Lockout- Hard water, rain water, choices!

[Chronic Chrissy]

OK I'm officially back and man do I need help!

We moved last year and ran into so many problems with my new setup but ironed most of the kinks out. As usual with a new setup and strain there is a learning curve as you relize mistakes and stabilize the problem. I have narrowed it down and have discoved it to be the water.

So I'll tell you everything I know about my water source. It's well water, we live near a large lake that isn't the healthiest, but not biohazardous yet. The pH is at about 8-8.2. Using pool test strips my base ppm reading of my water is 500. I know there is an excess of Mg through an earlier observation.

Before I go into more details What I am looking for is a solution to my water problem, rain water is an obvious choice and a project that will get underway very soon. But while I wait for mother nature I need to know if there are any methods I can use to purify my water that won't harm my plants. We do have a water softener but we've already seen what the salty water does to my plants(oops).

I'm off to some major research, I will be back to create a more complete pictures, but will be on most of the night to answer any questions.

Chronic Chrissy Reviewed by Chronic Chrissy on 06-11-2008. Lockout- Hard water, rain water, choices! OK I'm officially back and man do I need help! We moved last year and ran into so many problems with my new setup but ironed most of the kinks out. As usual with a new setup and strain there is a learning curve as you relize mistakes and stabilize the problem. I have narrowed it down and have discoved it to be the water. So I'll tell you everything I know about my water source. It's well water, we live near a large lake that isn't the healthiest, but not biohazardous yet. The pH is at Rating: 5

[JeffersonBud]

What about buy an RO unit that spits out 100 gals per day and buying some cal/mag plus to substitute?

[GreenLeaf420]

Reverse Osmosis Water or Bottled Water should fix you up Immediately. Being that you are staying with the well reverse is probably the only way to go to keep$$$ in your pockets. Instead of buying all that water.

[Chronic Chrissy]

Eventually a R/O is on the list but way out of budget right now. I wish we could trasport water but we are deep rural, and my grow is to large to supply that way.

It's rainy here so we plan to make use of that.

I would like to know more about distilling water, but I also wonder...
Could I use the reaction to my advantage by adding just enough sulfur to the water to remove the Ca then run the water through a filter to remove the precipitate. Does anyone know of any good literature about this.

Also what can I try to do in the mean time? I'm watering someone every day. Is it better to continue to feed my plants, or should I leave them on strait water 'til I find a solution.
FYI Even my young plants that aren't fed yet show signs of the white gypsum on the soil surface when it dries, so there must be trace amounts of sulfur in my water too.

Sorry to be so hasty but I have so much to read...

[GreenLeaf420]

Don't forget your calmag plus!!!
And test it for pH- rainwater often contains sulfuric and nitric acid in concentarions high enough to register low pH. This comes from combustion of fossil fuels in the area where your local weather systems originate. For example, upstate New York suffers acid rain from factories and city smog originating in the 'rust belt' on the south shores of the Great Lakes.

I don't know much about shocking a well; I always thought that was to treat for bacteria, which really don't affect your grow if you keep your 'zyme' products up to date and the res properly aerated.
If you get a sulfur smell, you will want to watch for signs of lockout from too much S in the water, but plants DO use some- it is not necessarily a deal-breaker for using your well water on a hydro grow, but something you need to be aware of and monitor.
You also need to be aware of the pH coming out of your well. You will need to set your reservoir in the correct range for hydro, whcih is 6.0 +/- ~0.3.

Hey I know your growing soil but she touches Sulfer here!!!

Check Out this thread http://boards.cannabis.com/basic-gro...r-warning.html

I don't know much about shocking a well; I always thought that was to treat for bacteria, which really don't affect your grow if you keep your 'zyme' products up to date and the res properly aerated.
If you get a sulfur smell, you will want to watch for signs of lockout from too much S in the water, but plants DO use some- it is not necessarily a deal-breaker for using your well water on a hydro grow, but something you need to be aware of and monitor.
You also need to be aware of the pH coming out of your well. You will need to set your reservoir in the correct range for hydro, whcih is 6.0 +/- ~0.3.

Hey I know your growing soil but she touches Sulfer here!!!

Ahh. Sulfur in your well water. That's not great.
I would trust distilled or RO water over any bottled 'drinking water' and you will have to use CalMag Plus.
Set your runoff tray at a slant so it all drains to one corner and you can let it drain into a bucket. Standing water means fungus gnats... eww.

Good Luck you will get it you know your buisness!!!
I'm just breaking up a DRO setup and going to soil in 7 days I was going to use Pro Mix from LOWE'S $7.00 and Humus $1.89 4x12 bed 3 LR1000's with CO2 I need a good nute and flush scheule. I plan on using GH 3 part along With Hydrozyme Mothers Earth Tea B1 Carbload big bud and voodooJuice and Clearex for a flush.

