Tap water question!

Does anybody out there use plain old tap water without filter?? I will be doing a dwc grow and will be changing the rez every 2-3 weeks, it would be so much more easy to use the tap water and add ph down.. My tap water reads 7.0.. I understand that I have to let the tap water sit and bubble out the chlorine to use it.. But im scared of all the other chemicals and crap in it. Will I run into probs. using tap, like deficiencies and so on?? Not planning on buying an RO system or filter. If worst comes to worst, I can buy distilled water but I would rather not, its gonna be a pain in the ass.

Please help me out.

You can use plain old tap water. Like you said, let it sit for a while (overnight would be my suggestion) to let the chlorine evaporate. With tap water you should be able to avoid using Cal/Mag, or at least not use it at full strength.

...check the ppms, if they are up in the 200 to 300 range then you have hard water and might need an RO unit, ...which btw would be a way better answer than distilled water and you can pick one up for a couple hundred bucks that will get the job done in a very cost effective way, ...don't be afraid to spend money on proper equipment, it could mean the difference between success and failure.

...lol, and i'm not saying you definitely need one, just that if you do, don't cheap out or you'll regret it later.

btw, there are many hydro growers who insist on a sterile reservoir so chlorinated water is no big whoop.

peace, bozo

i use it and i don`t let it sit because chloramine or however you spell it doesn`t gas off. i use snow on my organic soil but plain old tap works great in my dwc.

puffnpaint said:

i use it and i don`t let it sit because chloramine or however you spell it doesn`t gas off. i use snow on my organic soil but plain old tap works great in my dwc.

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really chrolamine wont gas off huh? hey op by a aquarium air pump and pump your water for 48-72 hours then check the water guarantee if there's chloramine itll be gassed out, my local municipal water has chrolamine i use organic teas so you can understand the importance for me in making sure the chloaramine is gone and it is! Also your area is suppossed to post a yearly water report check that badboy out to see whats really going on in your water.

VTMi'kmaq said:

really chrolamine wont gas off huh? hey op by a aquarium air pump and pump your water for 48-72 hours then check the water guarantee if there's chloramine itll be gassed out, my local municipal water has chrolamine i use organic teas so you can understand the importance for me in making sure the chloaramine is gone and it is! Also your area is suppossed to post a yearly water report check that badboy out to see whats really going on in your water.

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...yeah man, the other guy is right, chlorine will evaporate off but chloramine won't.

peace, bozo

justanotherbozo said:

...yeah man, the other guy is right, chlorine will evaporate off but chloramine won't.

peace, bozo

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Hey try vitamin c in your water, it does help but im sure vitamin c will erase everything. I myself am convinced that chloamine will eventually get out of the water, but vitamin c im sure will do the job.It turns out im wrong, there's not chloramine in my municipal water so i apologize, i asked my father whom is a plethora of knowledge he said gac carbon filter thats what ya need. I stand corrected and i like it! Ararity here i know!

i used to have hard water for my grow op's (~244ppm) grew organic and used airpumps for minimum of 18h upto 100+h to gas chlorine out of my water. i never had any problems. i did it both in soil and DWC buckets. np stop worry, start growing . try getting around 5.5-5.8 ph for dwc. Best regards

i run multiple 50gal res's and use only tap water and never let it set out. Never a problem.

Here we have very clean tap water. Right now it is coming out at 30 ppm which is essentially RO water. I have never let the water sit out. Chlorine in the amounts used in municipal water will not harm your plants. It is beneficial in DWC systems because it sterilizes.

If you have municipal well water watch for nutrient deficiencies down the road. A lot of deep well water contains exotic minerals that can lock out trace elements. You might have to run an RO filter on well water, even if it comes out at low PPM.

Not sure you want to go weeks between change outs running DWC. I wouldn't go longer than ten days between change outs.

superstoner1 said:

i run multiple 50gal res's and use only tap water and never let it set out. Never a problem.

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Do you wait a day before adding pond zyme? 2 of my buckets have shown nasties growing and I wonder if my tap water is killing the pond zyme.

i dont wait, but i do add another dose every 4-5 days so i have never noticed a problem. i go for simplicity and i have tried the drops to remove chlorine and i have let the water set for a day but never noticed a difference worth the hassle.

thanks everyone... Im most likely gonna go with tap untill I can afford a RO system, because I really dont want to haul back and fourth big ass 5 gallon jugs of RO water or distilled water... Just droppped quite a bit on lights and fans and stuff, so I guess Ill just deal with probs. if they tend to come around.

how much max ph down can i be adding a day?? or is there no max..

if you are having to constantly add adjusters you have another issue that needs to be corrected

superstoner1 said:

if you are having to constantly add adjusters you have another issue that needs to be corrected

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well not totally. slowed down since i posted. the hydroton i used i pre soaked and ph'd at 5. i guess the dwc tub is getting dialed in because im not having to add as much ph down. i think tap water has some sort of buffer

The buffers in tap water would be calcium and magnesium. Just like you would treat RO water with cal-mag before adding your base nutrients in order to have a more stable ph.

Check your local city government website for a detailed list the chemical and physical analysis which will show every mineral detected in the water though the treatment center nearest you.

http://www.metrovancouver.org/about/publications/Publications/2011ChemicalPhysicalAnalysisSummaries.pdf
Here is an examply if you guy are interested.

If you are using less ph down, this tells me that you have less of a buffer in your water.
If you had more of a buffer, it would take more ph down to correct your ph.

mundaiis said:

The buffers in tap water would be calcium and magnesium. Just like you would treat RO water with cal-mag before adding your base nutrients in order to have a more stable ph.

Check your local city government website for a detailed list the chemical and physical analysis which will show every mineral detected in the water though the treatment center nearest you.

http://www.metrovancouver.org/about/publications/Publications/2011ChemicalPhysicalAnalysisSummaries.pdf
Here is an examply if you guy are interested.

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i already obtained an analysis and took a gander.. i also heard choramine and stuff like that can be a strong ph buffer. not sure if it helps but i always let my tap water sit and throw some airstones in there to gas out some crap like chlorine.. the tap around here is 7.0.. im using about 5-10ml every day or two of ph down..

also im guessing you run hydro? if you dont mind me asking, what system and what nutes?? im running dwc and botanicare pure blend pro bio-organic nutes..the organic nutes in hydro can be very tricky and im kinda sketch.. i almost want to switch to chemical nutes, because I heard its less of a process and easier for the plants to break down.

dude i have run pure blenb pro for years with fantastic results. i have a great recipe if you need help. my ph will rise the first two days of a new res but then stays very stable, hardly have to do anything the next two weeks.