Water. Tap VS RO filtered

nicksol86

Well-Known Member
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!
My goal is to double my last yield. I be so pumped if I pulled 4 oz a plant. But it is possible pulling 8 oz a plant running hydro with training and a 1000 watt hps hortilux. It is possible. I pulled 2 zips a plant on a horrible ass grow. I know I can do much better this time now that I sunk lots of money, time, researching, asking for help from the forum, and I'm actually putting in work on it this time. Last time was half ass with no fucks given. I made it til the end wit no ph or ppm or ec meter. This time I'm monitoring everything and keeping it all in check. You all can help me make my goals possible. I'll post my results at the end of my run
 

smokebros

Well-Known Member
Just wanted to comment on the original post.

My tap water comes out around 225-250 PPM's on average. I found it a bit too much for my liking so I invested in a reverse osmosis filter. The RO filter gets the PPM's down to about 5 to 8 PPM's.

I experimented with mixing RO/tap 50/50 and 75/25, etc.. eventually I just settled on using straight RO water. I grow in a hydro system (flood & drain table) and have some plants in coco and some in hydroton.

Since I settled on 100% RO, I found the sweet spot for my growing style to be right around 2.5ML per gallon of calimagic. The first two things I put in my res are always silica (first) followed by calmag (second). My PPM's last somewhere between 225-250PPM with about 175-200PPM coming from the calimagic, the rest is silica.

With that being said, my way isn't necessarily the *only way* or *right way*. I know plenty of growers that use RO water with their base nutrients & additives who don't use a Ca or Mg supplement - and their plants turn out great.

It really comes down to experimenting. But for me, that 200-250 PPM is where I want to be with silica and calmag before I add my base nutes.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
if your tap water is coming out over 100 ppm, it probably wouldn't hurt to use ro water, because you have no control over what those ppm are. at 200 ppm it can easily throw off the ratio you want. anything under 100 ppm, i'd just consider free cal-mag and feed accordingly
 

Kushash

Well-Known Member
if your tap water is coming out over 100 ppm, it probably wouldn't hurt to use ro water, because you have no control over what those ppm are. at 200 ppm it can easily throw off the ratio you want. anything under 100 ppm, i'd just consider free cal-mag and feed accordingly
LOL!
When I just gave you the like I thought you were responding in another thread I just posted in.
Your answer would have worked great in the other thread also.

Here was my post 13 minutes ago #10
 

nicksol86

Well-Known Member
Just wanted to comment on the original post.

My tap water comes out around 225-250 PPM's on average. I found it a bit too much for my liking so I invested in a reverse osmosis filter. The RO filter gets the PPM's down to about 5 to 8 PPM's.

I experimented with mixing RO/tap 50/50 and 75/25, etc.. eventually I just settled on using straight RO water. I grow in a hydro system (flood & drain table) and have some plants in coco and some in hydroton.

Since I settled on 100% RO, I found the sweet spot for my growing style to be right around 2.5ML per gallon of calimagic. The first two things I put in my res are always silica (first) followed by calmag (second). My PPM's last somewhere between 225-250PPM with about 175-200PPM coming from the calimagic, the rest is silica.

With that being said, my way isn't necessarily the *only way* or *right way*. I know plenty of growers that use RO water with their base nutrients & additives who don't use a Ca or Mg supplement - and their plants turn out great.

It really comes down to experimenting. But for me, that 200-250 PPM is where I want to be with silica and calmag before I add my base nutes.
Thanks for the feedback. I bought a ro system for pure water for them. Might as well use the 200$ investment
 

primobozo

Well-Known Member
if your tap water is coming out over 100 ppm, it probably wouldn't hurt to use ro water, because you have no control over what those ppm are. at 200 ppm it can easily throw off the ratio you want. anything under 100 ppm, i'd just consider free cal-mag and feed accordingly
Mine comes out of the tap at 118ppm, could I get away using it without cal mag? I live in a very small town and get funny looks at the grocery store buying 30 gallons of distilled water. My rain water test at 18ppm, but I don't want to add any pollens or pathogens to my system. I also have a spring fed creek on my land that test at 20 ppm. Is there a way to use it without hurting my little girls? First time in hydroponic grow, I don't know a lot about it.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
probably, most of the ppm in tap water are usually calcium, mixed with other things. there is probably little to no magnesium in your tap water, though. so you can treat it like cal mag, but keep an eye on Mag needs.

