Distilled water or well water

[Bib4tuna]

I keep reading about how distilled water is good for your plant because it's not chlorinated. When I've grown outdoor I've always used my well water. Being that it's well water & not city it's not chlorinated but I'm not sure if it's better than distilled. I know well water can sometimes be hard & have calcium in it. It tastes great compared to other well water I've had but I've never tested it with ph tester. I've heard of some people catching rain water in buckets also. Not trying to be cheap but if I can get away without using distilled I figure why not. Any thoughts?

 

[Gashuffer]

No need to use distilled for feeding. Maybe for a humidifier to minimize maintenance on it.

Its debatable how impactful the chlorine is with how low of a level it is present in tap water.

I just leave my tap water out for 24 hours. Never had an issue in either case. I just happen to fill a 5 gallon bucket and feed out of that. So it typically sits for a bit anyway.

 

[ThEm4DSc13_TiSt]

I do the same, I have city water sadly, keep a couple 55gal drums with SERIOUS airstones in them and they just sit for a day or two before I tap Into them. If u have well water that's the best thing you could use. Def would t go wasting all that money in distilled or however u would go about it, esp when u have a goldmine already at the twist of it wrist. I'd kill for well water...

 

[Bib4tuna]

I do the same, I have city water sadly, keep a couple 55gal drums with SERIOUS airstones in them and they just sit for a day or two before I tap Into them. If u have well water that's the best thing you could use. Def would t go wasting all that money in distilled or however u would go about it, esp when u have a goldmine already at the twist of it wrist. I'd kill for well water...

Awesome,I kinda figured that with God knows what they put in city water nowadays. But just wanted to be sure. Alotta times you get that well water with the sulphur smell but I think mine taste better than some city water so I figure if its good for me it's good for them. Thx for the info!

 

[ThEm4DSc13_TiSt]

U

Awesome,I kinda figured that with God knows what they put in city water nowadays. But just wanted to be sure. Alotta times you get that well water with the sulphur smell but I think mine taste better than some city water so I figure if its good for me it's good for them. Thx for the info!

U know I'm not sure about the well water that has the sulphur/egg smell to it, it might have some drawbacks but I'd be lying to u ifni told u I knew for sure... I do know that my first dwc grow I spent months trucking buckets every week from my bosses house cuz he has well water, made for an interesting conversation as to wtf I was doing, but I just ended up saying F* it and told him, then he walked me I to his basement and right into his RETIRED UNDERGROUND grow room . BUT I ENDED UP BRINGING SAMPLES OF WATER, 3-4 different ones from ppl I know who claimed to have the best water, to get tested, and every time, the ppl with just plain old well water ended up coming out on top as far as quality was concerned. Again, I'm not pro, city/well water guru genius, BUT I'm confident enough to say if u have well water, and it not scared to drink it, lol and it's refreshing to you! your plants will love it too.

 

[Bib4tuna]

Lol,that's great! I did something similar when I had plants way back in the fields at my old place. Luckily the neighbors where spread out cuz I'm sure I looked suspect as hell,lol. I feel pretty fortunate tho, compared to people with city water. Sounds like a hassle. This will be my 2nd indoor grow ever tho as I usually do outdoor & have always used well water & just wanna have my ducks in a row. Usually I let nature do the work but indoor is a controlled environment so a little different for me.

 

[Aqua Man]

Depends on the well water and the tap water. They can vary greatly.

The reason I suggest you test is not for taste but for ppm which can give an idea of carbonate and bicarbonate levels of tap water. Also chlorine and chloramines are not as big of an issue as ppm make it out to be unless you are making something like teas. Maximum allowable in tap is 4ppm and most water supplies are between 1-2ppm

Well water is a bit more tricky but can tell a bit from the ppm.

Indoor you have much less soil so the impact of carbonate and bicarbonate from source water may have an impact on the soil pH over time. It's a pretty safe bet if under 200ppm. But does not means it's bad if over that.

