quickie

I am very ignorant on this subject but I am a little confused about PPM readings. The thing I dont understand is , yea, sure it is telling you the TDS, but how do you know WHAT solids are there? I don't really know the minerals in tap water but lets say there are minerals A,B,C in water. So if I get a TDS reading how do I know whats in the water. Say the reading was 600, it could be 200 of A, 200 of B, and 200 of C OR it could be 600 of A and no B or C and maybe B and C are important. Well you can see where I am going with this. Just curious.
Quickie

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grass_hopper

That's the eternal question, isn't it? Unless you send your water out for analysis there is no way to know what it all is. Most municipal drinking water contains dissolved salts, calcium, and some cities add fluoride.

In practice, it doesn't really matter what's in your water as long as it's not high in concentration and not contaminated or hazardous. Stuff like lead or mercury can cause brain damage and even death Take a meter reading and see what your TDS is BEFORE you add nutes. Then you'll be pretty confident of what the concentration of nutes is before you add in the other stuff.

If you have hard water (very mineraly), there are some hydro nutes made specifically for hard water. You can also RO your water, but it's probably overkill unless your water's really bad (like from a well in a place where groundwater runs through limestone)

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Beener

Hey quicky
You don't typically need to know that much info. Knowing the ppm of your tap water, and then overall ppm after nutes have been added should suffice.

The solution is changed periodically to maintain the integrity of nute ratios as intended by the mfg.

Generally speaking...in hydro, tap water below 200ppm is considered normal. Levels above 200 ppm are considered hard and may require a water analysis to correct with nutes. Mine runs at 130ppm, and my plants love it.

To save yourself some time when testing and adjusting your solutions, it's a good idea to know how many ppms 1ml per gallon of nutrients equals (not including water). It's necessary to know this info to calculate your additions correctly.

Hope that helps

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Beener

lovejoy

MY water has a ppm of 420 before i add anything to it, i dont think any people like it let alone the plants

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Lovejoy

Lovejoys NFT SOG

Last grow

Beener

Now that's hard water! 420 ppm straight from the tap isn't a good thing (as I'm sure you realize).

There are nute mfg's that make nutes specifically for hard water applications. I have no experience with them. You should however, be able to have a free analysis done by the local Water Authority. Providing your water assay to the nute mfg. prior to purchase may help. Some mfg's can tailor a feeding schedule for you.

You can start by using the "contact us" buttons on some nute mfg sites of interest. Explain your water hardness level, and see if they can help.

Otherwise, you may end up having to purchase a filter or reverse osmosis unit. Softeners aren't any better.

Buying water to mix in would be expensive, and a total PITA unless you're only growing a plant or two in soil. In that case, mixing your hard water 50/50 with distilled would cut that ppm in half.

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Beener

quickie

GH...thanks for the reply, I think I kinda get whats going on..You actually are gettin all (pretty much) the nutes and minerals and stuff from the solution. The PPM of you starting water is to make sure there ISN'T other stuff in there. Thats why hard water isn't good. If its 450ppm to start with then MAYBE you would have TOO much of something after adding nutes. I didn't explain it very well just then but i get it.

Beener... You mean I gotta do MATH...oh boy are my plants in trouble

Thanks guys
Quickie

__________________
"philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks,
religion... is a lie in the fog."

quickie

LOL @ lovejoys' sig. Yet another child produced from cannabis intoxication. You know NORML or some other group should start using that as a reason for legalization...I can see the slogan now....IF we don't legalize pot soon then we'll become extinct as a species!!!..........and by the way THAT'S just WRONG, at first glance it looks TOO much like the kids' tokin' on a hooka....hehe

__________________
"philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks,
religion... is a lie in the fog."