Ideal PPM in your water?

This may be a stupid question, but the ideal Parts Per Million you would like in your water to feed your plants is zero if you could, correct?

Just got a TDS Meter and it says my tap water is at 160 ppm, which puts it in the "Hard Water" category.

What is the actual question?

CC Dobbs said:

What is the actual question?

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Um, not sure if you are being serious or not but OK.

In a perfect world you would like your plants to be getting Zero PPM in their water, correct?

Or, what would be the ideal ppm to put it another way?

PlantsAreNeat said:

This may be a stupid question, but the ideal Parts Per Million you would like in your water to feed your plants is zero if you could, correct?

Just got a TDS Meter and it says my tap water is at 160 ppm, which puts it in the "Hard Water" category.

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It would be ideal to start with 0, this way you know exactly what's in the water. Why are you paying attention to ppm?

PlantsAreNeat said:

Um, not sure if you are being serious or not but OK.

In a perfect world you would like your plants to be getting Zero PPM in their water, correct?

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Yes he serious. You didn't ask a question, you made a statement

The ideal starting PPM is zero, but you don't want to water with this. Unless your plants call for it

mr.schroederific said:

It would be ideal to start with 0, this way you know exactly what's in the water. Why are you paying attention to ppm?

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Well I have been paying attention to the PH and adjusting that, and I just figured the ppm was something I should pay attention to as well to see how good or bad my tap water is that I am giving them. But if that really is not a concern, then thank you for pointing that out.

PlantsAreNeat said:

Well I have been paying attention to the PH and adjusting that, and I just figured the ppm was something I should pay attention to as well to see how good or bad my tap water is that I am giving them. But if that really is not a concern, then thank you for pointing that out.

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I was just asking why..... No need to get rude sir. The reason being is people need to know why they're doing something.

When you use RO water, PPM comes into play because of Calmag and other nutes. You measure how much by PPM. Plus when using hydro.

Hey! Let me know when you sell your equipment, I'll make a good offer.

mr.schroederific said:

I was just asking why..... No need to get rude sir. The reason being is people need to know why they're doing something.

When you use RO water, PPM comes into play because of Calmag and other nutes. You measure how much by PPM. Plus when using hydro.

Hey! Let me know when you sell your equipment, I'll make a good offer.

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Rude? I am not being rude at all, I genuinely thanked you for pointing that out...geez..

Thank you for the help.

160 isn't so bad and means you won't need to supplement with cal/mag. If you start at 0ppm then you need to add cal/mag. Pull a water report from whoever supplies you tap and see what all is in there. If you have chloramine in your water then consider going with an Reverse Osmosis filter and adding back cal/mag.

Bugeye said:

160 isn't so bad and means you won't need to supplement with cal/mag. If you start at 0ppm then you need to add cal/mag. Pull a water report from whoever supplies you tap and see what all is in there. If you have chloramine in your water then consider going with an Reverse Osmosis filter and adding back cal/mag.

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I will try and find that information out about the water, thank you. I do have a cal/mag supplement so maybe I will try and get myself the Reverse Osmosis water going on. Does distilled water usually need a cal/mag supplement?

PlantsAreNeat said:

I will try and find that information out about the water, thank you. I do have a cal/mag supplement so maybe I will try and get myself the Reverse Osmosis water going on. Does distilled water usually need a cal/mag supplement?

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Yes, any soft water with a really low ppm will work better with a cal/mag supplement. Distilled water is 0ppm.

True Soil doesn't need PPM or pH measurements. Hydro does

Bugeye said:

Yes, any soft water with a really low ppm will work better with a cal/mag supplement. Distilled water is 0ppm.

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That is what I will use then since I have some unopened gallons of distilled water and some cal/mag supplement. Thanks for the input.

160ppm is perfect. My tap water is 600-700ppm. I used to use RO filtered water which was about 10ppm and add some calmag to it to replace minerals. I began mixing tap water to the RO to get around 150 (I don't think the exact number is critical) and stopped using calmag. The plants (in soil) did fine and the final ph (without calmag) was much higher.

It may depend on the mineral content. The ca::mg ratio should be 2:1 to 3:1. Your water provider should have a water quality report available.

My tap is around 200-220ppm / .4 EC and it grows plants fine. In most municipal water supply in the U.S., the 100-200ppm you're reading is mostly cal/mag/sodium. I read the water reports an KNOW my 200 ppm is mostly cal and mag..so I opted to not RO filter my water..why strip something out i just need to add back? Many people choose to go RO just to start with water that has nothing in it, then build up the nutes the way they want. I almost went this route, but then decided to learn how to use my water..too many people don't want, or don't know and don't care to learn, how to use what they already have. I saved at least a $150 just by not buying a RO filter..never mind the waste and filter changes..oh and buying cal/mag to add back in..

PlantsAreNeat said:

Um, not sure if you are being serious or not but OK.

In a perfect world you would like your plants to be getting Zero PPM in their water, correct?

Or, what would be the ideal ppm to put it another way?

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In a perfect world the plants would get what they need and you wouldn't have to do anything. so let's do away with the perfect world scenario and talk about what the plants want. Water without ppm content is not natural so what is natural?

CC Dobbs said:

In a perfect world the plants would get what they need and you wouldn't have to do anything. so let's do away with the perfect world scenario and talk about what the plants want. Water without ppm content is not natural so what is natural?

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Agreed, and I really have no idea what actual natural would be.

It sounds like 160 going in is fine, and I will just find out exactly what is in the water from a water report which I have not yet done. I have been letting my tap water sit out for a good day or so anyway before I water just in case there is quite a bit of chlorine (chloride?).

If they use chloramine you will have to filter. Just got me curious as to the rain water that pouring out of the sky so I grabbed a sample and tested it. Ph of 7.2 and a ppm of 40.

boilingoil said:

If they use chloramine you will have to filter.

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There is so little sanitizer in tap water that you don't need to do anything to it. It will be exhausted by the soil. You can add a pinch of sugar to the water to encourage bacterial growth to exhaust the sanitizer.