Ideally a water test will tell you exactly what's in it.

I mean you can also not test and not have issues but then again you could have issues and not find out until well... You do.

 

[Bib4tuna]

Will do. I was actually going to order a digital ph tester pr. As I said before Ive always grown outdoors & let nature do the job so this all new territory to me. That's why I appreciate all the good info.

 

[Aqua Man]

Will do. I was actually going to order a digital ph tester pr. As I said before Ive always grown outdoors & let nature do the job so this all new territory to me. That's why I appreciate all the good info.

Alkalinity is more important than ph when testing for compatablity. Ph is just a result of the mix of alkaline and acid makeup. But it only tells you the ratio of each in the mix in a sense. Not how much that's where ppm can kinda give you an idea.

How do I explain it. This is not accurate it just to give you the overall perspective. Say neutral is 7 meaning equal parts. We have 0 acid 0 alkanine

Now 10ppm of acid drops the ph to 6.

Then add 20 ppm of alkalinity and the ph rises to 8.

Again not accurate but the total ppm is 30 and you likely need very little of either to change the ph.

Now you take water with a ph of 7 and its starts 1000ppm acid and 1000ppm alkaline.

You see the ph is the same but now when you add 10-20ppm it doesn't even change the ph because of this.

So a soil should be buffered with a good acid and alkalinity and ph set to where we want it. Then when we add our water with little acidic or alkaline influence it doesn't change the ph of the soil but rather the soil changes the ph of the water.

If we have water under 200ppm we are almost assured that it will not affect the soil pH over time.

There is a lot more to it but that's the idea.

 

[ThEm4DSc13_TiSt]

U know something else that's kinda crazy, like I said before I ha e tap/city water where I am, and that whole ordeal trucking water, well anyways I swear I can tell when something's going in with the city water here too, like I do t know what the actual position publicly about putting additives Into the water, but I swear I can tell when it's being "treated" or whatever they actually do, sometimes the water really isn't that bad but there's enough of a variance in the ppm readings, like a dumass I kept thinking my meters were broken when I first came here. I won't even tell u howany hundreds of $ I spent it's stupid. I mean it's prob nothing anyone would ever notice UNLESS they are doing this type of thing.. lol anyways now I forgot what else I was gonna say it where I was going with that, this nectar collector works really well I guess Aquaman if ya don't mind bro I'll prob keep ya on"speed dial" u seem like a very knowledgeable cat. With lots of very useful Info.

 

[Aqua Man]

U know something else that's kinda crazy, like I said before I ha e tap/city water where I am, and that whole ordeal trucking water, well anyways I swear I can tell when something's going in with the city water here too, like I do t know what the actual position publicly about putting additives Into the water, but I swear I can tell when it's being "treated" or whatever they actually do, sometimes the water really isn't that bad but there's enough of a variance in the ppm readings, like a dumass I kept thinking my meters were broken when I first came here. I won't even tell u howany hundreds of $ I spent it's stupid. I mean it's prob nothing anyone would ever notice UNLESS they are doing this type of thing.. lol anyways now I forgot what else I was gonna say it where I was going with that, this nectar collector works really well I guess Aquaman if ya don't mind bro I'll prob keep ya on"speed dial" u seem like a very knowledgeable cat. With lots of very useful Info.

Absolutely and you are % correct they change the additives and chlorine/chloramine depending where the water comes from. Usually spring and sometimes fall depending where you live.

 

[Bib4tuna]

Alkalinity is more important than ph when testing for compatablity. Ph is just a result of the mix of alkaline and acid makeup. But it only tells you the ratio of each in the mix in a sense. Not how much that's where ppm can kinda give you an idea.

How do I explain it. This is not accurate it just to give you the overall perspective. Say neutral is 7 meaning equal parts. We have 0 acid 0 alkanine

Now 10ppm of acid drops the ph to 6.

Then add 20 ppm of alkalinity and the ph rises to 8.

