off various minerals/nutrients related to such bedrock & i'm sure that hard water contains a reasonable amount of Ca & Mg !

Now depending on what part of the world you are from & what ever water regulations of country of origin may differ to what is regarded suitable for human health in fact after a little research you may find soft water areas suffer with a greater risk of some health issues than hard water areas but this is just a side information...

Ca & Mg supplements would be more advisable with soft/RO & rain water usage all are known to lack Ca/Mg once you look into things !


Hard water will deposit Ca-calcium into the growing medium whether soil or inert & in the case of inert this might form lime scale ? ultimately it may adjust PH value in the long run over several months or so, in the short term i wouldn't batter an eye lid on the matter, i've not seen any hard core case's on the matter but certainly seen lime scale form on saucers & around base's of my own pots with plants grown in soil...

I would imagine you may find a build up in res of hydro systems if you are not a regular cleaner of your system tho after each grow, i'm not to sure about cleaning inert growing medium such as clay pebbles or perlite etc...


With hydro or water based systems some growers would appear more concerned about PPM value of the water !

Hard water would suggest a higher PPM value.

Soft water mildly lower PPM value.

You will find a difference between PPM from each type tho this would suggest bedrock type from where water is sourced from & this would include mineral quantity between each type of water source !


How ever most hard core hydro growers may prefer RO (reverse osmosis) water should be lower than 100 PPM if not 50 PPM & apply suitable nutrients to support plant growth but slightly more costly regarding nutrients