cal/mag question, based on ppm of water

[AfgooCBD]

If my tap water, run through a charcoal filter, is 310ppm, do I have to worry about cal/mag deficiency?

 

[King Arthur]

i'd be more worried about waking up with some weird ailment, holy shit 310 ppm is high mine is only 45...

 

[AfgooCBD]

i'd be more worried about waking up with some weird ailment, holy shit 310 ppm is high mine is only 45...

I know! I don't think my filter is attached properly. Without the filter, water is 320ppm. I thought that a carbon filter drops the ppm (?) Definitely makes the water clear and taste better, no chlorine.

 

[King Arthur]

I know! I don't think my filter is attached properly. Without the filter, water is 320ppm. I thought that a carbon filter drops the ppm (?)

I am not sure, I use tap water with no filter right now. Maybe your filter is old or something?

 

[AfgooCBD]

I guess I need to measure the "hardness" of the water instead. At my age, Viagra additive might be necessary!

 

[az2000]

I know! I don't think my filter is attached properly. Without the filter, water is 320ppm. I thought that a carbon filter drops the ppm (?) Definitely makes the water clear and taste better, no chlorine.

Reverse Osmosis removes ppm. Carbon only removes odors, chlorine. It's a "polishing" filter.

You can add about 50% RO water to your tap water to get it down to 160ppm which should be in the ideal range. You probably don't want to go too far over 200. The only problem I'm aware of is that higher ppm competes with the ppms you create with nutrients. Perhaps too much ca/mg.

The carbon filter may be beneficial for you drinking the water. But, you don't need to eliminate the tiny amount of sanitizer for your plant. There's so little present (for the closed water deliver system) that a small amount of organic material will exhaust it quickly. Add a pinch of sugar or spit in the water. It will be exhausted quickly. Or, give 1/8tsp molasses with each watering to promote microbial growth in the soil (to offset the minor impediment the sanitizer creates.). The bottom line is: if you use synthetic nutrients they're doing more harm to the soil biology than the tiny amount of chlorine.

(I assume you're soil. If you do hydro, you should probably use RO water and calmag. If you're in soil and use 160'ish ppm water you don't need calmag, assuming the soil has dolomite amended into it too. If your water's ppms are sufficiently high in ca/mg.).

 

[King Arthur]

he said it really well, I don't ph or use ro filter because my tap water is luckily at that perfect spot.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Pure water has a pH close to 7 (neither alkaline nor acidic). Sea water can have pH values that range from 7.5 to 8.4 (moderately alkaline). Fresh water can have widely ranging pH values depending on the geology of the drainage basin oraquifer and the influence of contaminant inputs (acid rain). If the water is acidic (lower than 7), lime, soda ash, or sodium hydroxide can be added to raise the pH during water purification processes.

Carbon filters do not remove calcium / mag from water this done thru reverse osmosis or ion exchange process. Activated charcoal deodorizes and removes elements such as ammonia and bromides.

 

[unwine99]

Reverse Osmosis removes ppm. Carbon only removes odors, chlorine. It's a "polishing" filter.

You can add about 50% RO water to your tap water to get it down to 160ppm which should be in the ideal range. You probably don't want to go too far over 200. The only problem I'm aware of is that higher ppm competes with the ppms you create with nutrients. Perhaps too much ca/mg.

The carbon filter may be beneficial for you drinking the water. But, you don't need to eliminate the tiny amount of sanitizer for your plant. There's so little present (for the closed water deliver system) that a small amount of organic material will exhaust it quickly. Add a pinch of sugar or spit in the water. It will be exhausted quickly. Or, give 1/8tsp molasses with each watering to promote microbial growth in the soil (to offset the minor impediment the sanitizer creates.). The bottom line is: if you use synthetic nutrients they're doing more harm to the soil biology than the tiny amount of chlorine.

(I assume you're soil. If you do hydro, you should probably use RO water and calmag. If you're in soil and use 160'ish ppm water you don't need calmag, assuming the soil has dolomite amended into it too. If your water's ppms are sufficiently high in ca/mg.).

I recently started adding 1 part tap to 2 parts RO after reading one of your other posts -- bringing the ppms down to 140-160. It works great. No more calmag and no more ph'ing......puts my ph right at 6.4. Can't believe I had never thought of it myself.

 

[unwine99]

i'd be more worried about waking up with some weird ailment, holy shit 310 ppm is high mine is only 45...

Mine is 440! City water too, not from a well.

 

[sunny747]

I'm at 480 PPM out of the tap. It's a plant killer

 

[sunny747]

Here is the interesting part. I read that with a PPM of 500 or above it's not advisable to drink. With 700 or above it's unsafe to drink.

 

[unwine99]

Here is the interesting part. I read that with a PPM of 500 or above it's not advisable to drink. With 700 or above it's unsafe to drink.

For sure.......and I'm pretty sure tap is federally limited to not exceed 500 ppm -- so both our municipalities are walking that line pretty closely.....yours especially. I thought mine was bad. Lol

 

[Dr. Who]

I recently started adding 1 part tap to 2 parts RO after reading one of your other posts -- bringing the ppms down to 140-160. It works great. No more calmag and no more ph'ing......puts my ph right at 6.4. Can't believe I had never thought of it myself.