Hey just a thought are you running CO2? If not yet when you turn it on it does change the chemistry of the water.... That's what I've seen.

GL420:jointsmile::jointsmile::jointsmile:

I would like to know as well being that I'm using tap but the PH is 7.3 The PPM is 130 yet I do get yellow spots which would mean sulfer

Hope you don't mind the quotes Stink

[Chronic Chrissy]

Actually I'm not growing soil anymore. New house new setup. It's a perpetual harvest by the way. 65 day white rhino, two in and out every 3 days, Three separate growing areas sorted by plant size. My clones root then go into flower at 5-6".

No CO2

Kind princess turned me on to Coco and I love it. It is cheap, sterile, pH balanced and it comes in bricks that expand in water to over 50L. I pay $3.99 a brick and mix it 9/1 with perlite. The consistancy is great, and it evenly distributes the water so you have no dry pockets. It also rehydrates much better than soil if you let it dry out, and flushes clean. It's made to be reusable but I need to get more control before I think about that. I'm just in 2gl grow bags(I love grow bags) now but I've designed custom ebb flow tables and am waiting on my brother to get off his ass.

As for My nute line, I love advanced nutrients, especially for the conpatibility between all the products. Needless to say my nute schedual is out of wack and wonky, but normally I use Iguana Juice, carboload, Sensi Cal/Mg, big bud, bud blood, and voodoo juice, and grotek final flush because I have it. But I took out my senior chemistry book and calculated out all my individual nute ratios to keep all nutes on the low side of the optimal range. At some point I can post all those calculations, or at least a table of the outcomes.

[Chronic Chrissy]

Check this out!
Dripworks - Hard Water Magnetic Water Conditioning
It's a magnet that apparently removes minerals from your water.
I'm not sure how well it would work mind you, but it's just the kind of idea that would be nice if it did work.:jointsmile:

Later...

But wait, where do the minerals go?

[stinkyattic]

Are you certain of the composition of the precipitate?
Do you pre-rinse your bricks, and what brand are they?
You can build a solar desalination kit that could provide you with a cleaner water source; they use solar desal on a large scale in Israel but with some ingenuity you could build a small one with a pump, reservoir, evaporation area (2L soda bottles?) and condenser. Or catch the water off your ac or dehumidifier. It's distilled; just make sure it doesn't have metals dissolved in it.

Try switching to a hydro-organic nute like Canna that buffers in a good range already and isn't composed of chemical salts that are likely to recombine.

Look into humic acid sold as 'Soil Syrup' and other trade names, which also prevents recombination of fert salts.

Switch to a fertilzer formulated for hard water. They do exist.

Nice to see you again.

[Chronic Chrissy]

Are you certain of the composition of the precipitate?
Do you pre-rinse your bricks, and what brand are they?
You can build a solar desalination kit that could provide you with a cleaner water source; they use solar desal on a large scale in Israel but with some ingenuity you could build a small one with a pump, reservoir, evaporation area (2L soda bottles?) and condenser. Or catch the water off your ac or dehumidifier. It's distilled; just make sure it doesn't have metals dissolved in it.

Try switching to a hydro-organic nute like Canna that buffers in a good range already and isn't composed of chemical salts that are likely to recombine.

Look into humic acid sold as 'Soil Syrup' and other trade names, which also prevents recombination of fert salts.

Switch to a fertilzer formulated for hard water. They do exist.

Nice to see you again.

I'm very certain of the precipitate. I always use all my prepared nutes the day the are mixed, but 3 days ago I mixed a bit too much, so I left it in the bucket. When I went back yesterday to use it(after 2 days) it was couldy and there was a layer of milky precipitate on the top suspanded. I figured I the nutes separated and needed to be mixed back in. So I sat mixing furiousely for the longest time and even brought out my wisk and beat it 'til it was almost frofing(sp?). The white chunks were pin head size and always loosely reformed togather, like tiny clumps of drywal dust.

I buy organic grow bricks from Grotek, but no I don't flush them before use.

Iguana juice is hydro organic, so is voodoo jucie, and apparently carbo load(?)

[Chronic Chrissy]

So I'm looking at distilleries and trying to figure out how to distill the volumes of water I need and right next to me in my sunroom is our hot tub, which puts out so much water into the air when it is running.

Question
Are you left with pure water whenever you distil, are there certain minerals that travel with the water vapor? Could I run the air through that we exhaust throught an area to recondense it without transfering pool chemicals?

Sorry I'm running everything through my head right now as a possibility.