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Hello, there is a theory that you should let tap water sit out for 24-48 hrs before using it, my question is if you let it sit out covered or sealed (I.E. old plastic milk containers with the cap on) is it doing any good, or does it need to sit uncovered? newbie thanks!;)
Ok IF you do that, you need to leave it open. You don't need to bother letting it off gas and in fact it will reduce oxygen available to the roots.
Depending on where you live your water will either have chlorine or chloramine. If you have chlorine yes leave the tops open to let the chlorine evaporate out, it can take up to 48 hours, the more surface area the water has the faster it will leave the water. Also bubbles or waterfalls help a lot.
If you have chloramine then it can take 6 weeks for the chlorine to leave. Chloramine is chlorine and ammonia mixed. It becomes much less volatile when mixed with ammonia thus it stays in water much longer. Water companies like it better because it stays in the water longer thus water is safer in distant pipes. So it is useless to leave your water open to air to remove chloramine. I hate this fact because I am forced to use water with chlorine and its hard to remove, so it always kills my beneficial bacteria. Brew shops have good tabs to remove it.
Go to your water districts web site to find out which type of chlorine you have.
So cal has chloramine
You can try an aquarium pump to keep the water fresh it will help dissipate the chlorine as well. I'm not sure chlorine is that bad considering I've used water many, many times straight out of the hose/faucet.
How about this idea....use distilled water and supplement cal mag
How about this idea....use distilled water and supplement cal mag
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A good idea if you have only a few plants but could become cumbersome if you're having to water mulitiple plants every few days.
or when you have a 55 gallon resevior that needs that needs to be changed weekly. I also use another 25 gallons just topping the res off during the week.Quote:
Originally Posted by Purple Daddy
It depends on where you are, each city and state has its own local water source. Luckily i have a very clean water source so i have nothing to worry about. I've never let my water sit out and have seen no negative effects. Plants grow great.
R.O. systems are also available then....but i will say that giving them water straight from the faucet is ok...as far as hydro goes, well i'm lost there
I think areating your water overnight is the easiest/cheapest way to dissipate any chemicals in the water, don't forget most municipalities also add flouride but I'm not sure if it dissipates like chlorine or not. I've given freshly sprouted seedlings straight tap water without any problems. I prefer to areate it but I'm not 100% consistent with it except whenever I fertilize, then I always areate the water with the fertilizer added.
I've read that you should not use water from the hot side of your faucet if you're drawing from an indoor source, apparently the water has other sediments/agents as a result of sitting in the water heater. Independent of this I've also read you should not drink water from the hot side of your faucet, always draw from the cold side and heat your water that way.
the PH of the water is much much much more important than its chlorine or chloramine content.do not let your water sit overnight.