High pH and chloramine in (Berkeley, CA) tap water for outdoor grow: treat it or not?

SF220 said:

I'm in Berkeley. I got a water hose filter and some chlorine/chloramine test strips being delivered this friday. I'll let you know the results. You're overthinking the PH thing. Some mediums you don't need to worry about it at all. I'm growing hydro, so I do. Just get a cheap electric PH tester and toss in a little distilled vinegar if you need to lower it. Do this at the end, once you're done whipping up your feed water. It is around 9 out here, but once I add my nutes I'm usually right at 6.0 which is perfect. If you ever need to raise it, use a little baking soda to bring it back. Amounts are pretty consistent once you start getting things dialed in.

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One reason I worry about the pH is because of the worm castings compost tea I brew for the vege garden -- it's apparently super important for the microbes in that and they like it around 6-6.5. It would certainly be like me to overthink things, though, you are right about that possibility. I do have an electronic tester that's super easy to use. And I've got the amount of Vitamin C dialed in now so I can just fill up my big 60 gallon drum, add a tablespoon of the Vitamin C, and the pH goes from 9.4 to 6.3 and also neutralizes the Choramine at the same time. I'd be interested in hearing about your test strips.

Cheers,

~j

Here's the test strips I bought


If I see any difference with the hose filter I bought, I'll send you a link to it in a couple days.

If I'm still finding chloramine in my water, I plan on buying some aquarium water conditioner to tame it, though your vitamin-C method may be more cost effective for what you're doing.

Let the water sit I live in the east bay check my plants. If you let sit for 24 hours you will be fine been growing in east bay for over 10 years.

dirrtyd said:

Let the water sit I live in the east bay check my plants. If you let sit for 24 hours you will be fine been growing in east bay for over 10 years.

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I've been letting it sit, but from my understanding, chloramine (which ebmud uses) is much harder to break down than regular chlorine.

Chloramines stay in the water system longer than chlorine and can be difficult to remove—boiling, distilling and standing uncovered are not effective.

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From what I've read, UV and aeration isn't too effective either. I'm sure we can still get great results with standard-ish tap, but I'm trying to get the most out of my efforts.

SF220 said:

I've been letting it sit, but from my understanding, chloramine (which ebmud uses) is much harder to break down than regular chlorine.

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Trust me been doing this for awhile I live in San Lorenzo also the Kellogg’s patio plus is great at Home Depot . When I first started using it was 4.50 a bag now it is 6.27 . You will be fine trust me I’m local I know your environment no guessing here.

SF220 said:

I've been letting it sit, but from my understanding, chloramine (which ebmud uses) is much harder to break down than regular chlorine.

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Trust me been doing this for awhile I live in San Lorenzo also the Kellogg’s patio plus is great at Home Depot . When I first started using it was 4.50 a bag now it is 6.27 . You will be fine trust me I’m local I know your environment no guessing here.

Four different strains

greendream9 said:

Thanks for the info!

For the mixer, this guy, right?
https://www.amazon.com/Dramm-22625-Syphonject-Siphon-External/dp/B002KCY2WS/ref=sr_1_11?dchild=1&keywords=dramm+mixer&qid=1589132406&s=lawn-garden&sr=1-11

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Yes. But a pressure regulator is necessary or the little clear, in-line back flow device will blow apart: https://www.amazon.com/Regulator-Adjustable-Pressure-U-S-Solid/dp/B07171VDQR/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=u.s.+brass+pressure+regulator&qid=1592315319&s=industrial&sr=1-3

I've been watering my plants with water straight from the tap for decades. We have chlorine and chloramine in the water here. Plant's could care less.

Chloramine is way overblown. It's not the boogeyman. Actual scientific studies have shown that the levels of chloramine and chlorine in tap water have no effect on the health of plants and while some microbes may be killed off they rebound back to their previous levels in about a day.

So much nonsense going on in the cannabis growing world. People act like cannabis is some plant that has all these special requirements and needs that other plants don't. It doesn't. Cannabis is one of the easiest plants to grow. People that have problems are causing those problems themselves by overthinking everything instead of just letting the plant grow. Tap water is fine 99% of the time.

The only thing non-organic about my Kellogg's Raised-Bed soil (organic as all git out!) and Milstop, Rockwell Labs. 3-in One insecticide, and Cease (bud rot warder-away-er, also organic), is the dad-blame Jack's nutes (since 1946) which isn't organic.... but Jack's loves chlorine or chloramines, and does not need ph-ing ever. So if you can break away from organic nutes, then using Jack's will make your life a whole lot easier. PH-ing water is a Hydroponics sales gimmick. You'll spend all of your time trying to figure out if "chlorine, chlorine, clorox, whatever" is making your leaves turn yellow, etc. etc........ WHAT B.S. Simplify your life. Jack's Rules farm life. Break free from PH misery.
To save repeating myself, should you like to know my whole outdoor/greenhouse technique, using "farmer's" all safe-recommended grow materials, skim through these pages. The only items that are not "farmer researched" are the organic Rockwell Labs 3-in-One insecticide (only released in 2017), and my radical "defoliation method" for open-cage growing (which worked out bud-fine w/ less leaf trimming when cured).
"There's 100 ways to grow the weed, and they all work" - farmer (who only believes scientific literature that ends with .edu)

hydra-glide said:

The only thing non-organic about my Kellogg's Raised-Bed soil (organic as all git out!) and Milstop, Rockwell Labs. 3-in One insecticide, and Cease (bud rot warder-away-er, also organic), is the dad-blame Jack's nutes (since 1946) which isn't organic.... but Jack's loves chlorine or chloramines, and does not need ph-ing ever. So if you can break away from organic nutes, then using Jack's will make your life a whole lot easier. PH-ing water is a Hydroponics sales gimmick. You'll spend all of your time trying to figure out if "chlorine, chlorine, clorox, whatever" is making your leaves turn yellow, etc. etc........ WHAT B.S. Simplify your life. Jack's Rules farm life. Break free from PH misery.

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When I was doing flood and drain I actually used clorox bleach in my reservoirs to keep them sterile. Much cheaper than all the cannabis products that do the same thing. The plants didn't care that there was an extra 4 -5 ppm of sodium hypochlorite in the nutrient solution but it kept the roots white and rot free.