Tapwater in Mesa *noob here*

you will run in to issues if you are using water right from the tap to the system you are using buy r/o water

I use tap water all the time, I let it set 24hrs before using to allow chlorine to evaporate use GH Flora series nutes and ph after mixing, no problems.

I don't use tap. If you do though let it sit 24 hrs so the chlorine evaporates

Read a City of Mesa water report and first try to determine if the source of water you are getting is consistent at all, or even get it analyzed. It's better to get this done than to lose something you spend money on. Everyone in different parts of the city gets their water from different wells, canals, so it's gonna be a real crapshoot as to what you have. Your well water might be fine, or you might be getting really high Calcium/Mag/Fe/Zn levels and causing major lockout... Straight RO is a great way to flush your plants of salts during the finishing stages (for those that feel they need to), but also a great way to strip your plant of some vital minerals it needs during the growth cycle. Be careful about watering straight RO.

A better solution would be to get an R/O system, or purchase R/O at the store and use it in conjunction with your tap 2 parts RO to 1 part tap, which will take care of most "hard" waters without making them completely void of minerals.

Also, contact the city of Mesa or check your most recent local water report to find out if your water is chlorinated, or being cleaned with CHLORAMINE. Never use water with Chloramine, unless you buy the proper products to remove it. Water with chlorine is fine to use, if you take care to dechlorinate it as much as possible. There are many ways to dechlorinate water, which is why it's not an issue.

Sorry for the lengthy answer, hopefully that helps.

you can use tap water with hydro. bottom line. yes r/o water would be better, but if you dont want to invest in an r/o system or lug jugs around like me, you can use tap water just fine. imo and experience the only thing to really watch for is calcium/salt buildup on your emitters and medium. i used tap water and botanicare cns17 through a whole grow with no adverse effects, just crusty topsoil. (however, if you are an aficianado, you might argue that chlorine and deposits could effect the taste of meds, i couldnt tell)

our water may be stored in canals or who knows where but it all goes through a water treatment center before it goes in the pipes, and its all treated with chlorine and chloramines. you can use tap water even if it doesn't sit first, chlorine isn't going to hurt your plant, it may not have grown to its full potential, but you'd never know. most of us never let our plants get big enough to see "full potential" anyway and full potential only exists under true sunlight, so don't worry about itty bitty chlorine.

organic and veganic gardeners stay away from chlorine and chloramines because it kills all the beneficial organisms we need to breakdown the organic matter we use to feed our plants, but in a hydro setup, you have no beneficials to kill i would use r/o if you can just to help your system stay cleaner, plus its nice to know whats in there (or whats not in there). I used r/o water(40ppm) through my last grow because i paid a lot of money for my house and garden lineup (claims to be the cleanest available lineup) and it didn't make sense to me to dirty it up with my tap water(840ppm) r/o water will also need to a cal/mag supplement

Tap all day! RO water for last week!

I plan to invest in a reverse osmosis filtration system soon myself. Currently I am just using well water though which seems to be perfectly fine, less shit than is in the public water system.

My buddies who live in town go fill their jugs of water though rather than using tap water. If you have one close, it is rather inexpensive to fill up your jugs.

Originally Posted by st0ned

I plan to invest in a reverse osmosis filtration system soon myself. Currently I am just using well water though which seems to be perfectly fine, less shit than is in the public water system.

My buddies who live in town go fill their jugs of water though rather than using tap water. If you have one close, it is rather inexpensive to fill up your jugs.

I used to do that shit before I bought the R/O system it wasnt so bad except in the summer and it wasnt that expensive I would fill up six 5 gallon jugs for about 10 bucks... Word of the wise DO NOT BUY A R/O system from home depot.. Buy one thats meant for hydroponics. The ones at home depot work just as well and are fine for drinking water, but they only allow you anywhere from 15-30 gallons a day. Also please realize that most R/O units have a waste ratio of 3:1 meaning you will have to put 3 gallons of unfiltered water down the drain to get one gallon of R/O water.. My pressure is about 60 psi and I get 30 gallons in about 6 hours.