I get spring water gallons or should I be using something else
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A lot of people use Wallymart water 5 gallons is cheaper than most others if you have only 1 or 2 plants you could look into zero water pitcher or brita filter.
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The one you pay for monthly or quarterly
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Might be cheaper to have a water service, with way less waste.
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I use the Glacier fill up stations. $1.25 for 5 gallon bucket.
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So itās store bought spring water over distilled water any day?
Yes!..Here we already pay enough for waterā¦My first outdoor grow I used store water until I realized I would need way more then I was willing to buy and its not easy carting gallon jugs from here to there!..I started collecting rain water in the winter early and spring this and last yearā¦It only lasts a while then I use ātapā waterā¦I let it sit out in the sun for a day or twoā¦no problemsā¦ They donāt use chlorine anymore so Iām good to go
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The fill up stations in the front of some grocery stores are RO water. Cheaper to refill a five gallon jug than buy gallons. Iām going full tap on my current grow just to see how it goes. Iāve heard different opinions, but if youāre tap water is under 300 EC Iād say itās okay to use. @AL_GREEN makes a good point. Aside from the barrel rain water is free. IDK about where youāre at, but spring means a lot of rain for me.
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If you buy store āSpring Waterā itās likely just lightly filtered TAP water to remove chlorine/fluorine and a few other thingsā¦ If it doesnāt say āpurifiedā or ādistilledā you are literally rolling the dice on what it is, under FDA rules it can be straight-up municipal tap water, lightly filtered municipal tap water, heavily filtered municipal tap water or tap water with minerals addedā¦ It could also be RO or distilled water that has been re-mineralized, you simply donāt knowā¦
If you want āpureā water get something that clearly states purified or distilled on the labelā¦ The RO refill stations at grocery stores are the best bang for the dollar if you donāt want to set up your own RO system, but note that when you first purchase the original 5 gallon jug already filled that is generally re-mineralized RO water, not the straight up RO that comes out of the refill machinesā¦
And last but not least spend the $10 or so for a dedicated TDS meter for your water, this way you can instantly test the RO water at the refill station as you fill it to make sure itās being properly filteredā¦ I know some refill stations are mostly automated, but I pick the refill stations that allow you to turn the water on/off as needed, that way I can bring a small cup, fill it up and test it before I fill my jugs, this way I know for sure the RO machine is workingā¦
Another option for outdoor grows if you just want to get away from the chemicals found in municipal water, around me most of the forest preserves have old school hand pump wells to ācool offā, wash up or water your pets, it says do not drink because itās not tested and regulated, but itās groundwater and plenty good for outdoor plantsā¦ Might be OK for indoor plants but you would really have to have it tested to see how hard it is and how many minerals you have in it, because if itās anything like my well water it could make a rust/calcium mess of your indoor growing median and sortsā¦ Not that big of a concern with an outdoor grow as nature will take care of diluting it and not confining it to a pot or grow bag areaā¦ FYI: I used to get my fish water to fill my aquariums from a local forest preserve hand pump well vs dealing with my municipal water that was worse 
Yeah it was a hassle but what I did was at home I had multiple 32 gallon BRUTE (Rubbermaid brand) garbage cans, I would stop by the forest preserve on the way home fill up several 5 gallon buckets, take it home and store it in the garbage cans until I needed it, that way I always had over 100 gallons on handā¦
And last but not least, if you have a little land and some spare time and donāt mind getting your hands dirty, Google up āDIY shallow well drillingā itās literally a weekend or two project, and you can drill your own shallow irrigation wellā¦ Note, to be 100% up and snuff you would likely need to pull a permit to drill the well, but to be blunt I doubt most do for shallow wells like thisā¦
I understand that spring water has nutrients/electrolytes added for tasteā¦Distilled or RO or run thru a ZERO water filter is what I would recommend for your best product
When i bought water from walmart i used the spring wayer becasue it has been through the reverse osmosis process.
@Hotbox420 After many grows using RO water for plants and distilled for humidifiers I did the math and found I was spending about $110/grow on water. My grows are 4 each grow in 4x4s.
I bought a 50gallon 4 filter RO Buddie.
The fourth āDIā filter can be used to make similar to distilled, and bypassed to make regular RO water with just two filter and the membrane.
Cost me $69.00 from Amazon, it comes completeā¦ And filters need changing after approximately 1500 gallons.
Now I use the 5 gallon and 3 gallon refill jugs from store at homeā¦ Plus I save gas and the trouble of sitting at store whole filling and lugging around the jugs.
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I have 2 of these systems installed. Pre and post filters changed at 6 to 9 months and RO membrane every 2 years.
PPMs read on average 10 with a low of 6 and a high of 14. We use RO water for drinking and cooking so if you only use it for growing you may go longer between filter changes. Easy to install.
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My tap water 80-ppm so I donāt worry about distilled water so much just the chlorine. This is my setup for getting rid of it. Cheap and simple. I refill our lizards/snake gallon bottles
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That works if your water treatment plant uses old-school chlorine, but if it uses chloramines (like most do nowadays), neither aeration nor boiling is an effective removal processā¦ For chloramines, you really need a chemical de-chlorinator, carbon filter, or have to use an RO/distillation processā¦
One really nice thing about RO water is that it removes the variable of āwhat else is in the waterā
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Yep, it really makes everything more simple as there is no what-if you know itās just water, this is even more important to hydro systems where you donāt have soil that provides a buffer to any potential changes or trace elements in the waterā¦
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@Outlaw thanks man! & others who posted about waterā¦ Yeah I guess it does all depend on where and what concerning waterā¦My first grow (like stated above) I was all paranoid and wanted everything to turn out okayā¦I read a lot here on ILGM and other places to find out about waterā¦The store bought got to be too muchā¦yes the 5 gallons are cheaper butā¦they are heavy and bulkyā¦I did and experiment and use municipal water (yes they do use chloraminesā¦no chlorine anymoreā¦I was worried but guess what?..I saw NO adverse effects on the plants! I cant remember exactly what member it was but he was old schoolā¦didnāt really but into all the hypeā¦He believed in good soilā¦water nutes etcā¦reading his view made me try the unfiltered non R/O waterā¦I had zero problems with itā¦* for what its worth
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Iām in the RO Buddie camp:) Costs like $60, takes about 45mins to setup and then I have a five gal water jug in the tub - fills itself in 2.5hrs. I then have an electric water pump to pour water from by 5 gal into my 1 gal jugs, so that I donāt waste much RO water. Iām all about the ritual of things. Nothing like a little work on the front end to avoid trips to the store every few days. Donāt want my neighbors wondering why I always have 10 gallons of water every few days.
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