the truth about tap water and microbes

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filthy piglet

Member
Having "Soft water" and using a water softener are like saying two different things tho......the saying "having soft water" is most ofthen used when someone is saying they have a low ppm of calcium (alkalinity) like how i use it.....or i would say i use softened water, which would mean i use water thats been filtered and had sodium content added to it.....as soon asyou said "soften" i know you mean sodium filtered water...so you kinda hqave to be careful how u use it....
 
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filthy piglet

Member
Just like when you buy ionic nutrients for hard or soft water.....hard water ionic nutrients will have less calcium and soft water ionic will have more calcium.......the word "soften" means to take hard water and make it better for home use or drinking by reducing the calcium and adding sodium....get it ?
 
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filthy piglet

Member
I only schooled you because you kinda tryed to pull my card. Please dont take it personal. I just want people to have the correct info.....
 
Nutty sKunK

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
I'm quite lucky of where I live, got 34 PPM straight out the tap. I leave it out for 24 hours before I use it, although this will decrease the amount of oxygen present in the water, so this time around I'm going to get an airstone.
 
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filthy piglet

Member
Yea nutty that sounds like some nice water.....just remember to use some cal/mag because 34 ppm is really soft and you will have def..if your base nutes dont have cal/mag ... I like.to aim for 60-120ppm depending on what stage of growth im in....
 
Nutty sKunK

Nutty sKunK

Well-Known Member
Yeah piglet, grabbed some calmag which has trace elements mixed in and helped me out a lot on my last grow. Starting again in the winter as too warm in the garage, managed to get just over 0.5g for my first grow and the plant was rootbound 4th week in flower lol. So yeah, looking forward to seeing some green again :)
 
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Baxters

Well-Known Member
filthy piglet said:
I found this great little gem while doing some reading and thought of you guys. So here it is..........this artical was copied from a website called "plantalk"...with that said, i hope you guys like it as much as i did....so here it is.... . Many water providers add chlorine to drinking water to keep it clean for human consumption. Chlorine prevents bacterial growth in water distribution systems. Many residents use chlorinated water to irrigate their lawn and garden.

If chlorine is added to drinking water to kill bacteria, what impact does it have on beneficial soil microorganisms? Does it kill beneficial organisms in compost piles, too?

Researchers have found that chlorinated drinking water may kill the number of microorganisms in soil or a compost pile. However, their reproduction rate is so rapid populations rebound in a short time. Under normal conditions, chlorinated water will not threaten microorganism populations.

One reason chlorinate water has little impact is that chlorine binds to soil particle surfaces. This immobilizes chlorine and reduces its ability to kill microorganisms. The organisms in the topmost surface of soil or a compost pile may be affected after irrigation but as the water moves downward little chlorine remains. In one study, researchers found that water chlorinated at 5 parts per million killed organisms only in the top half inch of soil. Organisms deeper than one half inch were thriving.

The amount of chlorine in drinking water is quite low. In order to kill soil microorganisms to 6 inch soil depth, water containing 65 parts per million of chlorine was required in one study. Drinking water usually contains much lower chlorine levels. For example, Colorado Springs Utilities water contains between 0.05 to 0.90 parts per million of chlorine, 70 times below the threshold level.

Microorganisms reproduce rapidly. In one study, researchers continuously applied highly chlorinated water to soil for 126 days. Two days after they stopped, the soil microorganism populations reached pre-treatment levels at all depths of soil.
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I actually cited this article on a thread about mold last week here :-
https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/668535-mold-questions-help.html#post9205652

I was then informed about chloramines, so I requested a water report from my supplier and sure enough I have chloramines in my water, so after some research I discovered that chloramines comes in three flavors monochloramine, dichloramine, and trichloramine.
What is used in your tap water is monochloramine.

It turns out that chloramines are less effective than chlorine and monochloramine is less harmful then dichloramine which in turn is less harmful than trichloramine. Over time monochoramine breaks down into dichloramine and trichloramine which would indicate that if you are to let water containing chloramines sit then not only do you lose the dissolved oxygen in the water but you also make your water more harmful than it was when it came out of the tap.

I know personally that using tap water is fine because I have done it for years with no ill effect, I have brewed compost teas, worm casting teas, nettle teas and they are all fine. Also nobody on my allotment lets their water sit, or filter their water and they produce wonderful crops.

And one final thing to note is that if anyone would be picky about the water they give to their plants, then surely it would be the orchid grower.
 
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filthy piglet

Member
Baxter, yea i was just reading on the dif kinds of chloramines , and i too have had good results with tap water but its always in the back or my mind for some reason....so lastnite i got a real lab microscope and when i get out of work im gonna start doing dif test with microbes and water.....nutty....lol thats funny....did you say .5 g or was that a type o.....if it wasnt then i wish you luck and im here if you need any help.....baxter thank you for the new info ......
 
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filthy piglet

Member
One thing that still remains true for me tho is the fact that the quality of the final product goes up as the water hardness goes down and the medium ppm stays at a lower level throughout the grow....
 
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Baxters

Well-Known Member
I have never filtered my water so I can't actually say if filtered water is better or not, but I have compared letting water sit to not letting water sit, and the only value I found in letting water sit was due to water temperature (cold water slows down microbial activity), now I just use warm water straight out of the tap.

Give it a try, compare cold water to warm water see the difference.
 
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filthy piglet

Member
Canna i think you missed readind some post on the thread........baxter...i have tryed it all over meny years and hands down the best water is distilled with 60-120 ppm cal/mag depending on growth stage...
 
Jeffdogg

Jeffdogg

Well-Known Member
I use tap when i dont have any harvested rain water. Even so i've seen impressive plants grown with tap water. The one thing the OP isnt considering is that every ones tap water is different. The people with bad water know they have it and will take precautions if needed. If its detrimental to the plants the plants will tell us. Growing isnt exactly rocket science these days, the water issues have been known for ages now its not a shocker.


One thing that still remains true for me tho is the fact that the quality of the final product goes up
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Thats opinion bud, and you have your right to it as we do ours. :) If it works for you right on, i can see this thread escalating in the near future so lets just agree we all have a right to our own beliefs? :D
 
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filthy piglet

Member
Jeff the only one here that seems like they are going to start some bs is you.....this topic is started about soil mircrobes and we are all getting along just fine without you commin on my thread trying to regulate .....we are having a good convo.....so read the whole thread b4 you start yappin off....im a grown man and so are the rest of these people, we dont need you to tell us when is when....
 
Jeffdogg

Jeffdogg

Well-Known Member
filthy piglet said:
Jeff the only one here that seems like they are going to start some bs is you.....this topic is started about soil mircrobes and we are all getting along just fine without you commin on my thread trying to regulate .....we are having a good convo.....so read the whole thread b4 you start yappin off....im a grown man and so are the rest of these people, we dont need you to tell us when is when....
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We all have a right to our opinion and comments do we not? I added my comment regarding the water also. When is when what? lmao and Regulate what? LMAO? Dude lay off the bong hits till noon plz.
 
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filthy piglet

Member
When is when....as in when something is going to turn bad...and saying we all need to agree.....saying the thread is headed in the wrong direction.....and i dont smoke.....read your post and you lay off the bong hits....clown
 
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