Water quality report: Help interpret. and should I get a RO?

[SciFi]

I've had a lot of problems...
PPMS drifting up over the course of a week..
PH drifting up heavily too..

I think it all comes down to my tap water quality.. or lack thereof.


I got a water "quality" report. It doesn't have the same breakdowns as a analysis report, but here it goes:

Hardness: 11 GPG or 181 PPM of Calcium Carbonate

Flouride: 4 PPM

Nickel: 2.5 PPB

Nitrate: 11 PPM

Chlorine: 1 PPM

Sodium: 33 PPM <--- WTF??? THERES SALT?!

Sulfates: 66 PPM <-- SWEET JESUS WHAT AM I DRINKING?


Guess I should have gotten the GH Hardwater micro after all.

So measuring this stuff right out of the tap with my @.5 TDS meter it's 250 and if I did the math right that's 350 at .7... and looking at the list above that's ~296PPM by their measurement standards of just what they discussed above, which is not EC based but
way more accurate.


I'm wondering what this water will do in a recirculating setup, especially with top ups. I've had constant leaves dropping.. always starting at the bottom ones, but way more pronounced in flowering then in veg.. Is that due to the sodium offsetting the K/cal, perhaps?



So... Should I get a RO unit on this crappy water I get? Or should I just start counting on weekly trips for distilled water?

 

[ozric420]

Re: Water quality report: Help interpret... and should I get a RO?

my ppm out of tap is 200,I got a R/O and I mix it half and half ,brings mine down to about 70 ppm , I still have some issues with but can manage.hope this helps.

 

[JJ Bones]

Re: Water quality report: Help interpret... and should I get a RO?

Anytime someone is growing in hydro I highly recommend using R.O. water. It's much better and gives you more control of what the plants get. Plus if you invest in an R.O. system you won't need to buy bottled water or purified water again. In the end much money is saved.

$230 for better water for your plants, yourself, and your family? Inexpensive IMO.