The AltarNational Garden

[polyarcturus]

you grow with organics right?

if so your over thinking the water thing a little. a basic carbon filter and sand setup will eliminate the impurities that would cause problems with growing.

i would only ever really see the R/O filter as necessary if running a sterile hydro system, with a media that is non organic.

with my tap water really its only cuttings and seedlings i see the most problems with. i can buy enough distilled for them.

just my thoughts. there is a lot of stuff going on in the soil as far as organic media goes. lots of interactions and chemical exchanges occurring over time.

 

[AltarNation]

you grow with organics right?

if so your over thinking the water thing a little. a basic carbon filter and sand setup will eliminate the impurities that would cause problems with growing.

i would only ever really see the R/O filter as necessary if running a sterile hydro system, with a media that is non organic.

with my tap water really its only cuttings and seedlings i see the most problems with. i can buy enough distilled for them.

just my thoughts. there is a lot of stuff going on in the soil as far as organic media goes. lots of interactions and chemical exchanges occurring over time.

Yeah, all organic, soil and AACTs this time...

Basically just trying to avoid calcium build up, that is my primary concern. Does a homegrown carbon and sand filter take calcium out? This water is pretty hard... it's fine otherwise! Just need to get the mineral content cut back. If I can do that with a home made filter I'll do that after the zerowater filter dies on me

I would rather not touch RO to be honest... it was just starting to seem like the most cost effective solution when contrasted against the likes of replacing brita filters or zerowater filters all the time. But I am all ears for other options.

And yeah, I probably am overthinking it a little, but it's just a matter of fine tuning... I've got pretty much everything else squared away at this point but still haven't touched the water, which I've suspected all along due to the calcium deposits on my fixtures... just want to eliminate that hardness so I at least know what I'm working with otherwise...

 

[Sincerely420]

you grow with organics right?

if so your over thinking the water thing a little. a basic carbon filter and sand setup will eliminate the impurities that would cause problems with growing.

i would only ever really see the R/O filter as necessary if running a sterile hydro system, with a media that is non organic.

with my tap water really its only cuttings and seedlings i see the most problems with. i can buy enough distilled for them.

just my thoughts. there is a lot of stuff going on in the soil as far as organic media goes. lots of interactions and chemical exchanges occurring over time.

with a water pH of 10, I'd make some kinda moves bro!

 

[AltarNation]

with a water pH of 10, I'd make some kinda moves bro!

haha... the bottled was 10! My tap is only 8.5 on the bad days! LoL. After bubbling for a few hours it goes to 10 though. D'oh!

 

[Sincerely420]

Yeah, all organic, soil and AACTs this time...

Basically just trying to avoid calcium build up, that is my primary concern. Does a homegrown carbon and sand filter take calcium out? This water is pretty hard... it's fine otherwise! Just need to get the mineral content cut back. If I can do that with a home made filter I'll do that after the zerowater filter dies on me

I would rather not touch RO to be honest... it was just starting to seem like the most cost effective solution when contrasted against the likes of replacing brita filters or zerowater filters all the time. But I am all ears for other options.

And yeah, I probably am overthinking it a little, but it's just a matter of fine tuning... I've got pretty much everything else squared away at this point but still haven't touched the water, which I've suspected all along due to the calcium deposits on my fixtures... just want to eliminate that hardness so I at least know what I'm working with otherwise...

A Ca. tox will throw a lot of things bro!
And what about:

http://www.culligan.com/en-us/d/homes/water-delivery/
OR getting your local grocery branded water for like a dollar a gallon?! I also buy drinking water from Walmart at 88cents a Gal!
It's seems most of these filters add something else to the water which could be potentially problematic.....

And what about just boiling some water, then letting it cool off and storing it? Tried that? Haven't applied any science to that logic lol, but I feel like it might work as far as sterilizing the water! Maybe the pH will settle afterwards?

 

[PSUAGRO.]

with a water pH of 10, I'd make some kinda moves bro!