WAH? RO has nothing in it,,,,,you add a buffering agent (Ca/Mg) and then you add your nutrient.......If you run hydro. It is , without a doubt , the best way to the biggest, fastest buds you will see.....period!

Adding back more ppms for what ever reason is like shooting yourself in the foot!!!!
You simply don't KNOW what is in those tap water ppms!

 

[unwine99]

WAH? RO has nothing in it,,,,,you add a buffering agent (Ca/Mg) and then you add your nutrient.......If you run hydro. It is , without a doubt , the best way to the biggest, fastest buds you will see.....period!

Adding back more ppms for what ever reason is like shooting yourself in the foot!!!!
You simply don't KNOW what is in those tap water ppms!

It depends really. If I'm running hydro, I'm using either aquaflakes or GH flora series. With aquaflakes, calmag was never necessary -- at all -- it has plenty of CaMg in it already. When I used Flora series, I would sometimes get deficiencies so I would add 5 ml a gallon to my RO before I mixed.

But now I'm running soil. I have hard water and my city's water analysis is available online -- so I do know what's in it and it has plenty of Calcium and magnesium in it already, even after I cut it down to 150 ppm with RO. That coupled with lime in the soil already, I don't need Calmag at all and my plants are happy, healthy and beautiful. I'm not sure how that's shooting myself in the foot. lol

 

[Dr. Who]

Because your spending money on RO in the form of equipment and then rendering it moot by adding what you wanted to take out in the first place.....Why?

Ca/Mg is needed by the plant,,,,,It is used in RO as a buffer (what was removed with RO) in hydro many nutrients don't include the Ca/Mg because most folks add it back to BE the buffer......(The buffer helps control the pH) Now with some nutrients there IS added Ca/Mg in dose's that make it the buffer.......

The point in hydro OR soil is that you are adding ONLY the things required by the plant for growth.....ANY extra ppm takes space from that AND the plant has to deal with it.....

Sorry, but I like,,NO ,, LOVE to know exactly what is in my feeding and to manipulate in exact ways.....Nothing in my way!

 

[unwine99]

Because your spending money on RO in the form of equipment and then rendering it moot by adding what you wanted to take out in the first place.....Why?

Ca/Mg is needed by the plant,,,,,It is used in RO as a buffer (what was removed with RO) in hydro many nutrients don't include the Ca/Mg because most folks add it back to BE the buffer......(The buffer helps control the pH) Now with some nutrients there IS added Ca/Mg in dose's that make it the buffer.......

The point in hydro OR soil is that you are adding ONLY the things required by the plant for growth.....ANY extra ppm takes space from that AND the plant has to deal with it.....

Sorry, but I like,,NO ,, LOVE to know exactly what is in my feeding and to manipulate in exact ways.....Nothing in my way!

Welp, to each his own. My plants have never been healthier and I'm saving money by not having to buy calmag. Works for me. Plus, when I decide I'm bored of soil and ready to return to hydro, I still have my RO.

 

[az2000]

You simply don't KNOW what is in those tap water ppms!

In the US water providers are required by federal law to publish an annual water quality report. This gives some knowledge of what's in any individual's tap water, for the ca:mg ratio. (Ideal is in the 2:1 to 3:1 range. If the soil has a healthy amount of dolomite amended into it, that might not matter as much. Mine is 2:1 based upon my city's annual water quality report.).

In my case, when I reduced my tap water down to a desirable starting ppm (120-180 range) using RO water, and stopped using calmag, my final ph of nutrient solution was almost a full point higher. It was like unwinding some "shots to the foot."

If I were in hydro I might do 100% RO and use calmag. But, in soil it hasn't seemed to matter. I stopped 100% RO, stopped calmag and stopped ph-up. The plants like it, I'm spending less, hauling less RO water, and spending less time as a mad scientist over a bucket of water.

Because your spending money on RO in the form of equipment and then rendering it moot by adding what you wanted to take out in the first place.....Why?

I fill a 5-gal jug at the dispenser. I haul less often.

If I bought a RO filter for in-home use, I'd use less of the water dispensed -- prolonging the life of the filters and membrane.

Just a matter of perspective.

 

[crawlintbss]

My first grow i did distilled water, monitored my feeding levels and calmag and ph ever feeding. was alot of work and i had alot of calmag issues all grow due to ph fluctuation.

Now my 2nd grow ive decided to try and stop monitoring it so much and used tap water since we are on a well, and just giving 2 droppers of calmag every watering. Feeding every other watering. Ive had ZERO problems so far on this grow and saving me $ on the water this go around.

As long as its getting a decent amount of calmag you should be okay but just cause you get a ppm reading doesnt necessarily mean that its cal and mag in that water.

Good luck brotha!

 

[Dr. Who]

In the US water providers are required by federal law to publish an annual water quality report. This gives some knowledge of what's in any individual's tap water,
Just a matter of perspective.

Annual,,,,it fluctuates

But that doesn't matter.....What you do works for you.....right? Good enough!
Same goes for unwine too!

When I run hydro I still choose RO and that works for me......and that's good enough for me!

As was said above...

As long as its getting a decent amount of calmag you should be okay but just cause you get a ppm reading doesnt necessarily mean that its cal and mag in that water.

Good luck brotha!

Good Luck to all!