PPM TDS (EC/CF) in Water.

My tap water has an EC 0.5, which is quite high.
This causes problems, specially when plants are very young.
If I add the slightest bit of nutrients the EC is too high - 0.5 is about right for seedlings, cuttings and very young plants.

Is the EC0.5 (320 ppm of TDS) nutrition?

To clarify:
WHAT, IN MY TAP WATER, CREATES THE EC LEVEL?

If I took pure water (EC0.0) and added Canna Aqua Vega A & B until it was EC0.5....
What difference would there be to tap water with a normally occurring EC0.5 ???

I understand that specially made nutrients will have ingredients specifically to maximise cannabis growth
but does tap water contain anything similar ???

EDIT
Before I have my EC to PPM ratio corrected
European ratio (EC1.0=PPM 640) is different to
North American (EC1.0=PPM 500).
(Australia has EC1.0=PPM 700).

Are you on a well? If so you might want to get it tested so you know the baseline.
A very experienced grower here told me plants can get through their first 4 weeks with plain water.

Your water prolly has iron, calcium, etc in it. My city water has a fair amount of calcium.

idk what to say as i'm not that sciency.
I hope the water gurus will weigh in and help you out.

killemsoftly said:

Are you on a well? If so you might want to get it tested so you know the baseline.
A very experienced grower here told me plants can get through their first 4 weeks with plain water.

Your water prolly has iron, calcium, etc in it. My city water has a fair amount of calcium.

idk what to say as i'm not that sciency.
I hope the water gurus will weigh in and help you out.

Click to expand...

It's supplied through pipes by Yorkshire Water.
I researched it enough to find out that its high TDS is due to it coming from 'chalk aquifers'.

Despite being assured it was perfectly harmless (I couldn't respond "Not for my marijuana plants!")
the build up of limescale on my kettle needs taking care of every 4 or 5 weeks -
or the last mouthful of cups of tea/coffee are crunchy.

I tend to mix 60% rainwater with 40% tap
this provides a baseline of EC0.2-0.3 and pH 6.8 - 7.1
(but now I'm battling a build up of algae).

I CAN FIND A MORE DETAILED BREAKDOWN OF THE CONTENTS ON THE WATER COMPANY WEBSITE.
What I am wondering is HOW MUCH NUTRITION IS CONTAINED BEFORE ANYTHING IS ADDED?

NorthofEngland said:

It's supplied through pipes by Yorkshire Water.
I researched it enough to find out that its high TDS is due to it coming from 'chalk aquifers'.
.

Click to expand...

I hope a water guru can help you out with this.
I can think of a couple things
the feasability of reverse osmosis h2o is worth looking into
a water analysis could also be helpful
i know that here in Canada people send water and soil to uni's, for a fee, for analysis

imho, I've seen a number of posts from you over the last few months where you're having nagging problems
I might not be right but my sense of things is that you might seen some or all dissappear if you get this water issue nailed down

best of luck noe

killemsoftly said:

I hope a water guru can help you out with this.
I can think of a couple things
the feasability of reverse osmosis h2o is worth looking into
a water analysis could also be helpful
i know that here in Canada people send water and soil to uni's, for a fee, for analysis

imho, I've seen a number of posts from you over the last few months where you're having nagging problems
I might not be right but my sense of things is that you might seen some or all dissappear if you get this water issue nailed down

best of luck noe

Click to expand...

RO would be an expensive option.
I'm on a meter (the more I use, the more I pay)
and RO usually wastes 400%
5 litres will provide 1 litre of RO'd water
More expensive RO systems are more efficient
but they're expensive.

I'm getting a better system for harvesting rain.
UV light algae filter pump
Barrel with light proofing and sealed lid.

Generally in the uk most water companies add
Nitrates
Phosphates(helps to fight pipe corrosion)
Calcium
Magnesium
Flouride (to keep us all in check, not for your teeth, look at Flouride use and hitler)
Chlorine/chloramine
Plus possibly some others.

Coming from chalk aquafiers I would say its massively high in calcium and too much Ca can lead to other nutrient uptake issues.


J

Does your water company not do an annual typical analysis of reservoirs as part of the municipal water system? I checked the main water body for my city (which has privately owned retail sales companies), which overseas the I think 5 or 6 reservoirs in the state, provide full typical analysis of each, and then provide reasonably detailed information about which reservoirs service different parts of the city. So I was able to get the analysis for all reservoirs, get a mean value for each mineral for my tap water (which is near enough 0EC neutral pH). I'd be surprised if similar information wasn't available in the UK, surely. Goodluck