If you use RO or distilled water you NEED CalMag Plus

Your water company on request should be able to give you a complete run down on whats in your water.... i recently fell foul as my water company switched resevoirs.... the new resevoire was 150miles away from the previouse and was lacking in sulphur, iron, boron....

your local aquatics center will be able to test the following

total disolved solids-TDS
PH
PHOSPHATE
GENERAL HARDNESS
CARBONATE HARDNESS(MIX OF MAGNESIUM CARBONATE AND CALCIUM CARBONATE I THINK)
AMMONIA
IRON
MAG
CALCIUM
NITRATE
NITRITE

You can order these straight of the old WWW.

Nutrafin Master Test Kit

peace out
:rastasmoke:

Not if you run the Lucas Formula :rastasmoke:

Excellent post Delta, I read the whole thing and learned a great deal. I am using Flora series nutrients and R/O water. Flora has a separate Hardwater micro for their hard water. So I am assuming the regular micro has the cal mag i need. I was interested about two thing though:

Mixing tap water and R/O, this would be a great way to get around the ergonomics of my R/O, as it only produces 5 gallons every 1.5 hours and it wastes a lot of water and time in the process.

But more intriguing was the pH discussion. I heard keep it between 5.5 and 6.5 so when I started my seeds yesterday I used 6.34. I'm now wondering if I should attempt to drop the pH.

Could blackstrap mollasses be used at a substitute of cal-mag, it contains a bunch of nutrients such as magnesium calcium and iron

i've been using Nestle pure life purified mineral water. Its been through reverse osmosis.

i heard its the way to go. You can only get it in litle bottles though.

:hippy:

Hey all, I'm new to this all and was wondering if I use distiller water I'm my ebb n flo systm does that eliminate most ph problems? I have no meters and cannot afford one,I am using foxfarm nutes, I want to make this as easy as possible on myself and not have to worry about my water ph ppm ect. In a nutshell is distilld water good enough to use and not have to correct ph EVER?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chebus

Hey all, I'm new to this all and was wondering if I use distiller water I'm my ebb n flo systm does that eliminate most ph problems? I have no meters and cannot afford one,I am using foxfarm nutes, I want to make this as easy as possible on myself and not have to worry about my water ph ppm ect. In a nutshell is distilld water good enough to use and not have to correct ph EVER?

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No, you still have to be able to check it. The test strips that General Hydro sells are better than nothing and should be under $10.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by texashustle

Not if you run the Lucas Formula :rastasmoke:

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I found the LUCAS formula lacking for most of my plants. CalMag was definitely needed, though not by bottle directions, maybe half that.

YMMV, depending upon your water supply, I guess. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chebus

Hey all, I'm new to this all and was wondering if I use distiller water I'm my ebb n flo systm does that eliminate most ph problems? I have no meters and cannot afford one,I am using foxfarm nutes, I want to make this as easy as possible on myself and not have to worry about my water ph ppm ect. In a nutshell is distilld water good enough to use and not have to correct ph EVER?

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No, pH must always be monitored. Distilled water/RO water especially so, because there's less stuff initially present to act as a buffer.

I use the GH liquid pH tester kit. Not the most accurate thing to try to judge but it works if you've got decent light to judge color by.

If U use RO and U have hard water really dont need CalMag. All u gotta do is mix them 1/2 and 1/2. Half ro/tap. U'll save money on ur RO filter and not buying CalMag.
My .02
L8
MJ