water dilemma

hey folks. hope everyone is well. and i spread the mojo like buttering bread.
i have had a few problems in this house with my dwc. first i thought it was a ph or ppm problem, but thats not it. so then i starting blaming my nutes. i thought they might have "spoiled", if thats possible. then i got to thunkin. maybe its the main source...water. i use my tap city water. i have used water that was from a well in my old house the the ppm was higher than here.
so, i cant see buying water, and dont have the loot for a r/o system. my ppm from the tap read 315. i know it sucks. ph from tap is 6.3. sometimes more.
so, i filled a 5 gal bucket with 3 gal of water. i have it airating as we speak. ill check it later and see if there were any changes. in a couple days ill introduce roots to the water that has sat out and see if i get the same leave curling and rust color.

Man, I started humping RO water from the machine at the local Publix. My city tap got so floaty I couldn't keep up with the pH. All last winter and spring it ran a solid 7.0 or so, and I got complacent and assumed it would always be 7.0--not. No telling what they put in there to buffer solids and pH. I get 5 gallons for a buck seventy-five. I bought two of those Blitz gas cans with the spout for just that. It's beautiful--always 6.3-6.5 and I don't sweat the solids cause it's been ROed. Municipal tap is pee IMO.

well, a couple hours later it went down a little to 302 ppm, and 6.6 ph...

I've been buying RO from the grocery store...and I'm sick of humping it weekly. I have decided to use my tap water (aireted of course) for my clone run.

I would recommend going and buying some RO or distilled water so you will know if it is the high ppms of your tap water that is causing the problems (I suspect that it is). If you do not have the same problems with the RO water, then it IS your tap water causing the problems--you will either need to buy RO/distilled water, buy an RO system, or not grow DWC. If you have the same problems with RO water, than it is something else.

ro or distilled....are they the same? i know that the water containers at the store say distilled, but i dont think they say ro.

legalize_freedom said:

I've been buying RO from the grocery store...and I'm sick of humping it weekly. I have decided to use my tap water (aireted of course) for my clone run.

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whats your tap water read? and by airated, how long until you use it?

When using Municipal tap water be sure and check with them to find out of they use chlorine or chloramine? Bubbling will not remove chloramine you have to use a water treatment that is used for fish and plants. I have used Tetra Pond's AquaSafe water conditioner.

aerate water for at least 24 hrs if Municipal tap water has chlorine

What do you think about taking it out of a lake or stream??

good point Ozzy! Mine is chlorine. I don't test for ppm,s I'm growing in soil, so I don't see the big deal. I aeriate it for 24 hrs. I've been growing long enough that I go more by how my plant looks than by following a set feeding schedule...if my pH is right, then I go with it. Actually I'm experimenting a little and takeing some advice from the organic guys on this grow.

I check my pH before adding my GO nutes, and they drop down to 5.something....but I'm trusting in the micro life that I added to adjust the pH, so this is going to take some getting used to...

You never know with me...lol...I may not like the way the tap is working and buy RO next week again...lol...winging it....lol

Heemhoff17 said:

What do you think about taking it out of a lake or stream??

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could be alot of chemical run-off into the streams. But I always used stream/river water in my outdoor guerilla grows, other than when I was takeing out teas.

well we water our garden (tomato, watermelon, peppers) with water pumped from our lake and it doesn't bother those plants....

If they are not bothering them do you think that the water could still harm my babies?

How about a rain water collection type set up? I hve been getting pounded by snow for the last cpl weeks...started using the snow for my water since there is so much of it...I load up two 5 gallon buckets with snow then let them sit in the room with my furnace...when they hve melted I hve 10 gallons of water.

heemhoff, I guess as long as you know that the water is not coming from parking lot run-off or that some factory isn't dumping chemicals in it somwhere it should be good...I wouldn't use it for a hydro system, just because chances are your ppms will be high, and you won't be able to tell what particles are what...it would be hard to judge what is beneficial, and in what amounts.

But in soil...I wouldn't be afraid to try it. Like I said, if I knew it was clean

Here is a way to make a teakettle still that you can distill your own water with
hxxp://www.dangerouslaboratories.org/moon1.html
Cut off the top of the other jug, leaving the handle intact.


Cut off about 5 feet of copper tubing.

