Water. Tap VS RO filtered

[nicksol86]

My ro water is 0ppm. My tap water is 150 ppm. I see people mixing ro water and tap water to help stabilize ph better. I usually use straight 0ppm ro water and add calimagic at 200 to 300 ppm (.5 scale) or. 4 ec before adding base nutes. How do you roll in your hydroponics setup with water? I had a first harvest using tap water and no calmag supplement using Lucas formula a few years back but was unimpressed with 2 oz per plant yields. I improved my room and feeding I feel with the ro water, no chlorine or chloramine to harm the plants. I read allot or growers adding tap like 20 percent to 80 percent ro. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of getting the bad stuff out like chloramine and chlorine if you are reintroducing it even if it's at smaller traces?

 

[blowincherrypie]

fwiw my plants seem to like my tap water. I know tap is different depending on where u r, or if youre drawing off a well, but my personal opinion is if you can drink it so can your plants but I also respect that different styles of growing require different things.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

here the real deal about chlorine and chloramine. they do not harm your plants at all in the concentrations you'll find in municipal water systems. it would have to be at least 5 times the strength they use to do any kind of damage at all. however, if you are running beneficial organisms (benes) it will kill them. chlorine and chloramine are actually good for plants in the doses you get from city water. chloramine is chlorine that's been bonded with a small amount of ammonia, to make it less volatile, so it last longer. while this is bad for fish, its good for plants. so unless you're running benes, tap water is better for your plants than ro water.

 

[nicksol86]

here the real deal about chlorine and chloramine. they do not harm your plants at all in the concentrations you'll find in municipal water systems. it would have to be at least 5 times the strength they use to do any kind of damage at all. however, if you are running beneficial organisms (benes) it will kill them. chlorine and chloramine are actually good for plants in the doses you get from city water. chloramine is chlorine that's been bonded with a small amount of ammonia, to make it less volatile, so it last longer. while this is bad for fish, its good for plants. so unless you're running benes, tap water is better for your plants than ro water.

If using tap water would it hurt to bump my ppm up from the 150 tap to between 200 and 300ppm with calimagic (calmag supplement) ? Or just run it like it is? Also when adding base nutes do i add the ppm from the water into my target range? For example I am aiming for 600ppm in veg. Do i add 450ppm nutes since there is 150 Ppm in the tap water? Or do I add 600 ppm of nutes on top of the 150 ppm tap water for a total of 750ppm? Confused

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

most of the ppms in tap water are going to be calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bicarbonates, chlorides, and sulfates. most of those are ingredients in your nutes, so yes, i do count them into the total.

 

[nicksol86]

most of the ppms in tap water are going to be calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, bicarbonates, chlorides, and sulfates. most of those are ingredients in your nutes, so yes, i do count them into the total.

Thank you. That's how I been doing it so far. Just making sure doing it right. Read different on a forum discussion so was confused about it. Good looking out bud

 

[blowincherrypie]

If using tap water would it hurt to bump my ppm up from the 150 tap to between 200 and 300ppm with calimagic (calmag supplement) ? Or just run it like it is? Also when adding base nutes do i add the ppm from the water into my target range? For example I am aiming for 600ppm in veg. Do i add 450ppm nutes since there is 150 Ppm in the tap water? Or do I add 600 ppm of nutes on top of the 150 ppm tap water for a total of 750ppm? Confused

How much calcium is in your nutrients?

What worked best for me was running a little epsom salt with my feeding schedule and once a week hit them with a dose of camg in place of the epsom. 150 is pretty low, Im coming out the tap at 300, so swapping in the CaMg a little more often might work better for ya.

 

[Jimdamick]

If using tap water would it hurt to bump my ppm up from the 150 tap to between 200 and 300ppm with calimagic (calmag supplement) ?

Rain water is like 200 ppm, so feeding your plants only 300 ppm is a waste of time.
I run my seedlings at 700, and at 4 weeks they are at 1000 ppm, with no issues.
Don't be afraid of feeding you plants, especially in hydro.