your spring water SHOULD be good, i'd test it, either send it in for analysis, or just set up a small bubbler and put a seedling in it, see if it grows well, or has problems.
 

primobozo

Well-Known Member
Never thought of starting a seed with the spring water, think I'll do that today. I'm having a problem with my grow though, maybe you could give me some advice? I don't know how to post on here, but I have a problem with 1st time dwc grow. They are in a 5 gallon dwc using flora micro 7ml bloom 5ml and grow 10ml. In 3.5 gallons of water, 24 inches under 630w cmh running at 480w. I'm not adding cal mag, using tap water through a filter, water temp, is 65 to 68, room temp is 73 to 85, ph 6.2. ppm is 536 total, (83 out of the tap.) I can't tell if it's a deficiency or toxicity. Any help would be great. 118ppm before the filter.
 

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Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
that looks like magnesium deficiency. i'd get some epsom salts, dissolve about a teapoon in a quart of water and spray with it. then i'd add maybe 1-1.5 teaspoons into your water every time you add nutes
 

primobozo

Well-Known Member
Ok, now is that the same Epson salt you get from the store or is it something I have to get from a hydroponic store?
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
the stuff from the store works fine, the 3 dollar stuff at the grocery strore in a milk carton kind of container is the same as the shit in the fancy resealable foil pack at the hydro shop they sell for 12 bucks
 

primobozo

Well-Known Member
Man, you're great. Hope you know how much you're appreciated, I am going to get some today. This has been killing me trying to figure it out. I'm so afraid of thinking it's one thing, and doing double the damage to the plant . this is my first hydro grow and it is definitely a learning curve.
 

Roger A. Shrubber

Well-Known Member
Man, you're great. Hope you know how much you're appreciated, I am going to get some today. This has been killing me trying to figure it out. I'm so afraid of thinking it's one thing, and doing double the damage to the plant . this is my first hydro grow and it is definitely a learning curve.
https://www.growweedeasy.com/marijuana-symptoms-pictures
this isn't perfect, but it's one of the better guides i've found. it at least gives you a place to start.
 

nicksol86

Well-Known Member
Never thought of starting a seed with the spring water, think I'll do that today. I'm having a problem with my grow though, maybe you could give me some advice? I don't know how to post on here, but I have a problem with 1st time dwc grow. They are in a 5 gallon dwc using flora micro 7ml bloom 5ml and grow 10ml. In 3.5 gallons of water, 24 inches under 630w cmh running at 480w. I'm not adding cal mag, using tap water through a filter, water temp, is 65 to 68, room temp is 73 to 85, ph 6.2. ppm is 536 total, (83 out of the tap.) I can't tell if it's a deficiency or toxicity. Any help would be great. 118ppm before the filter.
Here you go, for future references you can check this leaf symptom pic out
 

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nicksol86

Well-Known Member
Man, you're great. Hope you know how much you're appreciated, I am going to get some today. This has been killing me trying to figure it out. I'm so afraid of thinking it's one thing, and doing double the damage to the plant . this is my first hydro grow and it is definitely a learning curve.
Hope your hydro grow goes better than my first 3. They all sucked so far. Switching to soil until I get better. Soil is more forgiving and easy to grow in
 

gr865

Well-Known Member
When I first started using Canna Coco I contacted Canna USA told them how bad my tap is (775 ppm) and that I use RO and it was causing fluctuation problems. They said to add enough tap to bring my RO to 120 ppm then add nutes. Not knowing what is in it and not wanting to have it sit for 24 hrs to dissipate the Chlorine I began adding Cal/Magic and Epsom to get the RO or Rain water to 120 ppm.
This has worked well to date, as long as I remember to add C/M and Epsom. When using the CANNA Grow Guide it give what the EC should be after adding nutes and what the nute number should be.
 

primobozo

Well-Known Member
Here you go, for future references you can check this leaf symptom pic out
Hey thanks alot, and yeah, this is definitely a lot different than what I have done in the past. But I need a good hobby, and have nothing but time, so I'm going to keep trying till I get it right.
 

primobozo

Well-Known Member
Thanks again, I got the Epson salt and give them a good misting, tomorrow is res change and I will put it in with the nute's, does my ppm seem good? It's maybe a little under 1/2 of the recommended.
 
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