My local tap water comes from a river that has >200 miles of built-up areas upriver from my municipality. I try to not think about what’s in that water, but my being here for some time has killed my ability to no longer think about it. I looked at the “annual report” of my local water jurisdiction, but it was just a glitzy piece of bald-faced gov’t self-congratulations and self-praise. My only local options for water testing cost more than I’m willing to pay.
So–my question: Does anybody know of any reliable water testing options that don’t cost an arm and a leg? I’d like to know about the mineral content of my tap water as well as the chemical/toxins/whatever content.
Look around on Amazon… sorry, I don’t have any good sources… I was just in the same boat a couple of years ago. I think the last time I had my water tested it cost me around $175 for a lab to do it… our “annual” reports happen like every 10 years. From a river we aren’t supposed to eat fish out of. Wrap your mind around that. lol.
Have you checked the TDS of your tap water? If high in solids you may want to consider R/O: the R/O Buddy is $79 on Amazon and connects to your hose bib. @Not2SureYet runs his into a 30 gallon barrel picked up at a local carwash and runs the waste water on his plants. A small submersible pump is then used to get it where he needs it.
Ya i second the jr peters test, if your going to pay for it. They will recommend the proper setup for you based on the readings. I also agree having a tds meter would tell u how clean the water is, just not how much of what. For example, my tap is a 7.1 ph at 160 ppm, which is low enough for me to not use ro.
Try living in Louisiana, Mississippi is 1000 miles of flushed toilets and all pollution.
I had a job, once, delivering Kentwood Spring water. Best growing weed ever.
Best health ever, for me. Free water from company worth a fortune, now, with growing skills. Learned to clone in the water (1982), before learning how to PH water(2022).
If you go with Ro water. You would be very happy with this one. It also waste 1/2 of what the Ro Buddys do. And the filters seem to be lasting me forever. Like the others mentioned. do you know what your TDS is right now? Mine is around 535ppms out of the tap.
A friend of mine called a local water softener company and asked for a free quote. They came and measured and extolled the virtues of their water filter. Then he said I’d have to think about it
When my tap water had fluoride added to it I picked up this RO about three years ago. Does a great job and is still reading about .04 EC with the original filters. Be fore warned that at 60 psi water pressure it takes about 15 minutes to draw a gallon of RO. HTG supply has it for about $125. This is a version made for agriculture, and is wall mounted.
Also, the wife loves to use RO water for mopping the hardwood floors, and says that it does better than the distilled water that she was buying. So she has no complaints about this grow room purchase.
My tap water is 7.5ish at 180 PPM. I just let it gas off for a few days. So far i haven’t noticed anything wrong with using it on any of my plants. Including outdoor vegetable plants. No issues even if i don’t let it gas off the chlorine first…
Just remember that the TDS of your tap water has to be added to any nutrients. For example; with 180 ppm tap you want to mix nutes to a TDS of 900 ppm total or 720 ppm. This is one reason hydro growers run R/O as it does not need to factored in.
Okay, so if i want a 1000 ppm of fertilizer i count the 180 in the tap water and only add 820 ppm, correct?
Or are you saying to mix up only 900 ppm since my tap has 180 TDS?
I’m a little confused about what your trying to explain to me…
