Best water setup?

[bicit]

I agree. This new grow room of mine will use well water (as did the last one) but this is less hard, and no iron. I'll be running no-till for many generations, so Ca and Mg buildup might still be a concern. So I'll be lightly filtering it, just to drop some of the buildup potential.

Fulvic acid may help with that as well.

 

[phil k]

For soil bound plants, a simple carbon filer works wonders.

yeah seriously if your only running soil or amended plants no need for anything other than carbon filter.. i mean a pre filter too just to keep the carbon in better shape but.... if your running hydro or drips or floods or anything not soil... you need the RO system

 

[phil k]

I agree. This new grow room of mine will use well water (as did the last one) but this is less hard, and no iron. I'll be running no-till for many generations, so Ca and Mg buildup might still be a concern. So I'll be lightly filtering it, just to drop some of the buildup potential.

i always say run well nothing better... its fuckignnatural ground water..you can't get better with more beneficial shit... but everyone thinks well is this devil water... theres nothing better for soil grows

 

[bicit]

yeah seriously if your only running soil or amended plants no need for anything other than carbon filter.. i mean a pre filter too just to keep the carbon in better shape but.... if your running hydro or drips or floods or anything not soil... you need the RO system

Depends on your level of sophistication and the content of your water. Realistically, hydro guy's can compensate their ratio's for water content. Thus avoiding unnecessary expense. Even lucas formula can be run on tap water.

But starting with a clean slate(IE RO water) is best for those new to hydro, or those relying on bottles nutes.

 

[Rrog]

i always say run well nothing better... its fuckignnatural ground water..you can't get better with more beneficial shit... but everyone thinks well is this devil water... theres nothing better for soil grows

I would agree, except the high Ca and Mg can build over time, hardening the soil. Reducing porosity. Not certain there would be a problem, but after 12 generations of no-till, I dunno.

 

[phil k]

The prices are the same. Can DI be detremental?

i didn't type this its copied but you can understand it more.. if your running hydro de-ionized is fine its realy just purer water and thats more beneficial in hydro cause theres nothing left behind that can effect your plants... plus most hydro lines replenish any loss from RO or RO/DI systems.

Deionized Water (We call it "DI water" in the chemistry labs) is just what it sounds like: Water that has the ions removed. Tap water is usually full of ions from the soil (Na+, Ca2+), from the pipes (Fe2+, Cu2+), and other sources. Water is usually deionized by using an ion exchange process.

Why de-ionize water?

Often, when you are doing chemistry experiments, the ions in water will be an interference. They can switch places with other ions you may be interested in experimenting on. You may also be interested in finding out what elements are in a small sample of material. For example, a farmer may want to know what's in his soil, or the Environmental Protection Agency wants to know what a factory's emitting into the air. Dissolving the sample in water and doing tests on the result is a common technique, and contaminants in the water will make the whole test give the wrong answers. Water with ions in it is also quite a lot more electrically conductive than water without ions in it. If you boil water with lots of ions in it until all the water's gone, you'll have a crusty salt residue in your pot.

We guess de-ionized water isn't necessarily pure water, given the usual de-ionization procedure. Non-ionic contaminants may persist. Electrically polar molecules dissolve easily in water, and some complicated molecules have polar ends and non-polar ends, which can help non-polar stuff (like oils) mix in water. Soap is an example. Soapy water may count as deionized, but most people would insist that their de-ionized water doesn't have (much) other stuff in it.

 

[bicit]

i always say run well nothing better... its fuckignnatural ground water..you can't get better with more beneficial shit... but everyone thinks well is this devil water... theres nothing better for soil grows

It depends on the well water. Some places can have heavy metal build up, high levels of dissolved minerals, or could be slightly radioactive. Esp those near by fracking operations.

