Hard water question for DWC

dwcnoob

dwcnoob

Member
I've been reading a lot here on rollitup and have my first question:

I'm starting a medical grow next month and planning to go DWC, but the water in my city is hard. Apparently extremely hard--its listed at 1000ppm according to this water quality report from 2004:



Does this mean I have to buy distilled or get an RO system? I'm on a budget and would really like to avoid this for my first grow at least.

Thanks!
 
H

HSA

Well-Known Member
Dwcnoob: have you considered a reverse osmosis system or buying your water from a better source? I have a very small personal med grow and the crap that comes out of my tap is so bad it kills Wal-Mart gold fish, tastes like my neighbors swimming pool and I have to replace plumbing fixtures in my house every few years so I feel your pain.

It burns my ass, but I have to go to the super market water kiosk weekly for fourteen gallons of filtered, twice radiated, R/O'd water @ .39 a gallon. It's not the expense that burns me but the inconvenience. The stuff is the purest I've found though. It comes out at 14 to 15 ppms and a pH of about 7.

A friend bought a cheap R/O system and his water doesn't come out that good even after wasting half of what goes into it. HSA
 
Rube Goldberg

Rube Goldberg

Member
My water is actually harder at around 700ppm or so.

I use an RO to mix with my tap to achieve about a half and half mix. Being hard, there are so many good trace minerals etc it would be a crime to go full RO and have to add back cal/mag.

You definitely don't need RO, but I find my 50/50 mix suits my RDWC well. Less cleanup - better EC consistency - a TON less ph Down used etc etc. BUT, I grew for many years with straight tap with now problems.

People get so concerned with having RO, Chlorine etc etc etc. Your water is FINE!

You should also know that the 1000ppm value for TDS is "Maximum Contaminate Levels" and not the actual analytical result. Your TDS is actually 554 ppm
 
BeaverHuntr

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
dwcnoob said:
Thanks for the advice guys, sorry I didn't reply sooner I thought I'd get an email if anyone responded so I just assumed no one did lol.

I decided to just go with RO water to avoid issues--Savemart a 1/2 mile from my house sells RO for 30 cents/gal so its not too bad for such a small set up.

I started a journal if anyone wants to follow along or help out I'd appreciate the input:
https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/468779-1st-ever-grow-250w-dwc.html
Click to expand...
Smart move my tap water comes out 1000 PPM too.. R/O at the water and ice store for .25 cents a gallon.
 
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