Hard Water

andrienw · Mar 7, 2020

I have a water softener because I live in an area with pretty hard water. The softener has a bypass valve so I can easily turn off the softener if I want to use the hard water instead. I posted pics of the hard water stats from my city’s website. These numbers are obviously without using the water softener. I was buying distilled water and using that on my plants but I’ve heard distilled water isn’t good to use. I’m no scientist. Looking at the numbers in the pics, can I safely use the unsoftened water if I let it sit out for 24 hours first? Should I do anything else to the water before using it, like adding anything? I have epsom salts and molasses if I need more calcium or magnesium.

MGuY · Mar 7, 2020

I use nothing but rain water and in the winter I melt snow. It's not for a big a operation but it works for me..

andrienw · Mar 7, 2020

andrienw said:
I have a water softener because I live in an area with pretty hard water. The softener has a bypass valve so I can easily turn off the softener if I want to use the hard water instead. I posted pics of the hard water stats from my city’s website. These numbers are obviously without using the water softener. I was buying distilled water and using that on my plants but I’ve heard distilled water isn’t good to use. I’m no scientist. Looking at the numbers in the pics, can I safely use the unsoftened water if I let it sit out for 24 hours first? Should I do anything else to the water before using it, like adding anything? I have epsom salts and molasses if I need more calcium or magnesium.

I’ll add that I’m using FFOF and I added a little dolomite and peat moss to it before planting. The pH of my city water shows 7.5. Wondering if that’s too high or if the soil mixture I have will be able to keep it stable in that 6.5 area.

MIGrampaUSA · Mar 7, 2020

andrienw said:
I have a water softener because I live in an area with pretty hard water. The softener has a bypass valve so I can easily turn off the softener if I want to use the hard water instead. I posted pics of the hard water stats from my city’s website. These numbers are obviously without using the water softener. I was buying distilled water and using that on my plants but I’ve heard distilled water isn’t good to use. I’m no scientist. Looking at the numbers in the pics, can I safely use the unsoftened water if I let it sit out for 24 hours first? Should I do anything else to the water before using it, like adding anything? I have epsom salts and molasses if I need more calcium or magnesium.

It's my understanding that distilled water lacks any buffers (no residuals in the water) and because of that, it's prone to pH swing once you start adding nutes or pH up/down to it. If you are concerned about hardness, a charcoal filter should drop ppm down to a level that you are more comfortable with. The charcoal filter will also help with chlorine removal. If your water is heavily chlorinated like mine, it's likely closer to 8.0-8.5 pH from the tap. As the chlorine dissipates, it's pH will drop closer to neutral 7.0 pH.

These are observations I have seen using my city water. Yours may not be exactly the same.

Beachwalker · Mar 7, 2020

andrienw said:
I’ll add that I’m using FFOF and I added a little dolomite and peat moss to it before planting. The pH of my city water shows 7.5. Wondering if that’s too high or if the soil mixture I have will be able to keep it stable in that 6.5 area.

What's the PPM of the city water

andrienw · Mar 7, 2020

Beachwalker said:
What's the PPM of the city water

The screen shots I added show TDS of 280.

Jimster · Mar 7, 2020

I think your tap water would be fine for your plants. It is a tad high in TDS, but they are minerals that your plants can use. The Ph at 7.5 is pretty good since nutrients are mostly acidic and should balance out the Ph nicely. Soft water softeners use an ionic exchange... swapping out sodium (salt) for the calcium and magnesium. The result is slightly salty water... very little but salty nonetheless. It shouldn't be enough to cause problems unless it somehow gets concentrated. The RO and distilled water has no minerals in it, so sometimes Cal-Mag is uesd. With the quality of your tap water, those minerals are present and in sufficient quantities to make it a potentially good water source. Make sure you discard the first gallon or two after switching the water softener to get the soft water out of the lines/pipes... and vice versa afterwards.

