EC and Tap Water

SnoopyDoo

SnoopyDoo

Well-Known Member
So I've decided to start messing with my feeding program. I got an PPM pen (Hanna - uses 500ppm scale). I'm using tap water - no interest in investing time, effort or money in RO. This is in my garage with no plumbing, so hauling water in there only to haul it back out just isn't on my to-do list.

Is there a consensus on how to account for the EC/PPM of tap water? IE if my average PPM is coming in at 200 and the feed schedule calls for 700ppm, do I add the 200 to 700 and feed them 900ppm or do I keep my PPM at 700?

TIA.
 
Failmore

Failmore

Well-Known Member
It is on top of what is in your tap. You want 700 feed then give 700 feed. So total is 900.
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Failmore said:
It is on top of what is in your tap. You want 700 feed then give 700 feed. So total is 900.
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Wrong. You’re going for 700 you add nutes to your 200 base until you reach 700. Read your water analysis online. Your water supplier will have it posted. You need to be aware of what is making it 200 out of the tap. It’s usually majority calcium and distant second is usually magnesium.

Suggest forgetting cal mag during veg unless you see a deficiency.
 
jondamon

jondamon

Well-Known Member
hotrodharley said:
Wrong. You’re going for 700 you add nutes to your 200 base until you reach 700. Read your water analysis online. Your water supplier will have it posted. You need to be aware of what is making it 200 out of the tap. It’s usually majority calcium and distant second is usually magnesium.

Suggest forgetting cal mag during veg unless you see a deficiency.
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Don’t forget fluoride, chlorine, chloramine, chloride depending upon what country you’re in ;)
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

Well-Known Member
You may or may not need cal mag depending on what nutes you are using, and what that 200 ppm in your tap water consists of. A lot of fertilizers marketed towards cannabis users don't contain enough calcium and magnesium, the reason being, that line has an excuse to sell you another bottle of nutrients. Any good one, two, or three (Maxibloom, Jacks, Megacrop, Dyna Gro, etc) part nutrient system should have EVERYTHING your plant needs in it. If your tap water has a lot of calcium, you may need to add a tiny bit of epsom salts, but I'd wait to see if you develop any deficiencies first.
 
Failmore

Failmore

Well-Known Member
hotrodharley said:
Wrong. You’re going for 700 you add nutes to your 200 base until you reach 700. Read your water analysis online. Your water supplier will have it posted. You need to be aware of what is making it 200 out of the tap. It’s usually majority calcium and distant second is usually magnesium.

Suggest forgetting cal mag during veg unless you see a deficiency.
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Lol. Your on ignore for a many reasons...your awful advice being one.

The plant wants 700 feed. The tap water is not 200ppm of feed. It is mostly shit the plant does not want. So if you feed 700 with 200 being tap. Then you are feeding 500 not 700.


Don't respond to this. Conversation is over.
 
getogrow

getogrow

Well-Known Member
Failmore said:
Lol. Your on ignore for a many reasons...your awful advice being one.

The plant wants 700 feed. The tap water is not 200ppm of feed. It is mostly shit the plant does not want. So if you feed 700 with 200 being tap. Then you are feeding 500 not 700.


Don't respond to this. Conversation is over.
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Its not awful advice. you are both right and wrong. Its as simple as that.

Having no idea whats in the tap makes you right.

Knowing exactly whats in the water makes you wrong.
Some folks count Ca and Mg as feed, some dont.

When your tap is 500ppm , then your theory gets even more flawed.
 
Failmore

Failmore

Well-Known Member
getogrow said:
Its not awful advice. you are both right and wrong. Its as simple as that.

Having no idea whats in the tap makes you right.

Knowing exactly whats in the water makes you wrong.
Some folks count Ca and Mg as feed, some dont.

When your tap is 500ppm , then your theory gets even more flawed.
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Correct. If OP had said tap is 500...advice given would be different.
 
getogrow

getogrow

Well-Known Member
Failmore said:
Correct. If OP had said tap is 500...advice given would be different.
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All that being said, i pretty much do it your way but i cannot say thats the most optimal way possible.
My tap is no less then 350 on a clean day....400 ish on a normal day. I just add the amount of food i want. The only attention i pay to the 400ppm is knowing that there is probably enough Ca in my water.

