snoeman032
Well-Known Member
Ok I ran spring water last grow but that shit got expensive fast. I have a 32 gallon trash can full of tap water with a fish tank pump bubbling the water 24/7 would this water be ok? If so what ph should it be at?
Tap water, good or bad?
- Thread starter snoeman032
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TintEastwood
Well-Known Member
Whats the ph and tds of the tap water? Check with you water company for a water quality report.
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
depends on your tap water, most of it is fine.
unless it has very high ppm, it won't hurt your plants. chlorine in the amounts found in most municipal water systems is actually good for them...they ain't fish. if your city water has very low ppm, you may need to add a little cal mag to it, a lot of the ppm in most water systems is calcium in varying forms...
if you're growing in soil, and trying to run beneficial organisms, the chlorine and chloramine will hurt them, how badly depends on how strong it is...chlorine will probably be at negligible levels after 24 hours with bubbling, but it will take at least three to get the chloramine down to insignificant levels. neither are going to hurt your plants, but they will cook your benes if they're strong enough
p.s....when you bubble, its more effective to get the stones close enough to the surface to keep it moving vigorously...you aren't actually trying to aerate the water, you're trying to maximize surface area in contact with the air....
unless it has very high ppm, it won't hurt your plants. chlorine in the amounts found in most municipal water systems is actually good for them...they ain't fish. if your city water has very low ppm, you may need to add a little cal mag to it, a lot of the ppm in most water systems is calcium in varying forms...
if you're growing in soil, and trying to run beneficial organisms, the chlorine and chloramine will hurt them, how badly depends on how strong it is...chlorine will probably be at negligible levels after 24 hours with bubbling, but it will take at least three to get the chloramine down to insignificant levels. neither are going to hurt your plants, but they will cook your benes if they're strong enough
p.s....when you bubble, its more effective to get the stones close enough to the surface to keep it moving vigorously...you aren't actually trying to aerate the water, you're trying to maximize surface area in contact with the air....
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Renfro
Well-Known Member
Check the PPM of the tap water. If it's not too high then you can use it. Less than 100 PPM is great, less than 150 is ok. Above 200 is bad IMO.
You pH after you add nutrients. The correct pH depends on the style of grow. If you are in soil or a peat based soiless mix you wanna be at 6.5
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
peat is best around 6, 6.5 will get you lockouts in peat...my personal experience, not a chart im going off of, i've found that coco likes it between 5.8 and 6.0, peat seems to like 6.0-6.1
snoeman032
Well-Known Member
My ppm is 139
Roger A. Shrubber
Well-Known Member
that should be no problem...i'd add about half the recommended amount of cal mag to your feed once a week and that should just about cover your calcium
Tap water is way cheaper than bottled water. Sounds like yours is not too bad. If you are worried about the chlorine, take the lid off the trash can, the chlorine will off gas in 24 or so hours. Your air pump will help speed that up a bit too. Some municipal water sources also use chlormine in addition to chlorine to sanitize the water. Chlormine does not off gas. To get rid of both, campden tablets work wonders. Can get them at any beer and wine making supply shop for cheap. One tablet treats 20 gallons and will not harm plants or humans. 
Kingrow1
Well-Known Member
Chloromine has an endothermic half life in soil of a day or so approx. It would be dangerous under pressure in a pipe to colonies trying to establish but really wont even touch the sides of the billion or so bacteria in every gram of soil thats heavily established.Tap water is way cheaper than bottled water. Sounds like yours is not too bad. If you are worried about the chlorine, take the lid off the trash can, the chlorine will off gas in 24 or so hours. Your air pump will help speed that up a bit too. Some municipal water sources also use chlormine in addition to chlorine to sanitize the water. Chlormine does not off gas. To get rid of both, campden tablets work wonders. Can get them at any beer and wine making supply shop for cheap. One tablet treats 20 gallons and will not harm plants or humans.
If your water company isnt using just chloramine it is reasonably behind the times as most have made the switch - much cheaper easier to dose and longer acting makes the gas pointless but it depends on the cash available for each company to modernize its works.
This is but one chemicle - there are worse but all are in human and plant tolerable amounts under the world water laws and guideline (which dont take into account poor places).
So water away there is no fear and if it could kill bacteria and such i wouldnt be scrubbing toilets showers sinks and such plus my garden would be a dusty wasteland everytime i turned on a sprinkler.
Dr. Who
Well-Known Member
I use mine to aerate my water......But, I don't have his issues either.... Nice answer Rog.
ThaMagnificent
Well-Known Member
It depends on your growing style. Soil you should be fine with most city tap. Hydro absolutely not since the pH is set at 7 and the chloramine keeps it at that no matter how much ph down you dump in