New Grower Question about using tap water

[Dazed]

Personally had much better results bubbling rainwater for 12-24hrs, our tap water here has chlorine and chloramine.

 

[pop22]

I love most municipal water!
Why? You ask.
Because it has been treated to remove most pathogens that are harmful to man, beast and plant.
But isn't what they treat it with harmful to those same things?
Yes, in large enough concentrations and depending on the chemical.

Chlorine- great antiseptic- offgasses under most conditions within 24hours

Chloramine- Chlorine attached to ammonia combines to form chloramine, a longer lasting antiseptic. Does not offgas, but must be broken down, either chemically or naturally to break the bond between the chlorine and ammonia, resulting in the chlorine offgassing and the ammonia being consumed by microbes in the nitrogen cycle.

In general there is regular on going testing to insure those chemicals are within safe ranges.
Drinking most municipalities water, a person would succumb to water toxicity long before they could ingest enough for the antiseptics to be harmful in anyway.

Tap water AND well water can change in its content. I too though well/tap water was the cat's ass. It turned out to be a dirty turd instead! My first grow in DWC was awesome! 7 ounces from 2 WW plants, 6 zips from one. Then I started soil grows because of heat issues. Everything started out fine. then my plants started to look like they had PH issues. O did the test of runoff and found PH to be ok. I was baffled all summer. I probably killed 40 plants! Then, in Sept. I started up my DWC again. Within 1o days, my plants looked like shit again. Water tests showed nothing too awfully out of the ordinary. I was stumped, but the DWC issues told me it was definitely my water. I bought distilled water and used that for a couple weeks. BOOM! Issues over! I bought a $79 RO unit off ebay and haven't used tap water since, and I will not ever use anything but RO anymore. How much bud did I lose to being cheap, with the loss of 40 potential plants??

 

[Waira]

Hi Bkn'- If RO water is out for now, then next best thing will be a filter that has both particulate and carbon components.... most often they are combined, like in those pitcher type filters, or the Boogie Blue unit Evol mentioned, which is carbon for sure, but can't tell if there's a particulate incorporated as well..? It'll also remove some metals and organic compounds as well, like certain pesticides (if present).... ask your chem' homie if they have a reading on the hardness of the local water too (150-300 ppm is okay),... this is a measure of how much CaCO3/MgCO3 is in the water... some is desired, as this is what gives water pH buffering capacity; without it, like RO/DI water, it's prone to major pH swings from even small inputs,... my other team buds have you covered on the chlorine thing! ...also, you might consider just getting a 5gal jug and filling it at one of those in-store filtered water machines, since you won't be watering several plants,...not too expensive at all, and is usually pretty soft, maybe too soft, so you might consider adding some degassed tap water to cut some buffering minerals into there....Oh- ask the water company or the chem' guy if they can tell you if you have chlorine or chloramine treated water,... both can be treated as well by fish aquarium products dedicated to this job....obviously, non-toxic! :thumbs:

 

[Grey Bear]

See pop, I would be all over the provider about it and believe me, they get shit from hobbyist and professionals in all sorts of industries about water quality.

My city water source now is from a river, so there is no problem with seasonal changes that you have from lake or reservoir water sources.

My last home was in a city that had a lake source, and it could turn very quickly.
I had to keep an eye on that.

 

[briman]

You can get online and pull up your city/county water supply and they should have their water census updated in real time, unless you live out in the sticks. RO does cure all those woes!

 

[BknBits]

Okay so it looks like as of July, the total hardness of the water was 230ppm. Chlorine and Ozone are used as disinfectants. Ph leaving treatment center was 7.5. I should be able to work with this, no? Bubble the water to get rid of the chlorine, control the ph with the up/down after adding nutes.

 

[Waira]

....:Cool bud: I'd say that's a green light, mate!

 

[Grey Bear]

so if you use bottled r/o water, does it have chlorine or chloramine? or both.lol

no, but it probably did before it went through RO.

 

[Grey Bear]

I'm with Waira on this one.
If your concerned, but can't go RO, use a carbon filter.
They are much more affordable comparatively and remove a considerable amount of contaminants without radically effecting the mineral makeup or ph of your water.
I guess since I first began to deal with city water services about tropical fish stuff, it never entered my mind to be paranoid in asking them about it for gardening. They are used to people calling with questions and complaints about water quality.
I found they really like to hear from people that regularly test water for hobby reasons or professional reasons. It helps them track exactly what is going on with their water. Fluid dynamics and delivery is a science in and of itself as the water chemistry can change as it is traveling through miles of pipe.
If nothing else, I found they would alert me to significant changes that were possible in my area.

 

[DABaracuss]

WAIT no one saw what he wants to grow in..did you say a card board box? Thats could go badly with heat water and electricity . I would wait till I get my tent ..Yea I said wait LOL I know its hard but thats the smart move ..and keep your lips shut..dont know where you live but loos lips sink ships ..Good luck.