Water?

[Pothead4204life]

look out for bacteria...you could boil the water to get rid of.....

..why would you want to use lake water...too much trouble...just use the distilled...I wouldnt give the plant any water that i wouldn't drink.....

[cannon]

Thanks for all the help. I will continue to use dustilled water on this grow. Than on the next one I will try tap and let it sit a day or two.

[redman71]

check into stuff for aquariums tons of that stuff removes chlorine, amonia, acids, etc. You also can get PH up and down in the aquarium stuff to...testers and what have you

[Opie Yutts]

I wonder if you could use lake water from a fresh water lake.
Yes, but I would boil it first, just to be safe. Probably not necessary. You could experiment. Maby even there is some benificial nutrients in there.

Or is there a way to get the colrie out of tap water.
Yes. Buy chlorine neutralizer at a pet store or hydro shop, or give your water as much surface area as possible and the chlorine will eventually evaporate. Not sure how long this takes.

I have a ph tester but I am not sure that will tell me if chlorine is in that water
A PH tester will not check for chlorine. A chlorine test kit will.

Any ideas would be helpful.
Expensive and it works: Reverse Osmosis (search)
Cheap and it works: Boil
I gather you are not using well water. If your water company cannot supply you with specifics about your water then they are not doing their job properly. Call them and ask (cheapest way of all to find out).

Well you want a P.H of about 7.0 isn't it?
Yes, that's a great PH level.... for your plants to die. You want 5.2 to 5.4. Some people say a little higher, but I spent a lot of time with various resources to come up with this number. Also since PH usually rises, it allows a little room for it to go up and not kill your plants.

just did a little test right out of the tap yikes came with a 8.5 I am going to let water from the tap sit a few days and then test it.
The PH in my water and my nutrients increases as it sits out. Sounds like you need: Chlorine test kit, chlorine nuetralizer (or possibly not), and PH down.

[stinkyattic]

Well you want a P.H of about 7.0 isn't it?
Yes, that's a great PH level.... for your plants to die. You want 5.2 to 5.4. Some people say a little higher, but I spent a lot of time with various resources to come up with this number. Also since PH usually rises, it allows a little room for it to go up and not kill your plants.

.

This is true of hydro.
If you are growing in soil, you are going to want 6.3-6.8.
And in my soil experience, the pH drops over time.

[Opie Yutts]

Oh, my bad. I don't know why, maybe I didn't read well, but I assumed we were talking about hydro.

[OmegaVermelho]

Dont know about hydro but for soil the ph should be between 6.3 and 6.8....not all destiled water has a neutral 7.0 ph (the one i buy has 5.8)..so just by a 5$ ph test kit and some ph+ and ph- solutions (u can get them real cheap)....although i´ve read a thread recently by Garden Knowm in wich some seeds were grown with 8.0ph water, but in this particular case Miracle Grow was also used....so test the water and make sure the ph readings are within the mentioned levels...happy gowing dude...

[Opie Yutts]

Sure PH test kits are $5, but if you are going to do this much, you had better spring for the $25 for a meter. Much, much more convenient.

[stinkyattic]

....not all destiled water has a neutral 7.0 ph (the one i buy has 5.8)..

Yeah, there's probably dissolved atmospheric CO2 in it. Goes to an equilibrium with carbonic acid. Drops pH.

[bongerstonerd00d]

Buy a R.O. and some pH Down. Then you are all set. Buying distilled water over a year long period would probably pay for a R.O. setup. You can get one for 200 and change.


b0nger