distilled or tap water?

Botany101

Botany101

Active Member
is distilled water good to use all the way threw both stages or should i switch it a tap water with minerals in it with fox farm cha ching for the flowering?
 
VoidObject

VoidObject

DWC/Bubbleponics Mod
I use distilled water all the way. Make sure whatever nutes your using doesn't make the ph go up, which is rare but can happen. It's also fine to flush with distilled water without lower PH.
 
Botany101

Botany101

Active Member
oh awesome yah ive been checking ph daily an its staying rite where it needs to be. but yah same ive always used distilled

what about if i had a mag def or something an i was gonna make an epsom salt mix would i still just use distilled
 
squarepush3r

squarepush3r

Well-Known Member
From what I understand, distilled water is basically *0 ppm* water. This may be overkill, however if you have an easy access to distilled water at a low cost, then it is very pure. With distilled water, you have to add all your own nutrients, however tap water normally has an innate ppm, with trace elements of calcium, magnesium, chlorine (added to control pathogens).

So, I guess once you take a few factors into account, both could work. I hear people sometimes 'vent' chlorine/tap water for 24-48 hours to let the chlorine evaporate out.
 
m420p

m420p

Well-Known Member
I know in hydro you can use tap water usually when it has a ppm under 200 and isn't heavy in one mineral such as iron, idk how big of a difference it would be in soil. My tap water has 600-700+ ppm and is very heavy in Iron so I CANT use it in my hydro. Distilled does essentially have a ppm of "0" and has no minerals in it therefore it would be smart to use Cal/Mag along with your other nutes if your using distilled or RO water. It replaces the Cal. Mag. and Iron that is removed when filtered that is essential for healthy plant growth at the right ratio. Also most companies create their nutrients expecting the customer to use tap water but not over 200 ppm(this was told to me by a customer service rep from AN). Hope this helps.
 
Izoc666

Izoc666

Well-Known Member
I usually use tap water because its contain some good trace of elements like cal-mag....if im using RO, i will dilute with fertilizers, again some fertlizers already have cal-mag. If fertilizers dont have any cal-mag then you should add with cal mag plus....
 
Botany101

Botany101

Active Member
ill have some call mag in about 3 days or so along with some other nutrients, caus yah i was using organic soil that i dont believe had any mag in it im not sure about calcium either it was an organic soil, so i got some fox farm grow big, some cal mag, an some cha ching so i should be alllll goood

thanks for the helpfull info on the water and what not, since im getting the cal mag im gonna go ahead an keep using distilled water an add call mag to it accordingly.
the dosage of cal mag is 1tsp per gallon rite?
 
m420p

m420p

Well-Known Member
Botany101 said:
ill have some call mag in about 3 days or so along with some other nutrients, caus yah i was using organic soil that i dont believe had any mag in it im not sure about calcium either it was an organic soil, so i got some fox farm grow big, some cal mag, an some cha ching so i should be alllll goood

thanks for the helpfull info on the water and what not, since im getting the cal mag im gonna go ahead an keep using distilled water an add call mag to it accordingly.
the dosage of cal mag is 1tsp per gallon rite?
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Ya, 1 teaspoon or 5 ml a gal is about right. This site says to use 7 ml a gal. so that's about what I use. If they are younger plants you might want to start with a little less.
 
Botany101

Botany101

Active Member
ok cool yah there kinda young about 40 days or so.
canoe'ing of leaves is most likely because the lights to close rite? i did just put new nutes into the soil 2 days ago caus i had some def's but it was only a quarter shot of nutes so its most likely the light u think? ive already lowered it but that was like 30 mins ago so i cant really tell anything yet
 
m420p

m420p

Well-Known Member
Botany101 said:
ok cool yah there kinda young about 40 days or so.
canoe'ing of leaves is most likely because the lights to close rite? i did just put new nutes into the soil 2 days ago caus i had some def's but it was only a quarter shot of nutes so its most likely the light u think? ive already lowered it but that was like 30 mins ago so i cant really tell anything yet
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"canoe'ing" never heard that expression but I know what you mean, I've heard it called taco leaves but ya it is most likely heat stress from being to close to the light. That can also be caused by low ph but I doubt that's your problem. If its nute burn the leaves will droop downwards usually with some burning.
 
Botany101

Botany101

Active Member
haha they look like lil canoes, ive never heard of taco leaves tho lol
but yah my guess is the light i lowered em but there is a possibility it could be nute burning because i had a slight def so i added just a quarter shot of nutes an i noticed a few of the tips started to point downward an i know that has to do with to many nutes. but i dont believe i added enough nutes to do any real damage, it was 2/10's the full dose i think it just needs time would you agree?
 
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