Burned Haze · Mar 7, 2020

Anything above 50-100 ppm in your water (mines 350ppm) I would be worried of drinking and using for growing, it’s worth the effort in this modern day of where the water is so nasty and has high level of contamination.
—
Solution system =“Sediment “Pre filter + Whole water filter ( 3 part system)+ UV to kill bacteria 99.9% (just change uv bulb every year )

simple & 100,000 gal system and will guarantee your shit is killed so when you brew your stuff in your Rez you don’t have a starting bad pathogen gain but also the garden will thank you by this extra step with the filters and doing this extra step for so cause water is just as important as air so if your not willing to do r/o in your garden ( I r/o in growing only = growing so I have 0 ppm and 6.0 )

This is the system i got ( and a good example for a “whole house”)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LFMTYBM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_SP.yEb323STM3

andrienw · Mar 7, 2020

Jimster said:
I think your tap water would be fine for your plants. It is a tad high in TDS, but they are minerals that your plants can use. The Ph at 7.5 is pretty good since nutrients are mostly acidic and should balance out the Ph nicely. Soft water softeners use an ionic exchange... swapping out sodium (salt) for the calcium and magnesium. The result is slightly salty water... very little but salty nonetheless. It shouldn't be enough to cause problems unless it somehow gets concentrated. The RO and distilled water has no minerals in it, so sometimes Cal-Mag is uesd. With the quality of your tap water, those minerals are present and in sufficient quantities to make it a potentially good water source. Make sure you discard the first gallon or two after switching the water softener to get the soft water out of the lines/pipes... and vice versa afterwards.

Thanks for explaining. I actually use the potassium chloride pellets in the softener which are much more expensive. So if I did use the soft water, I’m sure the plants would enjoy the potassium but it wouldn’t have the calcium and magnesium so I’d need to add that back in. I’ll try the hard tap water for a couple weeks and see how the plants react.

ru knuts · Mar 7, 2020

Have you considered an aquarium RO system? My well water is 223 ppm, I use it to top off my rez, but to start a fresh batch I use RO water. I am on well water tho.

Jimster · Mar 7, 2020

andrienw said:
Thanks for explaining. I actually use the potassium chloride pellets in the softener which are much more expensive. So if I did use the soft water, I’m sure the plants would enjoy the potassium but it wouldn’t have the calcium and magnesium so I’d need to add that back in. I’ll try the hard tap water for a couple weeks and see how the plants react.

I don't know how much residual potassium that it leaves in the water, but I don't know if it is enough to possibly worry about lockouts. An excess of Potassium, or an excess of Phosphorus, can interfere/compete for use by the plant, which can cause a lockout. I doubt it is enough to worry, but some bloom additives add a spike of Potassium and/or Phosphorus which could add up as an excess.
All in all, I think you will see more benefits from the potassium than negatives, though.

visajoe1 · Apr 25, 2020

MGuY said:
I use nothing but rain water and in the winter I melt snow. It's not for a big a operation but it works for me..

do you do anything to your rain/snow water?

andrienw · May 13, 2020

Just wanted to provide an update. Using the city tap water without having it run thru the water softener has worked great. I fill a bunch of gallon jugs and let them sit uncapped for at least 24 hours before watering my plants. I’m saving a lot of money by not buying spring or distilled water at the store. I also cut off most of the fan leaves and some smaller branches within the first 2 weeks of flower and the buds are definitely bigger than my first grow when I didn’t cut anything. I’m a believer in the defoliating method. Pics are Northern Lights photoperiod.

MIMedGrower · May 13, 2020

andrienw said:
Just wanted to provide an update. Using the city tap water without having it run thru the water softener has worked great. I fill a bunch of gallon jugs and let them sit uncapped for at least 24 hours before watering my plants. I’m saving a lot of money by not buying spring or distilled water at the store. I also cut off most of the fan leaves and some smaller branches within the first 2 weeks of flower and the buds are definitely bigger than my first grow when I didn’t cut anything. I’m a believer in the defoliating method. Pics are Northern Lights photoperiod.

Glad it worked out and super nice work!

Jimster · May 13, 2020

Nice job! I'm glad everything worked out well. The hardest part of growing is not being a mother and your turned out very nice. Patience is hard to put into practice when growing until you get the hang of it. Can't wait to see your next ones!

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