 

[NGA]

2 oz a plant is crazy low for hydro you should be 8 oz per at lease in hydro ,sounds like not feeding enough or other problems

 

[nicksol86]

Rain water is like 200 ppm, so feeding your plants only 300 ppm is a waste of time.
I run my seedlings at 700, and at 4 weeks they are at 1000 ppm, with no issues.
Don't be afraid of feeding you plants, especially in hydro.

What scale ppm? I use .5 or 500 scale

 

[nicksol86]

2 oz a plant is crazy low for hydro you should be 8 oz per at lease in hydro ,sounds like not feeding enough or other problems

Dude you have no idea. Grown in a attic middle of winter. They were so cold and using Lucas formula only, no additives at all, was 8 shoots (topped 3 times each) they were good size plants, barely pulled any weight due to the freezing temps. I don't know how they survived that winter with a shitty lil space heater that didn't put much heat out. Lol. I was suprised we did 2 oz per plant to be honest, 4 plants only. I was discouraged to grow again for a while (couldn't afford 1000watt hps light bill off whack yields) I was so disappointed in my yields so I did lots of research. Relocated grow room to way better environment now and put over a grand into my grow. This one's gonna pull way better numbers topping, lst, scrogging, and supercropping this go. It's gonna be sick. Hoping to pull 1 to 2 lbs off 4 plants this time

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

when it gets cold, vent your light into your attic. put the filter on the exhaust end and let the hot air keep the attic warm. you'll probably have to run a small dehui, though.

 

[NGA]

Knew a guy years ago vented his grow in attic ,wow not a good idea ,I never seen soo much MOLD every colour in the world crazy looking shit bad idea

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

guess it depends on the rh, that's why i said run a dehui

 

[nicksol86]

when it gets cold, vent your light into your attic. put the filter on the exhaust end and let the hot air keep the attic warm. you'll probably have to run a small dehui, though.

It was vented to the attic and still cold. It's a big attic. I live in winterland

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

if its that big, get some big sheets of foam insulation and rough in a room. lot easier to heat an 8X8X8 that a 20x20x8

 

[nicksol86]

if its that big, get some big sheets of foam insulation and rough in a room. lot easier to heat an 8X8X8 that a 20x20x8

I moved my room to a different location so that is not a problem no more.

 

[70's natureboy]

Yield is very strain dependent. I always grow several strains next to each other on the same nutes. Some strains are high yielders and some are not (hobbyist weed).

 

[Kushash]

Rain water is like 200 ppm, so feeding your plants only 300 ppm is a waste of time.
I run my seedlings at 700, and at 4 weeks they are at 1000 ppm, with no issues.
Don't be afraid of feeding you plants, especially in hydro.

Where did you find information that says rain water is 200 ppms.

 

[Kushash]

Dude you have no idea. Grown in a attic middle of winter. They were so cold and using Lucas formula only, no additives at all, was 8 shoots (topped 3 times each) they were good size plants, barely pulled any weight due to the freezing temps. I don't know how they survived that winter with a shitty lil space heater that didn't put much heat out. Lol. I was suprised we did 2 oz per plant to be honest, 4 plants only. I was discouraged to grow again for a while (couldn't afford 1000watt hps light bill off whack yields) I was so disappointed in my yields so I did lots of research. Relocated grow room to way better environment now and put over a grand into my grow. This one's gonna pull way better numbers topping, lst, scrogging, and supercropping this go. It's gonna be sick. Hoping to pull 1 to 2 lbs off 4 plants this time

We all have our pet peeves here.
Mine is seeing growers like you feel they have to justify yield especially when someone pops in and says you should be getting 8 oz per plant. To me a beginner or intermediate grower should focus on dialing in their grow for quality and not think about yield until learning how to grow quality weed 1st.
You don't have to justify anything.
Good Luck!