 

[phil k]

but regardless buy what you want.. all you have to do is disconnect piping in order to disable parts of the system.. you can make that RO/DI system a 2 filter system if you want.. all you do is bypass the RO membrane or the DI membrane.. its simple.. sounds like a lotbut its literally disconnecting a pipe or two

 

[phil k]

It depends on the well water. Some places can have heavy metal build up, high levels of dissolved minerals, or could be slightly radioactive. Esp those near by fracking operations.

yes yes i should have said i tell everyone who drinks their well its the best.. if you can't drink it or wont's.. typically its not super good for plants.. most bad wells carry high sulfur

 

[bicit]

yes yes i should have said i tell everyone who drinks their well its the best.. if you can't drink it or wont's.. typically its not super good for plants.. most bad wells carry high sulfur

Well it's possible to send off your well water for analysis. That way you know exactly what and how much is in the water, and can adjust accordingly.

Those on municipal systems can get this from their local PUD office. Most of the time for free.

 

[phil k]

Depends on your level of sophistication and the content of your water. Realistically, hydro guy's can compensate their ratio's for water content. Thus avoiding unnecessary expense. Even lucas formula can be run on tap water.

But starting with a clean slate(IE RO water) is best for those new to hydro, or those relying on bottles nutes.

yeah absolutely but who wants to add more work to worry.... i mean if your going to run hydro run zero ppm... anything can be compensated but you also have no idea if your 180ppm water carries 100ppm iron or 90ppm something else... so if you wanna get as technical as any good hydro guy can adjust any great hydro guy isn't going to know anything other than his PPM levels and not what chemicals are creating the PPMs at what rates...

 

[phil k]

Well it's possible to send off your well water for analysis. That way you know exactly what and how much is in the water, and can adjust accordingly.

Those on municipal systems can get this from their local PUD office. Most of the time for free.

you do realize all your water even tap chemical levels change.. they even change by the season .. and your ground water levels will change also depending on water table levels... so your not going to test your water that often to get exact chemical levels... i mean you and i both know its not needed anyway 180ppm is 180ppm.. you either adjust for it or you don't and you run higher levels without knowing... just saying even if you test your water 3 months later the chemical composition can and will change to an extent

 

[phil k]

It depends on the well water. Some places can have heavy metal build up, high levels of dissolved minerals, or could be slightly radioactive. Esp those near by fracking operations.

yeah have you seen the states here that have the fracking issues in well water.. they are fucking setting it on fire..

 

[bicit]

yeah absolutely but who wants to add more work to worry.... i mean if your going to run hydro run zero ppm... anything can be compensated but you also have no idea if your 180ppm water carries 100ppm iron or 90ppm something else... so if you wanna get as technical as any good hydro guy can adjust any great hydro guy isn't going to know anything other than his PPM levels and not what chemicals are creating the PPMs at what rates...

It's not really all that much work. They make ion specific EC probes and sending water samples off for analysis. Doing a test once a month for two years would be enough to establish the degree of change if any(most area's are actually very consistent from municipal sources) and the local municipalities have the water tested regularly as well. Once you know what's in the water all you need is to adjust the ratio's in the stock solution.

Most commercial hydroponic operations do this as it's cheaper than desalination. This is also true of the individual. Why pay to take something out, then pay to put it back in

For the average joe running a single bubble bucket, a good RO filter is best...

 

[phil k]

It's not really all that much work. They make ion specific EC probes and sending water samples off for analysis. Doing a test once a month for two years would be enough to establish the degree of change if any(most area's are actually very consistent from municipal sources) and the local municipalities have the water tested regularly as well. Once you know what's in the water all you need is to adjust the ratio's in the stock solution.

Most commercial hydroponic operations do this as it's cheaper than desalination. This is also true of the individual. Why pay to take something out, then pay to put it back in

For the average joe running a single bubble bucket, a good RO filter is best...

oh dude the cost of RO is insane i use about 20 gallons every 2 days to water.. when i ran RO i would have 70-100$ water bills now without RO they are like 25-35$