Hard Water

So I'd been experiencing some plant problems, and my plants were un-responsive to nutrients even though they were showing signs of deficiency. I recently got a TDS meter and my tap water comes out somewhere between 260-300 PPM when I measure it. I've read that the issue with hard water is that it forms an insoluble precipitate. I bought enough distilled water for their next watering or two, If I continue to use that, is it okay to leave my plants in their current pots, or could the hard water have caused harmful accumulations in my soil requiring me to transplant? Also, paying each time I need water seems quite impractical, had any of you had this issue and what is the best/most cost efficient way to address it? Thanks all!

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Estrange said:

Also, paying each time I need water seems quite impractical, had any of you had this issue and what is the best/most cost efficient way to address it?

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My tap water is around 600-700ppm. I used RO water with 2ml CalMag+ to add back a small amount of minerals lost in RO water.

Recently, I began mixing tap and RO to get 150-200 ppm starting point. So far, it's working fine. One thing that surprised me is that my final PH is almost 1 point higher. The calmag appeared to be highly acidic. I'm not adjusting ph now, or I do a little ph down sometimes.

Mixing tap and RO reduces the amount of RO you use. In my area there are RO dispensers everywhere for 25 cents per gallon. That's less expensive than installing an RO filter. (RO filters don't last long in my area either due to the hardness of the water. They cost more replacing filters frequently. If I were doing a large hydro grow I'd do it. But, for soil, the dispenser works out better. In your case, you should only need 50/50 tap and RO water.).

buy this
http://www.mytrimmer.com/stealth-ro100-reverse-osmosis-filter-h/

Hey thanks for all the responses! So my biggest concern is, is the damage already done to the soil? Since this water caused nutrient lockout will lowering my ppm of tds help or is it necessary to transplant to fix this deficiency in addition to different water?

Estrange said:

Hey thanks for all the responses! So my biggest concern is, is the damage already done to the soil? Since this water caused nutrient lockout will lowering my ppm of tds help or is it necessary to transplant to fix this deficiency in addition to different water?

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Any ideas on this?

Estrange said:

Hey thanks for all the responses! So my biggest concern is, is the damage already done to the soil? Since this water caused nutrient lockout will lowering my ppm of tds help or is it necessary to transplant to fix this deficiency in addition to different water?

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I believe all it does is create nutrient lockout. The PPMs of the water compete with the PPMs of the nutrients. The plants are probably just hungry. Start feeding with RO water or RO/Tap mixed for 120-180ppm. Feed for a lot of runoff if you think the residual hard water content remains in the soil causing a problem. Like, 50% runoff the first time, 20% after that.

get yourself a 18 gallon tote a quality air pump with a couple stones air that shit out so you can use your tap water .my tap water runs 275 ppm i keep my tote full pump on all time and when i get ready to use it ,it has broke down to less than 100 ,i got a lot of fucking clorine in mine.but you can air stone it for 24 hrs and you will see huge difference

az2000 said:

I believe all it does is create nutrient lockout. The PPMs of the water compete with the PPMs of the nutrients. The plants are probably just hungry. Start feeding with RO water or RO/Tap mixed for 120-180ppm. Feed for a lot of runoff if you think the residual hard water content remains in the soil causing a problem. Like, 50% runoff the first time, 20% after that.

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I didn't realize that's how this worked, thanks for the advice, I'll try this and hopefully have happier plants soon.