Using distilled water vs. tap water

Cx2H · Aug 9, 2018

Lola Grows said:
I use it occasionally instead of a regular watering. Mixed with water only. View attachment 4178263

15$ a gallon at planet natural. ;-)

Qt lasts me about a month.
#JustSayin

TheDifferenceX · Aug 9, 2018

I used only distilled water (plus fox farms trio) in 2009 when I grew indoors, and never had a deficiency.

I use only distilled water (plus fox farms trio) this year for indoor grow and almost killed my girl 5 weeks into flower because of a cal mag deficiency. I've learned my lesson, bought a Liter bottle of cal-mag. :hump:

Dmannn · Aug 9, 2018

I use an under sink single RO filter spliced into a garden house, running to organic soil drip system. Works great. Needs to be back flushed every couple months.

https://www.amazon.com/Woder-Capaci...142&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=wonder+filter&psc=1

fragileassassin · Aug 9, 2018

Mr. So low dough low said:
So do you guys even use cal-mag with your water? If so, how often? Or maybe just Epsom salts?

I use cal-mag, but im using RO water in a hydro system so that doesnt really apply here lmao.
You shouldnt need it if you prep your soil right like Taco is talking about.

blowincherrypie · Aug 9, 2018

Tangerine_ said:
You could always use both. I have an RO unit but before I installed it I was buying 7-10 five gallon jugs at Walmart once a wk (total pain in the ass btw) and cutting it with my tap at a 4:1 ratio without issues.

My tap comes out at 180 and I'd obtain a water analysis beforehand. (that's how I'd come up with that ratio)

I still use rain when I can and I always dump my dehuey water back into my rain barrel for later use.

But if you plan to use straight RO you'll need to add back some of the minerals it removes...ie CalMag

This whole post should be a mufkn sticky :clap:

lol

To the op.. The different water sources Ive used have taught me a couple things that may help (it may not)

Dealing with high ph can be a pain but doable if the water isn't too hard.. These past few weeks I noticed I was using twice as much ph down and things were starting to not look as good. Did a little research and turns out my city was having some issues and switched wells/pumps whatever.. The ph was lower now coming out the tap but was so fukn hard causing me to need all the extra ph down and what Im suspecting is CaCO3 buildup :wall:

..

I used to always say if you can drink it, its fine for the plants... Turns out.. Im an asshole :eyesmoke:

(to be fair this is the first time Ive encountered such hard water... 320+ ppm, 400+ CaCO3 according to the water utility)

tldr; If your water ph is high but soft, you should be able to adjust it and not have any real issues. If the shit high and full of crap, its time to start refilling the 5gals (if available) or invest in a decent RO system.. Im on my way to refill some 5 gals as we speak :spew:

Lucky Luke · Aug 9, 2018

or buy a small water tank. They are not very expensive.

Tangerine_ · Aug 9, 2018

blowincherrypie said:
This whole post should be a mufkn sticky lol

To the op.. The different water sources Ive used have taught me a couple things that may help (it may not)

Dealing with high ph can be a pain but doable if the water isn't too hard.. These past few weeks I noticed I was using twice as much ph down and things were starting to not look as good. Did a little research and turns out my city was having some issues and switched wells/pumps whatever.. The ph was lower now coming out the tap but was so fukn hard causing me to need all the extra ph down and what Im suspecting is CaCO3 buildup ..

I used to always say if you can drink it, its fine for the plants... Turns out.. Im an asshole (to be fair this is the first time Ive encountered such hard water... 320+ ppm, 400+ CaCO3 according to the water utility)

tldr; If your water ph is high but soft, you should be able to adjust it and not have any real issues. If the shit high and full of crap, its time to start refilling the 5gals (if available) or invest in a decent RO system.. Im on my way to refill some 5 gals as we speak

Its been repeated so many times by other growers over the yrs and I "think" it is at least part of one of the stickies (plant probs or moisture stress maybe) It just got lost amongst the "how much am I gonna yield" questions, lol

Tangerine_ · Aug 9, 2018

Mr. So low dough low said:
Thanks. I'll probably end up getting it. It's cheap enough to give it a shot. Do you use this with other nutrients? Is this like a supplement to the main nutrients or something?

I grow in built soil so I only use this a few times during the whole grow. Usually at stressful periods (transplant, cloning) or just as they go into bloom. I get the most benefit out using it as a foliar in veg. Like Lola said...they absolutely love it!!

Mr. So low dough low · Aug 9, 2018

Tangerine_ said:
Its been repeated so many times by other growers over the yrs and I "think" it is at least part of one of the stickies (plant probs or moisture stress maybe) It just got lost amongst the "how much am I gonna yield" questions, lol

Lol, yea as long as I yield something, I'll be happy

Using distilled water vs. tap water

Cx2H

Well-Known Member

TheDifferenceX

Well-Known Member

Dmannn

Well-Known Member

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member

blowincherrypie

Well-Known Member

Lucky Luke

Well-Known Member

Tangerine_

Well-Known Member

Tangerine_

Well-Known Member

Mr. So low dough low

Active Member

Similar threads