experts: please help me understand my tap water PPM

[Proliferation]

I am new to the hydro scene and am finally in the finishing stages of my grow room. I will create a journal for the room build (and grow journal once I start) but have decided to wait till its 100% finished so I can post it all at once. This is pretty much my final step/issue in finishing this never-ending project.

I have decided to go with an 24 site ebb and flow system made by green-trees with a 100gal reservoir. It's the same exact setup as the Capp ebb and grow system just made by a different company and not using the stock 55gal res.

I have been trying to get a handle on what nutes I'm going to use and the different strengths to use depending on how old the plants are, etc, etc. I have been reading the journals of experts such as Pit Viper and Old Grower Dude as well as nutrient manuals for hydo information and feel like I have a good understanding of majority of information but the one thing I don't have a solid understanding of is my tap water situation. I get a reading of 600PPM for my tap (well) water and wasn't sure how to account for that when adding nutrients to my reservoir.

The real option in my mind was filtered water and have been thinking about this for a while, it's just an area (like electricity) that I am limited in knowledge. A friend of mine who is now a part owner in a local hydro shop was nice enough to GIVE me a HydroLogic Stealth Reverse Osmosis (RO200 200gal/day) water filter for FREE. I was planning on mounting this system above my res and using it whenever I needed water. However, the thing is so damn slow and it also wastes a lot of water and that is my biggest problem with the system so far. I don't really care if I have to hook the hose up to it and come back in 6 hours but it wastes a ton of water and I don't really want to run a waste line that just dumps the water back outside. Even if I could get creative with using it for my garden outside, etc; I know I'm still going to be wasting a lot.

For anyone who hasn't used a RO filter like this before it has 3 lines in/out of the unit. One central line feeding water into the system, a second line that delivers your RO filtered water and a third line that contains the waste water. Systems such as this have a ratio of about 3:1 so that means approx 300 gallons of waste water for the 100 gallons of RO water delivered to the reservoir.

As you can tell my problem is with understanding my current water situation. Do I need to use the RO system or could I just get by with a good sediment (or other similar type) filter that doesn't waste any water? OR could I leave the tap water as is with no filter? I'm leaning toward using some kind of filter than nothing but I am clearly going to have to take PPM of water coming out of the well into account. Anyone who can push me in the right direction now that I've given all this information would be greatly appreciated.

cheers

 

[420chris69]

I would say your PPM on the tap water is too high, and i wouldn't suggest using it. The RO water is great to use if you don't mind the waste water. You could always get distilled or RO water from the grocery store but 100 gallons is alot to move around. I've seen some hydroponic water filters that screw on to your garden hose that go for about $60 heres the link to it.
Rainshow`r Green Knight GK1 Hydroponic Dechlorinator Filter

Never tried one but it looks promising.

 

[Proliferation]

Thanks

I suspected that my tap PPM was going to be too high and exactly why I started going in the direction of RO filter.

The hose filter in that link is an option but will not nearly do what an RO filter would and think at this point I need to understand if I really need the RO water or if I could get away with using something like the filter in that link.

If a simple filter such as the one in the link above could get me within a reasonable margin than I would rather go with that than the slow and wasteful RO unit. The RO hydrologic unit sells for close to $300 in his store so know its a good unit just don't know if I require it or want to put up with the waste.

 

[420chris69]

I've never used that particular filter but i've also heard that the Mr. Clean car wash sprayer works really well also. You would need to test the water after it went thru the filter with your ppm meter. The closer to 0 the better. But i don't believe that RO water is a must. I've had great harvests using plain tap water (at 430 ppm) the only downside is you don't know exactly whats in your water and you can't bump up the chemicals as much as you could if you started with 0 ppm. IMO a filter like that or something similar would do just fine if you didn't wanna mess with the RO unit. On the other hand, you got a FREE $300 RO unit!!!! put that baby to work.

 

[Bandit420]

Hi proliferation!
Wow! 600 ppm is really high. I recieve city filtered water and it only registers at around 100 and I consider that high. The ro probably is your best option since you're probaly dealing with more than just chlorine.
I was also thinking about maybe setting up some kind of rain collector that you could use to either dilute the well water or just use the rain water by itself. If the rain was stored in a tank you could use the ro filter to keep it clean without having to be concerned about the waste because the water did not come from your well.

fascinating topic and I'll stay tuned to see what other options other users may have

 

[ledtester]

Not sure you got the PM but for the sake of balanced advice , the water that is growing these tests at 1100ppm. Almost twice as much as yours and as you can see, it didn't kill them! If it was city water I would pass but it's your well and I take it your driking the stuff!

Marijuana Mystery Tour

 

[Droopy Dog]

Ya know, you can strike a balance here, by mixing the RO and well water to get the ppm's to a level that works for you. Say a 50-50 mix.

DD

 

[Bandit420]

Not sure you got the PM but for the sake of balanced advice , the water that is growing these tests at 1100ppm. Almost twice as much as yours and as you can see, it didn't kill them! If it was city water I would pass but it's your well and I take it your driking the stuff!

Marijuana Mystery Tour

So are you or your buddy running the nutes at the 800-2000 ppm level ( the gradual increase happening as the weeks progress in the grow) on top of the 1100ppm water for a level around 3100 ppm at week 8+ along with the 200ml of H2O2 you add daily to the reservoir or is the 1100ppm the combined TDS of the water, nutes and H2O2 together?

It also looks like the plants above and in your journal are growing in a very hot room with poor air quality causing the colas to foxtail and leaves to burn from both the heat and hot nutirent levels. Do you really believe this is the optimal way to grow cannabis and other growers should follow accordingly?
Sure your buds are large but how are they as far as potency, flavor, density, and smoothness in the smoke?

 

[Cafghanica]

Orangeblood is really correct here. 1100 ppm in your original water can cause the salinity to get too high and cause the plant to start excreting water through its roots instead of taking it up etc. Your water is more important that your nutes, air flow and almost as important as your lightning. Quality water leads to quality harvests. This isnt as simple as too much chlorine or chloramines that can dispate out. And most of the cheaper RO on the market do not say it on the box but in the owners manual that they do not significantly reduce PPM. So you need a really good RO (like the one your friend gave you) or a rain catch are the best ideas that will drastically lower those PPM levels. Whatever your end PPM is after you make a choice should still be added to what your target feed is each week as Orangeblood eluded to. There my are two cents.

Also unless those are Foxtail Sativa's that take about 14-16 weeks to flower then I would say that Orangeblood is correct on the other count about the conditions being provided causing foxtailing.

 

[HorseBadoritz]

Not meant to hijack, but I have a well water related question, too. Our water has a lot of manganese, so we have a softener.

pH is 7.0 ppm (NaCl) 123. Is there a way to treat softened water for a soil grow?

If not, I'm planning on using water from a dehumidifier... good? bad? indifferent?

Thanks