Question: Making Shitty Tap Water Usable Via Air Stones

Hello all,
I have been using distilled water throughout my whole grow so far just to be safe at least while my plants were still young. I found on a previous grow (my first, one plant, turned out male) that the plant didn't seem to like my tap water that much. And I know that it is actually fairly shitty tap (even makes some of my roommates sick if not run through a britta filter). It's coming from the Mississippi, so, that's what happens when you fuck up a river that much.

Anyways, I've been told that a way to improve the quality of my tap water a bit (at least to get the chlorine out, and oxygenate it) is to use an air pump and air stones and bubble air through it for a while. So i'm trying it out and I'll see if my plants fair alright with it.
My question is how long should I be bubbling air through the water? I am growing in coco coir. I'm just sick of having to get jug after jug of distilled water - they're in 3 gallon pots now and in coco so they take in a LOT of water each watering - like almost a gallon. Then they dry in about 4 days or so.

Also, when I switch to using tap, should I down the nutes a bit since there are already some in there like calcium, etc? Or should I just keep the nutes where they are at? The plants seem to like where they are right now and have blown up lately (but that is using distilled water). Wish I didn't have to switch, but seriously, I've spent a good 30 bucks on distilled water at that point and a lot of lugging water from the gas station through the cold winter outside. Not worth it to continue distilled.

Got 3 airstones hooked up to one pump from a 4-way (only using 3) valve, each going right through the cap into 1 gallon jugs with a small secondary hole to vent, so it's perfect size for watering each of my 3 plants and I minimize too much evaporation from happening while still really pumping plenty of oxygen into there.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks in advanced!

Also ps I have no idea the TDS of my tap, since I've been using distilled I have skimped on buying a TDS meter knowing it starts at 0, but I'm assuming it's fairly high just judging by the taste and quality and source it comes from. It is definetly not well water though, not that bad. I live in a big city.

Its really hard to say if your water will be ok without a common frame of reference.But usually 24hrs is enough to evap most of the chlorine.I wouldnt adjust anything,coco already makes it difficult with calcium and magnesium that little extra from tap wont hurt

Go get a water quality test. A water quality test can tell you concentrations/values of the following: pH, EC, HCO3, CO3, Alkalinity, NO3-N, NH4-N, P, K, Ca, Mg, SO4-S, Fe, Mn, B, Cu, Zn, Mo, Na, Al, and Cl. These are basically all the macro and micronutrients that matter to a plant. If you have high Sodium(Na) or high Chloride(Cl), above probably 10-20ppm in your source water in your case since your growing with hydroponics, you need to us RO or distilled. Check out these guys in Florida, you'll have to ship them a sample, probably will cost you $50 all said and done. Not the fastest, but not expensive either. http://www.qal.us/

Pumping oxygen into the water is not going to do much. You might temporarily oxidize some of the minerals, but you won't know until you get it tested.

MisterBlah said:

Go get a water quality test. A water quality test can tell you concentrations/values of the following: pH, EC, HCO3, CO3, Alkalinity, NO3-N, NH4-N, P, K, Ca, Mg, SO4-S, Fe, Mn, B, Cu, Zn, Mo, Na, Al, and Cl. These are basically all the macro and micronutrients that matter to a plant. If you have high Sodium(Na) or high Chloride(Cl), above probably 10-20ppm in your source water in your case since your growing with hydroponics, you need to us RO or distilled. Check out these guys in Florida, you'll have to ship them a sample, probably will cost you $50 all said and done. Not the fastest, but not expensive either. http://www.qal.us/

Pumping oxygen into the water is not going to do much. You might temporarily oxidize some of the minerals, but you won't know until you get it tested.

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It sounds like the major issues that could arrise are from Cl and Na ions. Would initially using a Brita filter attached to the sink help at all?

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Works just fine with 43ppm chloride and 38ppm sodium. I don't bubble off the chloride either, below 70ppm is safe for all plants, cannabis can handle double that without problems.

Sativied said:

Works just fine with 43ppm chloride and 38ppm sodium. I don't bubble off the chloride either, below 70ppm is safe for all plants, cannabis can handle double that without problems.

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This is correct. 70-75ppm is accepted as the limit for Na or Cl concentration in a hydroponic solution. But if your source water is high, your Na and Cl concentrations will rise over time, and can rise rather quickly. It depends on water usage of course. Therefore, unless you have a method to test for Na or Cl during growth and you don't want to constantly be tossing your water, the lower the better.