Again not accurate but the total ppm is 30 and you likely need very little of either to change the ph.

Now you take water with a ph of 7 and its starts 1000ppm acid and 1000ppm alkaline.

You see the ph is the same but now when you add 10-20ppm it doesn't even change the ph because of this.

So a soil should be buffered with a good acid and alkalinity and ph set to where we want it. Then when we add our water with little acidic or alkaline influence it doesn't change the ph of the soil but rather the soil changes the ph of the water.

If we have water under 200ppm we are almost assured that it will not affect the soil pH over time.

There is a lot more to it but that's the idea.

Alkalinity is more important than ph when testing for compatablity. Ph is just a result of the mix of alkaline and acid makeup. But it only tells you the ratio of each in the mix in a sense. Not how much that's where ppm can kinda give you an idea.

How do I explain it. This is not accurate it just to give you the overall perspective. Say neutral is 7 meaning equal parts. We have 0 acid 0 alkanine

Now 10ppm of acid drops the ph to 6.

Then add 20 ppm of alkalinity and the ph rises to 8.

Again not accurate but the total ppm is 30 and you likely need very little of either to change the ph.

Now you take water with a ph of 7 and its starts 1000ppm acid and 1000ppm alkaline.

You see the ph is the same but now when you add 10-20ppm it doesn't even change the ph because of this.

So a soil should be buffered with a good acid and alkalinity and ph set to where we want it. Then when we add our water with little acidic or alkaline influence it doesn't change the ph of the soil but rather the soil changes the ph of the water.

If we have water under 200ppm we are almost assured that it will not affect the soil pH over time.

There is a lot more to it but that's the idea.

See that's what I mean. I'm so used to just throwing plants in the ground & letting them do there thing aside from a little branch training & pruning. Indoor plants are much more finicky. I have much to learn. I'm glad I have you guys to fall back on. You lost me a little there aqua but I'll get the hang of it. Im sure it takes practice & trial & error. I'll research deeper & probably watch videos. Ive been reading grow books & I'm also downloading grow bible from ed Rosenthal. I'm gonna get super soil too,probably foxfarm blueforest. I have promix organic but I can wait on the fox farm. Im still waiting on the seeds anyways cuz of delayed flu shipping & shipping from Netherlands. But as always your info is much appreciated!

 

[Aqua Man]

See that's what I mean. I'm so used to just throwing plants in the ground & letting them do there thing aside from a little branch training & pruning. Indoor plants are much more finicky. I have much to learn. I'm glad I have you guys to fall back on. You lost me a little there aqua but I'll get the hang of it. Im sure it takes practice & trial & error. I'll research deeper & probably watch videos. Ive been reading grow books & I'm also downloading grow bible from ed Rosenthal. I'm gonna get super soil too,probably foxfarm blueforest. I have promix organic but I can wait on the fox farm. Im still waiting on the seeds anyways cuz of delayed flu shipping & shipping from Netherlands. But as always your info is much appreciated!

 

[Bib4tuna]

U know something else that's kinda crazy, like I said before I ha e tap/city water where I am, and that whole ordeal trucking water, well anyways I swear I can tell when something's going in with the city water here too, like I do t know what the actual position publicly about putting additives Into the water, but I swear I can tell when it's being "treated" or whatever they actually do, sometimes the water really isn't that bad but there's enough of a variance in the ppm readings, like a dumass I kept thinking my meters were broken when I first came here. I won't even tell u howany hundreds of $ I spent it's stupid. I mean it's prob nothing anyone would ever notice UNLESS they are doing this type of thing.. lol anyways now I forgot what else I was gonna say it where I was going with that, this nectar collector works really well I guess Aquaman if ya don't mind bro I'll prob keep ya on"speed dial" u seem like a very knowledgeable cat. With lots of very useful Info.

And I'm sure your right. Look at the whole ordeal in Detroit with the water. Who knows what they treat water with. Still rolling from your story from before tho. That's me all the way!