Yeah...........you aint kidding, forgot it was that alkaline............just wow


edit ..............nevermind saw ^^^^comments

 

[Sincerely420]

Lol I know right! When he told me that I was like WHAT! 10?! DAMN! Much be drinking straight chalk over there lol!

 

[AltarNation]

A Ca. tox will throw a lot of things bro!
And what about:

http://www.culligan.com/en-us/d/homes/water-delivery/
OR getting your local grocery branded water for like a dollar a gallon?! I also buy drinking water from Walmart at 88cents a Gal!
It's seems most of these filters add something else to the water which could be potentially problematic.....

And what about just boiling some water, then letting it cool off and storing it? Tried that? Haven't applied any science to that logic lol, but I feel like it might work as far as sterilizing the water! Maybe the pH will settle afterwards?

Maybe mang... haha... the bottled was the store brand spring water... I could shop around and try some different ones. But I'm not going to bother right now, as I just siliconed in that zerowater filter last night. No worries, zerowater adds absolutely nothing to it, and the water should come out 000 tds. Sooo... for NOW, this is my solution. It's only gonna be good for about 40 gals, then I'm gonna have to either replace it or start doing something else.

 

[AltarNation]

A Ca. tox will throw a lot of things bro!

Yeah I definitely think both my mg and phosphorous absorption were effected. I am glad to finally be able to swithc, but I am worried about what's already built up. I know the cleaner water will leach some back out, but probably not enough. I would like to do a flush but I don't know what's organic safe and I can't find any information on it because everyone basically parrots back and forth the same shit about how "you don't need to flush in organic" ...not trying to do an end of grow flush here, just need to flush out excess mineral build up... and every flushing agent for salts is for non-organic situations it seems... fucking confusing at best. I don't know what's safe.

 

[PSUAGRO.]

BTW altar, have you ever checked the TDS of your well water?? doesn't that zero water come with one??? some issues only arise over 400, but at least you don't have to add any cal/mag

Only filter that will significantly lower your tds is the zero/RO systems.....that i know of........ their are some dechlorinating systems that may help, but don't have a NSF rating so who knows. Wish a water purification expert would chime in, this shit is confusing.

 

[AltarNation]

I have a TDS unit and the reading I get is in the 50-60 range. I thought this was very low, and therefore never bothered to correct. But it must be like, all calcium, because we get a lot of scaling. Maybe my TDS meter is not great.

The zerowater units come with a TDS unit, but I just bought the filter for a DIY rig. So I only have my old TDS reader to go by. I am doing a before and after now... first test run is in progress...

Edit: Just checked the water going inw ith my TDS and got 36 ppm. That's like, almost nothing. I don't fucking get it. It must be something bad whatever it is. The ph is like 9.3.

Honestly, I am at a loss, as that is really low ppm. Whatever though, I'm still going to try this, see what happens, see where the ph and tds end up after filter...


Edit again: Even if it ends up that my water is fine and I have some other issue, at least this experiment will put my fears to rest and I can stop worrying about water for now, try to figure out wtf I'm doing wrong otherwise... but I really hope it's the damn water, because I really feel like i'm doin everything else right...

 

[polyarcturus]

Yeah, all organic, soil and AACTs this time...

Basically just trying to avoid calcium build up, that is my primary concern. Does a homegrown carbon and sand filter take calcium out? This water is pretty hard... it's fine otherwise! Just need to get the mineral content cut back. If I can do that with a home made filter I'll do that after the zerowater filter dies on me

I would rather not touch RO to be honest... it was just starting to seem like the most cost effective solution when contrasted against the likes of replacing brita filters or zerowater filters all the time. But I am all ears for other options.

And yeah, I probably am overthinking it a little, but it's just a matter of fine tuning... I've got pretty much everything else squared away at this point but still haven't touched the water, which I've suspected all along due to the calcium deposits on my fixtures... just want to eliminate that hardness so I at least know what I'm working with otherwise...

yeah basic filters are great for getting minerals out, probably the best at that function. but it cant stop mircrobe, and it wont completely filter outs some of the more fine and chemically mixed chemicals in the water. flouride, chroline ect.

