Water Debate!!

Ok here is whats up. I cant decide if I should use RO water from a local company or natural sring water that flows from the ground.

Which is better and why?

Right now I'm growing in soil but soon I will be growing with bubbleponics. So is on type of water better that the other?

And if I choose one type of water can I go back and forth between the 2 without making to much stress on the plant?

The only reason I ask about going back and forth between the two is because the place where i can get the spring water is almost an housr way but the RO water is 3 min. away.

So if anyone has a thought about this let me know. I also like to hear opposing arguments to get all the info I need.

Please help.

Why the hell would you travel an hour for water? It can be holy water from heaven and I still won't drive that far. Some people really are crazy.

I would not do it all the time that would be crazy but I have things to do out that way in a couple of days and I thought if it would be better that RO then I would fill up a couple of jugs and bring it back home with me. But no I would not drive that far just for the water. Duhh...

Mysticlown150 said:

Why the hell would you travel an hour for water? It can be holy water from heaven and I still won't drive that far. Some people really are crazy.

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LOL.

I guess there are two ways to look at it here. Plants need minerals and natural water from the ground is probably best but if you are going to run it through a pump you might be better off using filtered or RO water. At least that way you can add the minerals you need - if your nutes doesn't already have everything it in.

I do add nutes at 10-15-10 to my water but if I added this to the spring water would the plants benifit from the natural minerals or would simple RO water with nutes (like I use now) be the best route?

Your own RO unit will pay for itself, no driving.

The RO water I buy at my local store for 39 cents a gallon. Its not from my local tap water. I just thought while i'm in the area i could get free spring water but only if I was to be a benifit from it.

Wow noone els has anything to say?
I thoguht this would be debated over seeing as how there is so many diff. pages on water on many growing sites.

DW4174 said:

Wow noone els has anything to say?
I thoguht this would be debated over seeing as how there is so many diff. pages on water on many growing sites.

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I use a mixture of RO and filtered tapwater from home because my tapwater is over 600 ppm. If you are doing hydro it probably is best to use RO that way you know exactly what you are putting into your reservoir. Soil? I doubt that it makes a whole lot of difference.

doc111 said:

If you are doing hydro it probably is best to use RO that way you know exactly what you are putting into your reservoir..

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Good point.
I dont know much about ppm thought (other than it means parts per million) and dont have a meter for it ether.

For a soil grow thought you dont think it will make a difference for the plant?

DW4174 said:

Good point.
I dont know much about ppm thought (other than it means parts per million) and dont have a meter for it ether.

For a soil grow thought you dont think it will make a difference for the plant?

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Only if the spring water has an extreme pH or has a shitload of dissolved solids.

Yeah, if you're doing a soil grow, it's not critical unless you have really alkaline water or soil. The roots will take up what they need from soil.

I would advise highly against pulling from the spring. Although in theory it sounds great, surface water has the highest probability of bacteria contamination. If you are willing to run a lab analysis on this spring water on a regular basis, thats one thing. But if you do use this water you are really rolling the dice. If you use RO water you know there is almost nothing in it. The spring water could be pristene, but there is no "magic dust" in spring water that is going to help your plant. Chances are better that it will at one time or another have e-coli from animal waste, but how do you tell unless you can protect the water source and/or have detailed testing regularly.

You would be better off buying the RO water, or like Illegal smile said, get your own RO for like $200. It will pay for itself in a year or two, plus you have great water to drink and you can connect it to an icemaker for really clear ice cubes. I would reccomend getting a second tank for the RO as residential models only store 2 gallons at a time.

Also if you plan on growing hydro, do yourself a favor, get a TDS PPM meter. (Total Dissolved Solids) - measures the concentration of inorganics in the water by means of measuring conductivity. TDS is basically the mineral concentration of the water, although it does not tell you what the minerals are.

Plants do not uptake bacteria. They only take up *inorganic* compounds. That sort of fucked up the "organic growers" whole paradigm when that was recently discovered. It's still a good thing but it still has to break down.

or you can just use tap water.

spending money for water.

driving to get that water. double

thinking MJ is some magical plant that doesnt grow like every other green thing on the planet. triple

Thanks bucnhes of help!
And bigbrew you made some very good points. I will prob. go with the RO water then

bigbrew said:

Also if you plan on growing hydro, do yourself a favor, get a TDS PPM meter. (Total Dissolved Solids) - measures the concentration of inorganics in the water by means of measuring conductivity. TDS is basically the mineral concentration of the water, although it does not tell you what the minerals are.

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I do want to grow hydro. But i just dont understand TDS PPM and if you know any place I might be able to read up on it?
Or if you know how to explain.

So, potpimp, your saying it doesnt matter if something is in the spring water it would still be useable or you saying its bad all together?
Ipersonally dont care if it is organic or not. I only care if it makes my babies grow better...lol

potpimp said:

Plants do not uptake bacteria. They only take up *inorganic* compounds. That sort of fucked up the "organic growers" whole paradigm when that was recently discovered. It's still a good thing but it still has to break down.

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I was unaware that the bacT wouldnt affect the plant. Thank you for the info.


So to answer the request to explain TDS, its pretty simple actually...

If water is pure the TDS will be 0. Distilled water will be 0ppm of TDS. RO will reduce TDS on average by 90%. So, if your tap water has 400 ppm TDS, the RO will make it about 40ppm TDS. If you add dirt to a glass of water, the TDS will spike due to the added minerals. If you add sugar the TDS will remain unchanged, as sugars are oragnic and do not show up on a TDS reading.

The relevence of all this in growing, is that the nutrients you are going to buy are going to have precise amounts of exactly what your plants need to thrive. So lets take magnesium for example. You nutes will have exactly the amount you need, and lets say your water was abnormally high in magnesium. That would create an excess of magnesium. So the point of using RO water, is that it takes the guessing game out. There is no need to alter the nute companies established feeding schedule for their nutes to compensate for water quality. You could get a "consumer confidence" report from you local water provider by law they have to provide it, (unless you have your own private well water).

SlikWiLL13 said:

or you can just use tap water.

spending money for water.

driving to get that water. double

thinking MJ is some magical plant that doesnt grow like every other green thing on the planet. triple

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Not everybody has good tapwater. Mine sucks! It has given me problems in the past so I don't even give it to my dog! Sounds extreme I know but RO water costs me about 25 cents a gallon and I can get it at the grocery store. I don't have to make a special trip and I only spen about $1.50 per week on water. Totally worth it in my book (at least until I can affod a RO filter).

my tap is 350ppm and it works great.

people way overthink this weed growing thing. like you need a phd to grow the shit.