We all care for our grows immensely. That's why we fuss, spend money, fuss some more, spend more money, and fuss still more.
So why oh why do so many of you guys water your precious plants with nasty sink water?
And I can't believe the number of RIU poster who go around saying tap water is fine and that buying filtering devices is a waste of money. I think these dopes are spreading bad information, prompting beginners to think that their tap water is fine.
Tap water is perfect for plants although you need to know whats in there first so you can amend and accomodate for. Hydro growers use Ro water and add the cal/mag back in to the water, RO water and 100ppm of cal/mag is pure perfect for most hydro grows, soil however is different, if you want to post your tap water analysis figures as issued by your water company for situations like these and for health concerns then i would be more than happy to translate them into plant specific details.
Nasty sink water, surely not if you know what its chemical analysis is, cal/mag is the first concern and then other ingredients, pH makes little difference in soil as its more to do with the effects Ammoniacal nitrogen has on the soil pH and cannot be read by a simple pH meter. Its all cool dude but nasty sink water just means ingnorance when you could be determining the cal/mag levels and even simply wether its hard or soft water. You can ppm your water to find out this although this way takes no consideration of the cal/mag ratios and percentages. I water at pH8.1 and my tap water is between 50 to 70ppm with mainly calcium and little magnesium so a simple cal/mag supplement allows me to ppm it to 150/200ppm which is exactly where my soil grown plants like it to be and between ideally as close to the ratios 3:1 cal to mag.
I dont have to be so strict because i add lime to my soil but generally this is what i aim for. Please give me some hard data and fact before you call tap water stinky, i dont even pH mine and its real good stuff.
Evian has near perfect cal/mag levels and close to neutral pH, if you buy spring water you wont go wrong with this stuff and more than enough cal/mag. Notice the ppm dry residue is less than the total ppm this relates to each minerals particular charge.
I took the time to find out what exactly my tapwater was and wasnt, hydro growers are not soil growers! Peace