 

[Sincerely420]

Yeah I definitely think both my mg and phosphorous absorption were effected. I am glad to finally be able to swithc, but I am worried about what's already built up. I know the cleaner water will leach some back out, but probably not enough. I would like to do a flush but I don't know what's organic safe and I can't find any information on it because everyone basically parrots back and forth the same shit about how "you don't need to flush in organic" ...not trying to do an end of grow flush here, just need to flush out excess mineral build up... and every flushing agent for salts is for non-organic situations it seems... fucking confusing at best. I don't know what's safe.

Lol yeah....well the parrot that because it true lol. What they need to hone in on tho, is the reason why you don't have to flush in organics, which is the fact that the plants doesn't store the nutrients it gets in an organic op. They're stored in the soil and are extracted by the roots, but not stored in the plants like some chemicals.

If you do want to flush bro, just pour the 3x whatever your pot size in water and keep removing the runoff.

I don't see why it wouldn't be perfectly fine to do, as long as you don't allow your soil to sit in runoff and stay saturated.
And the inorganic flushing solution sucks yeah, but you can hit it with a tea right after and put a lot back into ecosystem for sure.

If I were you, I might try to flush with plain water, then I might try that flushing solution followed immediately by a tea!

Suck you have issues with water damn....Usually it's smell or something like that lol

 

[AltarNation]

LOL... yeah smell is easy

And yeah I know they're parroting it because it's true... my point was simply that no one addresses the issue I'm having, everyone just assumes everyone else is trying to do a 'end of grow flush' and everyone starts in with the "OMGZ BRO YOU DON'T FLUSH IN ORGANIC"... maybe I'll go start a new thread and explain my issues precisely.

I will start by running extra water thru like you said...

 

[AltarNation]

yeah basic filters are great for getting minerals out, probably the best at that function. but it cant stop mircrobe, and it wont completely filter outs some of the more fine and chemically mixed chemicals in the water. flouride, chroline ect.

Cool, maybe i will experiment with building something. I have my older carbon filter that i never exhausted from my 6" setup... wonder if I could use the unit itself as a water filter somehow...

 

[AltarNation]

Okay, first run results... water in was 32? ppm... water out 000 ppm.

Water in was 9.3 ph... water out is ...9.8.

I wonder if my ph meter has gone to shit... how can the water be 000 ppm and still have such an off ph? whaaaat the fuuuuuuck... there's nothing in it! Shouldn't it be neutral? Maybe I don't understand ph, but I figured it was related to the fucking contents of the water! I guess not.

 

[AltarNation]

Alright, I used my drop-test kit that I was using before, there is no way that color is supposed to be 9+... I would say it is more like 7 or so and that my fuckin' ph meter has gone down the tubes. Well that's reassuring. I'm gonna go ahead and make my tea with this batch and see how things go from here.

 

[AltarNation]

BTW I'm having surprisingly good luck with clones now that I just use soil and a humidity dome, LOL. That's what I get for buying a 40 dollar cloner on ebay I guess. I think the sprayer heads were too powerful for the size clones I was taking. But I am getting pretty good results with VERY small clones (barely two nodes, one to bury, one above the surface).. which is awesome, because I think I am going to get my raspberry cough mother pheno after all.

And my C99 clones are thriving at this point... I am about to pop the one I've chosen to keep as a mom into a new container with the sweet sweet soil mix.

 

[AltarNation]

Speaking of which, running low on soil mix! Gonna have to mix up some more for mothers I think, rather than wait to re-amend... gonna be needin more before then! Better start it up soon so I can get it cooked up.

 

[AltarNation]

Brew is brewin'... feel like things are lookin up now that I know my fuckin' ph meter was reading wrong. I should have cross-referenced against the drip test sooner. Only reason I didn't was because I thought it was a lot less precise... and it IS less precise within the neutral window... but it also makes a drastic color swing from like 7-9.5 so it's really easy to tell that this water is not as out of whack as I thought.

Whew. No more worrying about the damn ph. Such a relief.