Distilled Water in DWC

[SableZen]

I'll try to make my point a 3rd time. Distilled water is just water without nutrients (aka, water). Once you add nutrients, it's no longer called "distilled water".

This thread starts off by saying that "distilled water is bad". Right, so don't use "distilled water" (aka water without stuff in it), use "nutrient rich water" (aka water with stuff in it)! Of course using pure distilled water in a DWC is bad. You've gotta mix it with stuff first, then it's no longer distilled water!

Those nutrients you add ARE the buffer. Yes, you have to mix the nutrients SLIGHTLY different, but not really.

The main buffer in a hydroponic reservoir is phosphates.

My point is that water is water! It's not like starting with pure water inherently ruins your grow op, you just have to change what you put in it slightly. Where water comes from is not important if it ends up as an equivalent solution in the end.



This is basically what my point was when i was saying to grow in nutrient rich water, not pure/distilled water. My point was that you must eventually put "stuff" in it, so it doesn't matter that distilled starts with 0 buffering.

Ok, and we still seem to be in general agreement so I'm moving on.

 

[SableZen]

I was with ya till ya spit this nonsense! lol

I actually start DWC, or any hydroponics, with nutrients at day one as well. .1 EC worth (or about 600-700ppm) and gradually ramp up from there. I'm sure churchaze would find that shocking as well considering the lectures I keep getting from him. lol

 

[Commander Strax]

so... just to fuck things up I am going to ask this question.


What is the difference between rain water and distilled water??


It seems that they would be the same!

 

[SableZen]

so... just to fuck things up I am going to ask this question.


What is the difference between rain water and distilled water??


It seems that they would be the same!

Distilled water is literally pure water collected from an evaporation process and should in theory have a ppm of 0 (besides minor contaminants). Rain droplets actually form around small particles of suspended dust (often carbon-based pollution) and pick up other contaminates along the way to the ground (like pollen and/or spores) and will often have even more contaminates in it as a result. Rain water also contains more microbes as a result. In the case of areas with a high amount of carbon-based pollution, you get acid rain which is slightly acidic. Distilled water is in theory neutral pH but since it has very little to no contaminates it has no buffering and pH readings aren't really accurate in practice.

And just so no one gets confused about the buffering and pH thing I mentioned, in practice there is little to no difference in pH between the two water sources once we add any appreciable amount of nutrients to the water and it becomes strongly buffered.

 

[Commander Strax]

it says I gave out too much rep in the last 24 hours...sorry Sable, I will have to get back to you

 

[Moishe]

So my problem may have been a too low nutrient solution? Maybe in the next few runs I'll slowly ween back to 50 or less ppm before adding nutrients, and boost it up to 500ppm from the beginning. What plant food minerals tend to have less of a problem with burning? Or do all nutrients/minerals tend to build up at some point. I notice some people running RO seem to run a relatively high amount of CalMag even if their A&B base nutrient has plenty of Ca and Mg, and CalMag sits right around 5.8. Can I just load that in there a bit, or will I run into toxicity real quick?

 

[Commander Strax]

So my problem may have been a too low nutrient solution? Maybe in the next few runs I'll slowly ween back to 50 or less ppm before adding nutrients, and boost it up to 500ppm from the beginning. What plant food minerals tend to have less of a problem with burning? Or do all nutrients/minerals tend to build up at some point. I notice some people running RO seem to run a relatively high amount of CalMag even if their A&B base nutrient has plenty of Ca and Mg, and CalMag sits right around 5.8. Can I just load that in there a bit, or will I run into toxicity real quick?

what do you mean by that???

 

[SableZen]

So my problem may have been a too low nutrient solution? Maybe in the next few runs I'll slowly ween back to 50 or less ppm before adding nutrients, and boost it up to 500ppm from the beginning. What plant food minerals tend to have less of a problem with burning? Or do all nutrients/minerals tend to build up at some point. I notice some people running RO seem to run a relatively high amount of CalMag even if their A&B base nutrient has plenty of Ca and Mg, and CalMag sits right around 5.8. Can I just load that in there a bit, or will I run into toxicity real quick?

You can start from day 1 with nutrients - the cautionary part though is you need to start really low and then slowly/gradually increase the strength as the plant grows. If you aren't comfortable with doing that, you can do like most people and just hold off for 2-3 weeks until the seedlings start to look like they need them.

It sounds though like you might be trying to deal with pH and ppms separately for each thing you are adding into your reservoir instead of first mixing everything together to the desired total ppms, then pH adjusting, then adding to your reservoir? Are you just adding things to your active reservoir piece-meal? Or what is your methodology for using your nutrients and additives?

