Looks like I'll never be using local water

Indoor Growing Climate
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To be honest, I would be concerned about even putting it through an RO system. Maybe I am wrong there. :smile:

I normally use RO water from a store that sells it at $.27 per gallon. They list the ppm when it is serviced, usually every two weeks or so. The ppm is usually between 10 and 12.

Occasionally, I bring a nute sample to my local hydro place, where they tell me my ppm, and such, as an added layer of double-checking my work.

My ppm in my nute mixture, week four of flower, is currently ~1,200 or so.

On a whim, I brought in a sample of tap water from my kitchen faucet. The ppm of the water was at 1,000. Yikes.

I’m guessing water with a ppm that high should never be used for anything other than showering.

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Wow! My tap water has a PPM of 380 and I thought that was extremely high! What the heck do they put in your water there?

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@JTheH, to be honest, I’m not certain; however, after seeing that, I’m inclined to buy one of those kits from Home Depot that allow you to send water samples off for lab analysis. When I get the results, I’ll be sure to post them.

While the county considers my area land, for all rights and purposes, it’s a sand bar. A good deal of the time, most roads are under water by 6" to a foot, in places. I’m not sure if all of that seeps into the water, but I’m thinking it’s a mixture of sediment, combined with toxic waste from the Gulf Oil spill. (I’m not really certain that was cleaned up very well.)

The water check makes me feel like I’m living at the Love Canal. Ugh. :smile:

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Lol! Depending where you get your water from, well or city water supply, it very well could be contaminants seeping into the aquifer. I contacted my city water and had them send me an assessment of the water. Very high in calcium, iron and fluoride here. Meaning extremley hard water lol.

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You can get the info you from you water comp. or if it’s your well You will need to send. I have hard water here, about 300- 350ppm. We have a lot of alkali In our water. I’m always fighting my ppm and ph. @latewood or @MacGyverStoner can you tell me why my 55 gal. Water barrel the ph changes after I get it to 6.5 it goes up past 7.5. Is it from my hard water, and alkali?
Tom

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@JTheH, yeah, there is definitely run-off into the aquifer, but I’m also sure it’s a lot of contaminates. They don’t even add fluoride to the water here. Ugh. :smile:

@tlkbear, true, I could ask the city; however, I don’t really trust them to be honest. I’d rather send it out to a private lab. The odd thing is, while high in ppm, and definitely full of who knows what, the water pH is only 7.2.

I’ve heard others complain about the water, and apparently, the water supply exists where the old high school used to be, back when the county was primarily agricultural orange groves and strawberries. I’m told it was not developed into residential areas until the early 90’s. Before then, it was just pass-through to get to the beaches.

Some of the cities are worse than others. The bad part with mine is that it is that the land, if you can call it that, is primarily surrounded by water. Also, the water temperature most of the year is around 83 - 86 degrees, with the lowest temp in February, when the water temp can drop to the high 60’s. It’s a breeding ground for bacteria and other fun stuff. (We’re in the middle of a three day “cold front”, atm, where the outside temp has dropped into the 70’s. By Tuesday, it will be back into the mid 80’s, with 90% humidity. Not fun.)

@tlkbear, on your water, while I would defer to the others, I’ve heard that one reason pH rises is due to evaporation of water, while nutrients and particulates remain behind. There was an interesting thread on 420 Magazine. I’ll see if I can find the link. The science goes beyond my knowledge of chemicals, but the reasoning made a lot of sense.

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The city has to keep water test info for the public to see. I know about the “trust the gov.” I keep my barrel top on when it’s not being used. My water ph is 7.5 give or take a bit each way. I think it has to do with the alkali keeps it going up. But who knows.
Tom

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sorry. I did not read past 1st post. If you use an RO system and your ppm is above 1; The system needs to maintenance. The filters are old, and not doing their job, or the system is compromised.

Ro water is supposed to be almost completely pure of minerals after treatment.

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I am back. I caught this topic in my email, and have another point to make. Akali is of course high PH. So, if you cannot purify this water with Alkili, then your PH is always going to rise.