I want to try harder, but I have hard well water (750ppm)..

[hashit]

I wanna give hydro a shot, but I have hard well water (750ppm)..

I've always had well water and I use R/O or Distilled water for my plants (soil) with a bit of Cal-Mag. Now, if I move to hydro (DWC), then I would have to purchase a lot of water if I am going to use 5 gallon buckets. I've read that there are nutrient solutions made for hard water (Flora Micro Hardwater), which is great for anything above 250ppm. What should I do? Get a cheap filter? Continue buying R/O, distilled, or go for nutrients made for hard water? Anyone?

 

[been]

Get the hardwater nutes. If you still have problems after that you'll want to think about diluting your tap.

 

[Venom818]

buy a reverse osmosis filter. problem solved

I second that

 

[j wizzle]

yeah...spend the $200-$400 and get a filter. it will pay for itself in the long run

 

[Lost]

Yhe 100 buck ones on ebay are fine. Try to get a 150 gpd filter :)

 

[WildWest]

yea the constant trips to and from the water store suck...the filter as sooo been worth it, make the investment you won't regret it :)

 

[hashit]

Thanks guys..I think I might as well and get a filter..It'll pay off in the end!

 

[been]

Thanks guys..I think I might as well and get a filter..It'll pay off in the end!

Well, IMVHO, you're paying to take out the cal-mag, then paying to replace it leaves you at a slight disadvantage. Sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do. :party0044:

 

[Xceptional]

i posted on a RO i bought just a few weeks ago. i gave a full in depth review and the unit was only $115 shipped. worth every penny...

 

[sickboy]

I too have extremely hard well water (750-850ppm). What I do is use an R/O machine and mix that water with my well water to end up with a ppm of 350-400. For each of my 75 gal res', its a mix of 45 gal r/o water, and 30 gal well water. I use the full GH line, including the hardwater micro. So far my biggest problem has been that at 4 weeks into flowering, my buds are too heavy for the branches to hold up. I could use all r/o water with the cal mag but my water is so bad that my 200 gallon a day r/o machine takes about 24 hours to give me 45-50 gallons of clean water. So that combined with the fact that I don't have to pay for the well water is what made my decision. Its a tad bit more work to mix it like I do, but we're only talkin about 40 extra minutes (20 minutes per res) once a week. Just my two cents.

 

[hashit]

i posted on a RO i bought just a few weeks ago. i gave a full in depth review and the unit was only $115 shipped. worth every penny...

Hmm..I'll check out your review..thanks!

I too have extremely hard well water (750-850ppm). What I do is use an R/O machine and mix that water with my well water to end up with a ppm of 350-400. For each of my 75 gal res', its a mix of 45 gal r/o water, and 30 gal well water. I use the full GH line, including the hardwater micro. So far my biggest problem has been that at 4 weeks into flowering, my buds are too heavy for the branches to hold up. I could use all r/o water with the cal mag but my water is so bad that my 200 gallon a day r/o machine takes about 24 hours to give me 45-50 gallons of clean water. So that combined with the fact that I don't have to pay for the well water is what made my decision. Its a tad bit more work to mix it like I do, but we're only talkin about 40 extra minutes (20 minutes per res) once a week. Just my two cents.

Hmm..that sounds like a great way to go. So mixing R/O water with hard water will do the trick? I was thinking of doing that a while ago but didn't think it would work out well. What I did was add tap water to a half full distill water jug, and the ppm came out to 205 or so. I didn't want to chance it, so I just stuck with RO and Cal-Mag.

Is most of the dissolved solids Calcium/Mag? I'm pretty sure that's the case since I always have to CLR my faucets since they get white build up...

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[sickboy]

Yeah, the cal and mag are there and also, at least where I'm at, iron, sulfur and a whole list of trace elements in the well water. A lot of this stuff is awesome for the garden. I understand some guys would prefer to start w 0ppm water so they know exactly how much of this or that is going into their solution, but what I described earlier seems to be doing the trick. Of course I'll know for sure just how good it works when the numbers are done at the end of the run but compared to other rooms I've been apart of, I'm at least right there with them, and the cats runnin those rooms ain't no bums so I'm doing something right. I have pics but can't figure out how to make them "smaller"(???) so I guess if I ever figure that out I'll do a little rundown of the grow.

 

[hashit]

I have pics but can't figure out how to make them "smaller"(???) so I guess if I ever figure that out I'll do a little rundown of the grow.

By smaller do you mean the size of the file or the size of the picture?

You can go here: and resize the picture..then upload it to your gallery or to a place like invalid.com.

I would love to see your results!

 

[been]

You're going to spend a small fortune on pre-filters alone. Make sure you get one of those flush valves for your membrane. :tongueout

 

[Kennie_B]

I second that

I third that

 

[sickboy]

My knowledge regarding computers is extremely limited so I have no idea what needs to be smaller, the file or photo. I'll be trying again soon so be on the lookout for a bubblegum and lavender grow on the board. Thanks for trying to help.