 

[Moishe]

What is your methodology for using your nutrients and additives?

step 1: prepare a nutrient solution based on the recirc feed chart (usually go around half the recommended for the first two weeks)
step 2: record ppm
step 3: check ph. If under 7.0, pHdown it to 5.8. if over 7.0, add .5-1mL/gal CalMag to nutrient solution and then pH it down to 5.8
step 4: allow it to aerate with an airstone for about 12 hours (whenever the reservoir empties out)
step 5: add the shit to the reservoir
step 6: keep track of fluctuations in ph/ppm and analyze it according to solution mix

 

[vadim77]

sorry 4ma brocken english atfirst...hello there, the same system the same problems...dwc and pure medicine distilled water ppm0, advanced nutrients ph perfect.... i keep on long conversation with advanced nutrients guys who created this stuff and they insist on ppm0 water with their phperfect...but that doesnt work easy.. ..fast 6 hours ph up to 6.5 and then (next 5-6hours) go down to hell...impossible to get what wrong qiuckly. here u tell about minimal ppm so ph buffers of the base start to work...and what's that? start with 500??? how can i understand what need...add or reduse nutrients if ur ph goes down?

 

[bubba73]

sorry 4ma brocken english atfirst...hello there, the same system the same problems...dwc and pure medicine distilled water ppm0, advanced nutrients ph perfect.... i keep on long conversation with advanced nutrients guys who created this stuff and they insist on ppm0 water with their phperfect...but that doesnt work easy.. ..fast 6 hours ph up to 6.5 and then (next 5-6hours) go down to hell...impossible to get what wrong qiuckly. here u tell about minimal ppm so ph buffers of the base start to work...and what's that? start with 500??? how can i understand what need...add or reduse nutrients if ur ph goes down?

go to hell ? how low ? make sure for 1 you don't have algae growing , root rot.....

 

[vadim77]

go to hell ? how low ? make sure for 1 you don't have algae growing , root rot.....

i found fast 4.8 and up it with tapwater...temperature inside tanks 16-21C so no root rot..i think that depend of nutrients amount ...i understood that ph dropping /ppm stable or rize= less nutrients and all be ok..but i washed out, step-bystep dowt to 100ppm ma 8week plant for ph stablization inside good limit and got clearly defic..this rule no works always..now i up to 500 ma res and add small part ov hard tap water...

 

[vadim77]

but am not sure what i do...if i ask from advanced they tell about hammer doze and all be ok...yes plant grows but it harvest like napalm stake..i can see these wet green leaves ...burn tips and so.. how can i find optimal amount nutrients for ph perfect working?

 

[twistedwords]

Why on earth would you use distilled water? You do know that elements, minerals react with distilled water right? If you don't know this then you need to google distilled water.

 

[vadim77]

In a healthy hydroponic system without root damage, the pH should RISE with any nutrient. Our Sensi Grow A+B pH perfect is designed to work best with 0ppm water. And the plants will uptake the nutrients at a very wide pH range. If you need to add water throughout the week, add your Sensi A+B at 50% strength to the top-up water.

 

[vadim77]

The pH perfect Grow Micro Bloom is designed to be used with 0ppm water and does not need an added CalMG.


It should also be applied at the full 4ml per liter for full sized plants. Your current ppm values are very low. How large are the plants you are feeding?


Regards

Grower Support

 

[vadim77]

that's advanced nutrients guys

 

[vadim77]

why google if here's the creators

 

[vadim77]

Yes, we recommend mixing the pH perfect 3 parts, in equal amounts of each part, every week during veg and bloom (see chart below), you should mix based on the amounts suggested for the week that the plants are in, because of the high amount or organics in the formulas there isn’t an accurate way of measuring EC (ppm), even though there is an EC reading it is not accurate and therefore unreliable, growers that feed the pH perfect formulas based on EC tend to under feed their plants.


pH perfect Micro, Grow, Bloom


Vegetative stage




Week

1


2


3


4


5


6


7





Grow mL/liter


1


2


3


4


4


4


4





Micro mL/ liter


1


2


3


4


4


4


4





Bloom mL/ liter


1


2


3


4


4


4


4





Bloom stage




Week

1


2


3


4


5


6


7





Grow mL/ liter


4


4


4


4


4


4


flush





Micro mL/ liter


4


4


4


4


4


4


Flush





Bloom mL/ liter


4


4


4


4


4


4


flush





Grower Support

 

[Vumar]

This thread is a shit show. Use R/O water for soil, use tap water for hydro. Ph perfect nutrients are garbage. You shouldnt have PH issues in the first place.