should my water smell this bad?

so i just smelled my water i am giving my plants, and it smells pretty bad. almost like poop.

i just did regular tap (i think we have some hard water here), added a some molasses, and a little bit of high nitrogen plant food just to help bring the pH down.

the water had been sitting for about a week. is this normal? i wasnt sure if the molasses fed any stinky bacteria. how long should water sit before you use it?

Poland spring is an ideal bottled water with a perfect amount of PH, no extra bad shit, Tap water sucks...

Keep It Simple------if you wouldnt drink it dont feed it to your plants....dont add fertilizer or molasses to the water until the day of feeding (might help) I have never used molasses but make sure its organic and all that, BTW Ive heard people complain about how its messy and can stink...but have no personal exp.

Do you have a water pump or air stone in your water, because if you don't you should go out and get one. Stagnant water is never good, you could be introducing any number of molds, fungus, or bugs into your grow. Some fertilizers do smell like "poop", because most of them are made atleast in part out of poop, but letting a solution sit for 1 week is almost never a good idea. Get that water moving and don't let nutes sit that long.

regrets said:

Do you have a water pump or air stone in your water, because if you don't you should go out and get one. Stagnant water is never good, you could be introducing any number of molds, fungus, or bugs into your grow. Some fertilizers do smell like "poop", because most of them are made atleast in part out of poop, but letting a solution sit for 1 week is almost never a good idea. Get that water moving and don't let nutes sit that long.

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very very good lesson. yeah i didnt know you couldnt store nutes that long. glad its in the beginning of flowering vs. the end.

Why would you let water sit for a week? Never let it sit for more then a day or two.

Stagnant water is super duper bad like hard core

I added some honey to my water once - a few days later it smelt bloody horrible, like fizzy-something REALLY gone off...so I ditched it, rinsed the bottle and continued with normal ferts!

I had a different bottle which I was using for a while with some yellow-green mold in the bottom so I chucked it just in case!

I've just been filling 2 ltr bottles with water and nutes and it lasts for 2-3 weeks depending on how much I'm watering...

The sim's Bob Newbie said:

I added some honey to my water once - a few days later it smelt bloody horrible, like fizzy-something REALLY gone off...so I ditched it, rinsed the bottle and continued with normal ferts!

I had a different bottle which I was using for a while with some yellow-green mold in the bottom so I chucked it just in case!

I've just been filling 2 ltr bottles with water and nutes and it lasts for 2-3 weeks depending on how much I'm watering...

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yeah, its just one of those minor details that is very important. yeah i have been pHing my water and letting it sit for a like a week. i have rinsed out my jugs and sterilized them, so as long as my plant doesnt die right now, it should be smooth sailing from here on out.

water stagnates when your not using an airstone or circulating pump, It will do more harm than good

thats molasses wich is going bad there. theyre spoil(sour) all water in fief days.

just add molassess right before you feed your plants.


anyway bottle with clean water in it can smell bad too if bottle is used fief times.

poutineeh said:

very very good lesson. yeah i didnt know you couldnt store nutes that long. glad its in the beginning of flowering vs. the end.

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You can do a premix if you use hydro nutes. GH told me its fine up to 2 weeks. (and fine for soil) Only prob I see is pH drift with the tap water.

FF told me not to let the mixed water sit more then a day.

Don't use organic if premixing, it will rot and smell.

hehehe so manny different opinions. your watter could have a little bit of sulfer in it, not horable but it means theres mettals and other minnerals in your watter and that isnt good for plants, dont wana smoke iron do u. leaving your watter sit out is actualy a verry good idea.

when u take the watter from the tap dont use warm or hot watter. cold as u can get it is the best, there is iron and other minnerals in the hot watter. when u take the water and put it into a gallon jug or just a bunch of waterbottles, just leave them sitting out at room temp. this evaporates chemicals in the watter like chlorine.

so just use the coldest water u can get and let it sit for a while ( day or 2 ) then cover and use like normal.

u could also just use the water from the water machines at stores. dont use n e bottled water unless it says "product of reverse osmosis" on it. the stuff from the stores should be that and its like 35 cents a gallon.

GlassFreak is right on most counts. you actually don't want water to "Sit" for too long . a day or 2 is fine, but a week is not. also make sure you have the water covered at all times, dont have it sitting open to the air. all sorts of pathogens, dust, mold, bacteria, insects can and will get into your water. IF your afraid of the chlorine gas being caught in there then you can just pop it open for a second to clear it all out. be as clean as you possibly can. other than that hes right on all counts.

You don't need molasses at this point, use some hydro nutes. Less is more.


BTW GlassFreak, nice sig, from Def Leppard and "HighLander"?

I'm just confused as to why it needs to be cold water. The source of cold and hot water is the same.

If you are gonna let it sit for a while toss an airstone in it bubbling away.

so i have filled up 3 gallon jugs with freshly filtered brita water, and then i added about 2 tsps of h202 to stop any bacteria from growing. im not too concerned about too much h202, since i figure it will convert mostly to oxygen by the time i use it.

do you think this is a good method to store regular water for probably a week or two?

edit: i did this just for connivence sake, just incase i need to flush etc., all the water will be chlorine free and available.

BigBudBalls said:

I'm just confused as to why it needs to be cold water. The source of cold and hot water is the same.

If you are gonna let it sit for a while toss an airstone in it bubbling away.

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Your right and wrong, my friend.

Water is comes into your house via the city or a well.

The cold water isnt stored anywhere. BUT your hot water is, hence a Hot Water Tank / Heater. Water stored in here can build up sediment, which usually drops to the bottom of the tank. This is why most people will not use hot water to cook with. Most use cold water and boil it.

Well thats for the lazy people that never drain the hot water heater. Should be done at least once a year. (I'm one of the lazy ones)

(some have tankless heaters too )

P0t Sm0k3r said:

Your right and wrong, my friend.

Water is comes into your house via the city or a well.

The cold water isnt stored anywhere. BUT your hot water is, hence a Hot Water Tank / Heater. Water stored in here can build up sediment, which usually drops to the bottom of the tank. This is why most people will not use hot water to cook with. Most use cold water and boil it.

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BigBudBalls said:

I'm just confused as to why it needs to be cold water. The source of cold and hot water is the same.

If you are gonna let it sit for a while toss an airstone in it bubbling away.

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cold water doesnt run through your old funky water heater containg a bunch on rust and other heavy metals you dont want in you water....I always use cold water if possible then let it sit until room temp