Use the tubing bender to wrap the coil around the tennis ball can. The spring coils of the bender will keep the copper tube from flattening and collapsing.
Grab the spring bender with both hands and work it forward as you go. The idea is to always keep the part of the copper coil that you are bending centered in the bender. Leave about 6" on the top and bottom straight. Blow through the tube to make sure that there is no blockage.

Drill a 1/4" hole about 1 1/2" from the bottom of the jug. Put the bottom part of the tubing through the hole. Bend the coils inside the jug so that no other part of the tubing touches the sides of the jug. Use lots of sealant on the inside and outside the jug to seal up the hole and hold the bottom part of the coil in place. Allow the sealant to dry overnight



Use the 1/8" bit to drill several holes in the top of the jug. Wrap wire around the top part of the coil that sticks up . Use the wire to center the coil so it doesn't touch the jug and is held in place in a sturdy manner.



IMPORTANT: Insert a "flare nut" on the top part of the coil now! Make sure that the large end of the nut (the one with the threads inside) is facing away from the jug. This will allow it to screw on to the flare union and connect to the teakettle. Now it is time to "flare" the top (inlet) tube of the coil-jug (called a "condenser"). Insert the end of the tube in the "vise" part of the flaring tool until it is flush with the face of the unit. Make sure to use the hole marked 1/4".



Drip a little vegetable oil to the rotary part (cone) of the flaring tool and set it in position. Turn the handle until the pipe is "flared" outward (it will conform to the depression in the tool).



Remove the flare tool from the condenser coil. Cut a 10" piece of 1/4" copper tubing and "flare" one end.



Fit the rubber stopper into the mouth of the teakettle to assure a snug fit. Remove the stopper and drill two holes into the stopper with the 3/16" bit.
NOTE: The below picture is for demonstrational purposes only! We used a pair of "vise-grip" pliers to hold the cork while actually drilling! Do not try to hold the cork with your fingers while drilling!



Use vegetable oil to lubricate the small end of the 10" piece of copper tubing (the one with the "flared" end) and the meat thermometer. Slide a "flare nut" on the tubing with the large end pointing up. Insert the small end of the tubing and the thermometer into the stopper as pictured. Insert the stopper onto the mouth of the kettle. Never glue or tie the stopper down! This is a safety device! If there was a blockage in the tubing, the excess pressure would blow the stopper (shooting hot alcohol and steam all over-not good) instead of exploding the kettle (much worse).




Connect the kettle to the condenser using the "flare union". You now have a working still!





Set up the kettle on your electric hotplate (never use an open flame!) and your coil-jug (condenser) on a sturdy surface next to it. Try to slightly elevate the hotplate and teakettle so it is higher than the output tube on the condenser.

I understand if you put some battery acid and a dead cat or two in there it makes it stronger. Can somebody give me a YEEHAW?

I have a store bought water distillery and it is way more expensive to operate then a RO filter. :aok:

well, i had my water airating for 24 hours....i added just 100 ppm to water. ph i left a little high...6.2. figured i would try it a lil high and see if things change. heres some pics. in a couple days, ill post some new pics.

I too was using well water with a PPM of about 250 or higher and chased PH all over the place. Until I can afford R/O system I have been buying distilled water for $1.89 for 2.5 gallons..PH is a breeze to deal with little flucuation....

ozzydiodude said:

When using Municipal tap water be sure and check with them to find out of they use chlorine or chloramine? Bubbling will not remove chloramine you have to use a water treatment that is used for fish and plants. I have used Tetra Pond's AquaSafe water conditioner.

aerate water for at least 24 hrs if Municipal tap water has chlorine

Click to expand...

My tap uses chloramine and chlorine once a year (March), I guess to 'shock' the system.

I use AZOO brand, but they are all pretty much the same. 1 drop/gallon and I bubble it just till it comes to room temp. Not even sure if that's necessary since I didn't do it when I had fish, just letting the water come to room temp and that worked fine.

I ALMOST bought a RO system simply because I was reading the online water analysis wrong.:holysheep: mistaking the MCL (Maximim Contaminate Level), for the actual. Like this:
MCL solids (total) 500ppm This had me scurrying to eBay.

Then I re read the analysis very carefully.

Actual- 24-46ppm, 37ppm average
pH-7.5 average

I can live with that, especially organics in soil.:watchplant:

DD