Hard water question

Were I live we have hard water, the meter reads 300ppm from the tap. Is that high enough that I would want to use distilled water?

I'm not really sure about distilled water, common sense tells me water contains essentials nutrient necessary for the plant to strive. Distilled water has nothing! a decent filter should do the trick as long as you watch your ph. In the past I have used wetter agent that makes the water softer. I did not observe any improvement and it had actually a bad effect since they tend to raise the alkalinity of the soil which is a no no for the girls.

scotch said:

Were I live we have hard water, the meter reads 300ppm from the tap. Is that high enough that I would want to use distilled water?

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buying water from wal-mart or other stores can really add up and is also a pain in the butt. i was using tap water till i found somthing that solved the problem, i got a A/C in the room to help keep it cool, but i got the added benefit of it being a dehumidifyer and it makes about 2-3 gallons of distilled ( zero ppm ) water per day. when you start at zero ppm you can use more nutes before your plants suffer bad effects

Im using tap water that comes from a natural spring. The water company adds chlorine and it contains calcium. After aerating for 48hrs, the ppm go from 125 to 80. My plant havent protested a bit. That, and no need for Cal/Mag additives in my nutrients. I would think you can run it. Cept for the slight buildup of minerals on your equipment, shouldnt bother the plants. Oh, and ph'ing hard water takes a bit more ph down. I use AN down, but any you use properly will work for ya. Still, all this is better than buying water from the store. I wish i could have RO water at all times, but im small time. Perhaps someone else grows with ppm that is closer to yours. anyone?? Best of luck to ya.

Thanks guys for the replies. Im in the same boat with the RO can't justify it for my lil grow. I'll try it with just the no chlorine stuff and ph down and see how it goes. +rep for all

I have exactly the same ppm out of the tap. When starting from seeds I use bottled water until I start vegging, then I just use regular tap water. The only problem I noticed was the mineral build up in the resevior tank. But as long as you change the water once a week, like you should be, you'll be fine. Also, you'll be adding a lot of ph down. I don't understand why, but it is what it is I guess. I just have to put in a little more work and pay closer attention to the ph than normal. I add ph down after every 3 waterings. I use the ebb and grow by the way.

My well water is also 300 ppm. I just subtract that from the total ppm on my truncheon meter. I do use a lot of PH down, both from the high ph of the hard water, and the buckets of hydroton in my ebb and grow. I do notice that my plants start to lose their sense of humor once I've added a lot of down, using the add back method. I end up changing out more than I'd like, and it's friggin expensive with a 50 gallon res. But it is cheaper than the buying of water at HD or Lowes.

I ran a test of comparing Ionic nutes, and the House and Garden, and I have noticed a significant stability in my ph on a daily basis using Ionic than the super expensive alternative. I'm seriously considering going back to my old school Ionic, the plants have equal growth.

Thanks guys I'll go with tap water 'till I start seeing problems with it. I just got worried reading about all the people going with RO.

I have RO on one tap in my kitchen, two 10" inlile carbon filters in my bathroom, and water from the tap is 270ppm. I have grown plants all the way through using each. With the same nutes, in the same amounts. I did not compensate for ppm of the water, just mixed it by the directions on the bottle. All plants were clones from the same mother. There was no difference in the three crops.

wow thanks good to know

my well water comes out at almost 500ppm i have never had any problem with it

I use Hardwater forumulated nutes with my well water.

It has lower levels of Cal / Mag to compensate for the high PPMs of the well water.

Always love a simple solution.