Being able to handle a higher concentration does not mean it will not be detrimental to the health of the plant.

MisterBlah said:

This is correct. 70-75ppm is accepted as the limit for Na or Cl concentration in a hydroponic solution. But if your source water is high, your Na and Cl concentrations will rise over time, and can rise rather quickly. It depends on water usage of course. Therefore, unless you have a method to test for Na or Cl during growth and you don't want to constantly be tossing your water, the lower the better.

Being able to handle a higher concentration does not mean it will not be detrimental to the health of the plant.

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Would an occasional flush with Distilled every now and then help with the salt buildup?

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Honey Oil Riot Squad said:

Would an occasional flush with Distilled every now and then help with the salt buildup?

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Yes. Dumping some of the water to be replaced with distilled would help the cause. But if you have a really small setup, it's not really worth bothering, IMHO. Even so, you won't know if you even need to bother with such a thing until you get a water quality test.

MisterBlah said:

This is correct. 70-75ppm is accepted as the limit for Na or Cl concentration in a hydroponic solution. But if your source water is high, your Na and Cl concentrations will rise over time, and can rise rather quickly. It depends on water usage of course.

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No, that is not correct and not what I said either. "70-75" is not accepted as the limit by some imaginary body of standardization, it is what nearly all plants can handle without any problems. A plant such as cannabis however, and many others can handle much higher.

MisterBlah said:

Therefore, unless you have a method to test for Na or Cl during growth and you don't want to constantly be tossing your water, the lower the better.

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No, probably sounds clever in theory but is not the case in practice unless you run a huge oversized res. I run almost to consumption, and "toss" very little and rarely. Where does the shit go...

MisterBlah said:

Being able to handle a higher concentration does not mean it will not be detrimental to the health of the plant.

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Actually that is exactly what it means.

collect rain if u can

Sativied said:

No, that is not correct and not what I said either. "70-75" is not accepted as the limit by some imaginary body of standardization, it is what nearly all plants can handle without any problems. A plant such as cannabis however, and many others can handle much higher.

No, probably sounds clever in theory but is not the case in practice unless you run a huge oversized res. I run almost to consumption, and "toss" very little and rarely. Where does the shit go...

Actually that is exactly what it means.

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Right now, you're trying to get me to believe something without any research, publications, etc. to back it up. So, before you continue, I recommend you provide me with some third party sources that say cannabis(or any other plant) is special and should be treated differently.

KryptoBud said:

Chloride Basics - Spectrum Analytic Inc

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Thanks for clearing that up Krypto Bud. Nice bud.

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KryptoBud said:

Chloride Basics - Spectrum Analytic Inc

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This is for soil, but thank you.

Everything I was talking about was related to hydroponics. Growing in coco is sort of a half way in between, I understand that. We may have had a miscommunication in regards to that point.

You should get a water quality report which may be available online at your water systems website or if you pay for city tap water you should get one annually. In it you can see what your water system uses. Chlorine can be bubbled off at room temp but chloramine which is a new chemical used by many systems cannot be- which is why they use it in the first place. If your system used chloramine you'll need to RO the tap water or use distilled as you have been all along. One source of distilled water that is often overlooked is water from a dehumidifier: if you live down south a dehumidifier could produce a couple gal a day; I'm up north so it takes a week to fill mine this time of year but in the summer it is a free water source if you keep your units collection sump nice & clean. My dehumidifier water is like 3 ppms; it's as clean as RO water but you've got to add back some cal mag somehow or risk deficiencies down the road. Another option is rainwater which is the absolute best to use imo; it contains macros plus microbial life- try to remember to put out a bucket or 2 when it rains.
It's also true that high levels of sodium can cause necrosis in fan leaves which can be prevented by a regiment of clean water like rain, distilled, or reverse osmosis...hate to use the term flushing; more like use clean water every few waterings to rinse any crap like salt or nutrient buildup off the root system. If you are using synthetic nutes even chlorinated water will work okay to a degree although over time you'll notice your soil drying out quickly. It is the microbial and fungal life that lives in the soil and feeds your plants that is negatively affected by chlorine and synthetic nutrients; plants could care less. So if you plan to grow in organic soil then you should never introduce chlorine in any form.