Questions about my water

Hello everyone,

I have recently moved to a new area in the middle of nowhere and would like to start up a new grow. My question is can I use well water in my hydro system. I've tested the ph of the water and its about the same as my old house ( 7.5 - 8.0 ) but I've noticed a muddy sulfur smell if the water sits for more then 1 or 2 hours, so I'm guessing it's either a muddy well or I have some sulfur in the water. I have a filter hooked up and the water runs clear. Would this harm my grow? I use GH flora grow/micro/bloom nothing fancy it's easy to use and I aways get great results. Should I change what I use? Are there hydroponic nutrients made for well water? This I don't know I've always used the same nutrients. I have a new batch of seeds from sea of seeds and would hate to kill them with well water.... going to be growing WW x Blue Berry fem (mother) and a few auto jack fems to get a fast harvest while I wait for the clones from the WWxBB.
Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I have well water as well and i to have a sulfur smell to the water, smells like rotten eggs sometimes........That kind of water normally has a PPM over 200 and is not really good to use for DWC. You want the cleanest water you can get so your best bet is to buy a few 5 gal water jugs and go to a walmart or cvs and they have Glacier reverse osmosis water for 1.50 per 5 gallons. It comes out at about 8 ppm and has a balanced ph. If you start with clean water it is easier to control the ph over time and you get more accurate reading on your TDS meter. I also use GH 3 part and i always get at least 4 oz per plant, i just started using advanced nutrients BIG BUD for flowering and im thinking of switching to there PH perfect line here soon. GH has a PH buffer but with AN ph perfect line you never have to change your PH, it stays at 5.7 the whole time no matter what!!!

Here is a chance for you to do a experiment. I wouldn't bother breaking open your fine genetics, but i'm sure you have a bagseed laying around. Sprout and grow a bagseed using your tap and see what happens. While this experiment is going you can use store bought water for your better genetics until a determination is made. If it's crap then a RO filter or buying water would be your only recourse.

Also Gtran - Please don't spread misinformation. I'm happy that you are satisfied, but AN uses the same pH buffers that everyone else does. They just happen to advertise it on the bottle.

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]it stays at 5.7 the whole time no matter what!!![/FONT]

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I would bend over and kiss my own arse if my pH stayed at 5.7 while fighting Pythium or any number of issues.

Thanks for the response guys. I forgot to add the PPM to my post earlier. Tested it a few days in a row and it's a steady 130-140ppm. I myself don't use DWC. I run a 5gal bucket home built top feed I use air stones and 2 small 20 gpm water pumps 1 to keep the water moving in the bucket and the other to feed along with a fish tank temp control unit to keep my water at 70 degrees. the whole set up cost around $50 minus the lights. Buying water is out of the question the nearest wal-mart is 25 miles away. I might just have to go out and buy a R/O system. I have a few seeds I don't care to much for I'll put them in the system and see what happens with them using just the well water PHed to 5.8 <- thats my magic number If they don't do to well I'll go get me a cheap R/O system.

Again thanks for the advice guys. I'll let y'all know whats happens shouldn't take more then a month to see if I have any problems.

That's a pretty reasonable ppm for well water. I try to give the most relevant and useful advice, but in your situation I would say fuck it. I'd just use the water and hope for the best. If all else fails you could just pony up for the RO filter I guess.

Also Gtran - Please don't spread misinformation. I'm happy that you are satisfied, but AN uses the same pH buffers that everyone else does. They just happen to advertise it on the bottle.


Well seeing how i know two different people that have been using the ph perfect line and have yet to adjust there ph i wouldnt call that misinformation. You've obviously had trouble with this line before but that is your opinion. The ph perfect line would not still be referred to as the ph perfect line if the majority of people had to adjust there ph. To say they use the same ph buffers everyone else does is a pretty stupid thing to say seeing how NO other company has a line of nutrients that has a constant ph, AN does. You can watch youtube vids and read articles that prove this theory over and over again. Maybe what you meant to say was that SOMETIMES ph levels may still vary with this product. If every other company had a perfect ph buffer then believe me they would advertise it.

Not defending anyone here but I've used the ph perfect line from Advanced nutrients and had to continuously adjust the ph. The first 2 days the ph stayed where it was advertised 5.7, after that it would go up a little everyday and cap off at 7. Who knows I may have just gotten a bad batch of nutrients. Maybe I was holding my mouth wrong. lol I would have never noticed the ph change because I didn't start checking the levels till I started seeing my stems turning purple and red from the ph being to high in the system and started mutating (deformed stems and leaves). I trusted what the bottle advertised without question. Now this could have been caused from my system as it is a recycle system. ( plant feeds off the same nutrients till its time for water change ) Again I'm not defending anyone here maybe the two people you know who use this line don't check there ph levels and maybe they believe what the bottles advertised like I did. Who knows doesn't really matter I'll never stray from my GH products again no matter what anyone says or what any product advertises. Because believe it or not most of it is just bullshit anyways.

Have you givin' the well a good pumping out? When I start a well that hasn't been used for a while I pump it for a day or so to get a nice fresh supply instead of what may have stagnated over time in an unused well. After a few hundred gallons grab a sample and get it tested.

gtran said:

You've obviously had trouble with this line before but that is your opinion.

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Actually i've never used these nutrients at all. I do understand advanced chemistry though.

To say they use the same ph buffers everyone else does is a pretty stupid thing to say

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Well how many types of weak acids and their conjugate base are out there in TV land?

You can watch youtube vids and read articles that prove this theory over and over again.

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I can also watch a pretty convincing youtube video that professes man never landed on the moon.

Maybe what you meant to say was that SOMETIMES ph levels may still vary with this product.

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Actually I was directly quoting you when you mentioned that the pH would remain the same no matter what. This is just a false statement and qualifies for my interpretation of misinformation. In no way did I mean to personally attack you or your ideals, but instead educate a bit.

If every other company had a perfect ph buffer then believe me they would advertise it.

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It's just not possible given the incredible amount of differences in each persons grow/environment. All of the different nutrients i've used over the years with buffers achieved a 5.5-5.8 pH right out of the bottle/bag. It's the actions we take as growers that keep the pH in line.

GoingDownHill said:

Maybe I was holding my mouth wrong.

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I think we found your problem!

Because believe it or not most of it is just bullshit anyways.

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^This. I'll match my cheap dry nutes up against the most expensive stuff any day of the week. It's the same damn elements in each one.

I bet you their magical pH perfect buffer is just KH2PO4 + KOH. Very easy to buffer the pH between 5-6 with that conjugate pair. I use both of those ingredients in my own formulations.

In layman's terms the "perfect" pH buffer is "Big Bloom".

Bucees said:

Well how many types of weak acids and their conjugate base are out there in TV land?

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