RuggedWombat
Well-Known Member
What exactly determines the best qualities of tap water for growing and what are the limits on different aspects of the water's profile that would represent the limits for what you would feed a plant? Obviously I know there are people here that dump runoff water from a long John silvers dumpster through their plants and "have for years with no issues," but what works one person may not work for everyone else. The first aspect Id like to find out is alkalinity. I live pretty close to the coast so my tap has about 180 PPM and I believe could be very high in carbonate/bicarbonate levels which I know can wreak havoc on PH over time. Is it that much of a concern though? How much neutralizing of its effects can be achieved through phosphoric acid? I guess I'm still a bit fuzzy on exactly how important the presence or absence of carbonate bicarbonate is in my tap water. I know RO is the ultimate solution but I can't afford that many gallons or a decent setup at this point so starting with what I can potentially control. I know others in the past have said a water test from the water company, but it was abbreviations and numbers; a layman would have no idea what they were looking at.
