Need WATER help

[BlueberryNutz]

ok, i bought all my stuff finally. i just got a hanna PH/EC meter and all my nutes. my tap water is SHIT! My PPm is reading high 800's to 900. is it unusable? the water is really hard i know that much. im using an ebb and gro that i just bought and i dont wanna have to fill it with several trips to the RO station a couple miles away lol. if i can use my tap water how do i know how much nutes to add? say if i wanted to have a nute solution of 600 ppm for light feeding would i just add my stuff until it rises 600 ppm more than i started off with?

 

[ItsGrowTime]

800ppm tap water? I wouldn't even drink that much less feed it to my plants. You need a home RO water setup unless your E&F is only a couple plants. Get your base water in order then worry about nutes.

Btw, make sure your meter is calibrated and is using the converstion ratio you think it is.

 

[MynameStitch]

Dude either you are drinking poison water or your TDS meter is not calbrated or broke!

water that comes out higher than 250 is getting to the point where it's not being safe.
Like growtime said, get a RO system or bring in water, but seriously water that high is a severe health hazard if it is even that high, I never heard of tap water being that high unless it was contaminated.

Your water mixed with the nutrients you want to use, if you use that tap water mixed with that, you will surly burn the hell out of your plants, and if that water is the correct ppms, which I highly doubt it is..... or unless your water and sewer main are connected together........ then your plants will die alone from the high water ppms......

 

[hydrorascal]

With your water, you have limited options.
Cease attempting to grow.
Immediately get an RO setup.
Start hauling lots of 5 gallon jugs from the nearest water store.

 

[eLiguL]

Hanna conversion is .5 and dont quote me on this but I think the meter you have(the dual PH/PPM black Hanna meter) is notorious for not being able to give an accurate PPM reading(or was it an inaccurate PH reading??). Do a search on the model of your Hanna pen and you should be able to get the long and short of it.

 

[ItsGrowTime]

Hanna conversion is .5 and dont quote me on this but I think the meter you have(the dual PH/PPM black Hanna meter) is notorious for not being able to give an accurate PPM reading(or was it an inaccurate PH reading??). Do a search on the model of your Hanna pen and you should be able to get the long and short of it.

Thats the HI 98129 meter...the conversion ratio is adjustable on that one. I use that same meter with good results.

 

[eLiguL]

Thats the HI 98129 meter...the conversion ratio is adjustable on that one. I use that same meter with good results.

The thread I read through had many horror stories about that pen. Im glad its working out for you though, cheers.

 

[Sleepy]

if you don't want to install a R/O unit...

if you don't want to install a R/O unit...

you may want to try something like this:http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=55810

Pipeline is a great resource here.

is your tap water drawn from a well?

wow.

 

[BlueberryNutz]

its correct. i checked my RO water and it reads around 30 ppm. the water here is shit. i dont drink it. i wont even boil pasta in it lol. well ima have to go start filling up the 5 gallon containers lol.

 

[DIGITALHIPPY]

dont tell him its miscalibrated. ive got 800 ppm shit sometimes 1100+ ppm tap.
its hard as hell alot of calcium buildup, line, scale, etc. dosent wash off in the shower right.... some areas are bad, mtn regions, hardcore city, industril area, rural/rundown areas, all could be like that. shit suberbs have crap water too.
get some 5 gal bottles and go to the glacier machines at the store.

 

[BlueberryNutz]

thanks for the insight digitalhippy. i have lugged 15 gallons so far. i need 15 more and then i will have enough to run my system for the amount of buckets im using.

 

[MynameStitch]

Digital, dude I aint seen one person who has that PPMS out of the tap dude, something hsa to be wrong; cause well water over 500 ppms make you sick and shit if you drink it; your water is contaminated as shit, you got a toxic waste dump over your water supply?

Take that back I seen a few... but damn dude it's rare; thats just insane, there has to be chemicals in your water, I know there is in nearly everyones, but damn dude would never drink that shit, nor would I give it to my worst enemy lol

 

[gratefuldawg]

Not tryin to continue this argument, but I use to live somewhere with 750+ ppm. Lets just say this place is fuct in the future with the water supply.