If i started with RO , i would defiantly use a bit more food though. (I personally do not do EC or PPM , i do caps of this and that per gallon. I used to measure , years ago)
 
Failmore

Failmore

Well-Known Member
getogrow said:
All that being said, i pretty much do it your way but i cannot say thats the most optimal way possible.
My tap is no less then 350 on a clean day....400 ish on a normal day. I just add the amount of food i want. The only attention i pay to the 400ppm is knowing that there is probably enough Ca in my water.

If i started with RO , i would defiantly use a bit more food though. (I personally do not do EC or PPM , i do caps of this and that per gallon. I used to measure , years ago)
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Yup. If your tap is crazy hi. Then should probably cut it with r/o. For the most part if your tap is 200 or less everything should be fine.

Feed charts are dumb anyways. Nobody feeds what the chart says. Jacks says 2.4 ec in veg. Like whhhhaaaat!
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
getogrow said:
Its not awful advice. you are both right and wrong. Its as simple as that.

Having no idea whats in the tap makes you right.

Knowing exactly whats in the water makes you wrong.
Some folks count Ca and Mg as feed, some dont.

When your tap is 500ppm , then your theory gets even more flawed.
Click to expand...
He’s a fucking idiot.
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
Now that dumbass mofo really is on my ignore. If not for jackasses and halfway informed fools this forum wouldn’t exist.
 
MICHI-CAN

MICHI-CAN

Well-Known Member
hotrodharley said:
He’s a fucking idiot.
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This is fun. No idiots. Just a shit ton of variables not being discussed. Basically your build, methods and nutes will not be reproduceable far from our homes.

And my final PPM or EC of my mix is with starting value. 700 is 700. Only tap here. Charcoal filtered of course. Rarely a cal/mag issue unless incompatible nutes or amendments.
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
MICHI-CAN said:
This is fun. No idiots. Just a shit ton of variables not being discussed. Basically your build, methods and nutes will not be reproduceable far from our homes.

And my final PPM or EC of my mix is with starting value. 700 is 700. Only tap here. Charcoal filtered of course. Rarely a cal/mag issue unless incompatible nutes or amendments.
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Exactly. EC is EC regardless of how you got there. Now if nutritional needs are not being met for a nutrient we simply add it and that article can help explain how using dilution. He’s a fucking idiot.
 
SnoopyDoo

SnoopyDoo

Well-Known Member
I did start by looking at my water quality report. FYI, for anybody that cares, I also have this thread going.

Water Quality question

So like my other threads in this forum, doing some research on changing my feeding schedule. Checking water quality reports for my area reveal average PPM for sodium be around 46ppm (I'm sure that's higher during the spring run off, lower the rest of the year). Chloride I find bothersome at...
rollitup.org

Pretty much leads me to believe I have Chloride toxicity, but that's another story.

The real PPM of my tap water is ~175. Calcium, Sodium and Chloride all average ~50 ppm/each.

Getting back to EC/PPM, the info seems conflicting. Even the language in the Canna Gardening link isn't clear as to if I should add or subtract the PPM value from the tap. Unfortunately, RO isn't an option for me.
 
hotrodharley

hotrodharley

Well-Known Member
SnoopyDoo said:
I did start by looking at my water quality report. FYI, for anybody that cares, I also have this thread going.

Water Quality question

So like my other threads in this forum, doing some research on changing my feeding schedule. Checking water quality reports for my area reveal average PPM for sodium be around 46ppm (I'm sure that's higher during the spring run off, lower the rest of the year). Chloride I find bothersome at...
rollitup.org

Pretty much leads me to believe I have Chloride toxicity, but that's another story.

The real PPM of my tap water is ~175. Calcium, Sodium and Chloride all average ~50 ppm/each.

Getting back to EC/PPM, the info seems conflicting. Even the language in the Canna Gardening link isn't clear as to if I should add or subtract the PPM value from the tap. Unfortunately, RO isn't an option for me.
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Run it like everyone else advises. Ignore your starting EC/PPM. Report back to us. That should solve your dilemma and you’ll know for sure. Pretty simple.
 
SnoopyDoo

SnoopyDoo

Well-Known Member
hotrodharley said:
Run it like everyone else advises. Ignore your starting EC/PPM. Report back to us. That should solve your dilemma and you’ll know for sure. Pretty simple.
Click to expand...
getogrow said:
I agree with this...
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I have been ignoring it for years. I got the PPM meter a few weeks ago. As per my other thread, I'm pretty sure I have Chloride toxicity. For now I will ignore starting PPM (I think that's what the CannaGardening site implies with the term "EC+) and just do weekly flushes.
 
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