Feeding in Deep Water Culture, Getting Started & PPM

That's a good question Roseman. I've read varying ideas about well vs city water and higher ppm's. Maybe this is a good time for you to clarify for me and everyone else what the difference is between well and city water when both are at a higher ppm like 150 let's say. Bad for city, good for well because the higher ppm is actually minerals that are good for your plants? It is really a confusing subject to me. How are you supposed to know if it's good or not?
 
DubbleDutch said:
Yeah, I remember reading somewhere that 150 is the highest you can have before taking action to reduce that.

I was looking around the DIY forums and saw this:
DIY Reverse Osmosis - For Small Scale Grower - Cheap, Portable, & Effective

Otherwise I remember Olias picking up a filtration system on ebay or something that he seemed really happy with.
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You can do what I do. I take 5 gallons to the store and use the water machine for a buck. I didn't bother going through the expense of a ro system since I hate them and threw one out. I think they are soooooooo slow anyhow. I find it way easier to stop at the convince store or supermarket to get the water.
 
Green007 said:
That's a good question Roseman. I've read varying ideas about well vs city water and higher ppm's. Maybe this is a good time for you to clarify for me and everyone else what the difference is between well and city water when both are at a higher ppm like 150 let's say. Bad for city, good for well because the higher ppm is actually minerals that are good for your plants? It is really a confusing subject to me. How are you supposed to know if it's good or not?
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Mine is over 300 and not consistent so I had to stop using it. I most likely could have last few months. It was messed up in the winter with all the rains.
 
I grow in 200 ppm city water just fine.
You can run a search on your local city water supply and find out exactly what was in it the last time they tested it.
 
Green007 said:
That's a good question Roseman. I've read varying ideas about well vs city water and higher ppm's. Maybe this is a good time for you to clarify for me and everyone else what the difference is between well and city water when both are at a higher ppm like 150 let's say. Bad for city, good for well because the higher ppm is actually minerals that are good for your plants? It is really a confusing subject to me. How are you supposed to know if it's good or not?
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I have read that well water with a high ppm is better or not as bad as city water with a higher ppm.
If the well water has a very high ppm, it is probably minerals and might even be beneficial minerals.
If the city water has a very high ppm, the minerals have probably been filtered out and the very high ppm is due to chemicals.

Thats all I can remember right now without going to a book or to google.
 
Ok stupid question but I have no idea if it is well or city. I know I have a septic tank what ever that is and don't even know how it works. I looked for the break down of the water in my area but it has no info like it is suppose to. I guess I will have to just call them. As I mentioned on another thread I have used my sink water with good success till there was too much rain and wasn't reliable anymore. I will try again for the next grow and see what happens.
 
alien8 said:
Ok stupid question but I have no idea if it is well or city. I know I have a septic tank what ever that is and don't even know how it works. I looked for the break down of the water in my area but it has no info like it is suppose to. I guess I will have to just call them. As I mentioned on another thread I have used my sink water with good success till there was too much rain and wasn't reliable anymore. I will try again for the next grow and see what happens.
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Do you pay the city or county a water bill?
 
I pay a water company. Not even sure if it is a subsection of the county or not. In NY when a mass was in say kings county we still had boroughs. I feel like that is what I am in. I hate not knowing how a new place actually works. I was fairly sure it wasn't city water but now I don't know.
 
Roseman said:
I have read that well water with a high ppm is better or not as bad as city water with a higher ppm.
If the well water has a very high ppm, it is probably minerals and might even be beneficial minerals.
If the city water has a very high ppm, the minerals have probably been filtered out and the very high ppm is due to chemicals.

Thats all I can remember right now without going to a book or to google.
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Roseman said:
My opinion is if you can drink it and not get sick, it is fine for your plants.
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Thankyou!
 
Another friend of mine used the DIY thingy and it brought his down from 190 to 5. The big question still is how long will that filter last. (ie, how many gallons)
 
Love this tutorial Just made a cheat sheet for my travel purposes about to learn as much as I can before I start growing, I shall be back for further questioning. RM and MC love the food for thought you guys contribute Plus reps to the both of yall. This is just one of the many tutorials I am going to put into a word doc so i can dissect them when traveling. :thankyou:
 
OK So i read through about 11 pages of copy and paste stuff. From what I have learned as a take away is that it is best to pre soak seeds you will see faster results as far as the first two set of leaves. During this stage you are just feeding the plants straight water until you see the 2nd set of leaves or 3'rd and 4th leaves. ONce you see these leaves you know it is ready for 1/4 strength veg nutes. Im going to be using AN Grow micro bloom. So grow and micro nutes for the first week about 3 tea spoons of each every other day or so. But it is important to check the PH everyday and the PPM to see what the plant is eatng and what ever it eats we should replace in all stages of the plants life correct? The topping off I thought from previous reading was not suggested and I thought it was best to just check ppm and ph every day to learn what they are eating and to do the res change every 7 days. Checking PPM and Ph every day and trying to replenish the water level and ppm back to the res every day seems like it could cause issues. Unless we are topping off every other day or so meaning each time we add nutes like the 1/4 amount of nutes we add that to what ever amount of water the plants are consuming mix it in well measure the PPM and PH then add to the res and mix again and check numbers and adjust for desired numbers? So let me finalize it-we should top off every day to replenish the water level and see how much ppm the plant is taking in and make sure the PH is healthy correct? I plan on using 3-4 5gal buckets in a 3.11 X 3.11 tent. Not sure if that is too many.
 
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