Water quality

[Just1more]

Thank you for the replies! the expense of an RO System is not the main issue. I am 81, my spouse 83. We’ve been trying to scale back on our responsibilities as much as possible. Husbands ranch work is time consuming and we can’t take on more to our ‘to do’ list! I just want to enjoy my plants while I am able and I give thanks daily for reasonably good health!

 

[Russ1992]

Rain is good and free, just need to catch it. Make sure you don't have any metallic component that may contaminate the water.
pH meter, a good one is very important.
Check the website of your water supply and find the quality report.
A TDS of 300- to 350 is good enough...the pH is normally maintained at 7 by your water provider...with your fertilizer, you will need to adjust the pH. The value depends on your media.
Make your mix then document it. What you added to come up with the right pH should be recorded and the final TDS...Now you can make your mix everytime you need it...no need to check pH all the time. Checking TDS is a good test if you have doubts you forgot what you mixed..LOL...Checking pH once a month is good...when you get a good one with a probe, you will understand what I mean, cleaning and storing the probe is a pain.
Check the micros in the report, iron, Fe is usually higher than others...something to consider in your final mix. Sodium and chloride are usually high in water with very high TDS...
Experiment...goodluck.

Gego what would you recommend for a brand and model for a good PH meter?

 

[SelectOrchids]

Gego what would you recommend for a brand and model for a good PH meter?

Milwaukee is a good ration price/quality.

 

[dodidoki]

I think there are three main criteria, low EC (lower than 60 uS), appropriate pH ( 5,0-6,5), biological clarity( keeping it bacteria free).

 

[MorandiWine]

Something that is forgotten about that I dont think anyone has mentioned is Chlorine and Chloramine. If you use municipal water, it is required by law to a sterilant for microbes injected into the water. 99.9% of the time it is either Chlorine or Chloramine. Both chemicals are strong enough to kill bacteria and fungi on contact with the required concentrations set by your water municipality. Those chemicals also burn the “you know what” out of new and developing root tips. I lost half my collection when I moved to a new house with a crazy high concentration of Chlorine! A great way to still use the tap water is to instal a carbon filter to adsorb these chemicals, stripping them from the water. These filters should be changed/replaced regularly (~500-700 gallons) depending on the concentration of minerals, heavy metals and the Chlorine/Chloramine in your water. The less of that stuff, the longer the filter will last.

If you are on a well, well unless you add it, its not there. Still, I would run a carbon filter just to take out heavy metals and any agricultural materials that might be at the depth of an ag well.

Here is an example of a commercially available filter. I have a whole house carbon filter for the house AND installed a large filter I made for the greenhouse just as a precaution.

All the best
Tyler

https://www.clear2o.com/products/cl...ides-ideal-for-organic-farmers-and-pet-owners

 

[Silverwhisp]

I use a catalytic carbon filter in my RO system and also one for our drinking water. Catalytic carbon filters are said to remove 99.9% of chloramine.

 

[gego]

Gego what would you recommend for a brand and model for a good PH meter?

Hanna or Milwaukee. They both stay on the spot for a longer time. You do need to recalibrate them or at least check their reading with a buffer. Also rinse them with distilled water, rinse the extra water then place it back to their cap with storage solution after using. Right now I use Hanna Growline HI9814.

 

[Russ1992]

Something that is forgotten about that I dont think anyone has mentioned is Chlorine and Chloramine. If you use municipal water, it is required by law to a sterilant for microbes injected into the water. 99.9% of the time it is either Chlorine or Chloramine. Both chemicals are strong enough to kill bacteria and fungi on contact with the required concentrations set by your water municipality. Those chemicals also burn the “you know what” out of new and developing root tips. I lost half my collection when I moved to a new house with a crazy high concentration of Chlorine! A great way to still use the tap water is to instal a carbon filter to adsorb these chemicals, stripping them from the water. These filters should be changed/replaced regularly (~500-700 gallons) depending on the concentration of minerals, heavy metals and the Chlorine/Chloramine in your water. The less of that stuff, the longer the filter will last.

If you are on a well, well unless you add it, its not there. Still, I would run a carbon filter just to take out heavy metals and any agricultural materials that might be at the depth of an ag well.

Here is an example of a commercially available filter. I have a whole house carbon filter for the house AND installed a large filter I made for the greenhouse just as a precaution.

All the best
Tyler

https://www.clear2o.com/products/cl...ides-ideal-for-organic-farmers-and-pet-owners

What a great point regarding Chlorine, something else to consider would be Sodium in one's water as that can create ion toxicity at low levels. At what point these minerals become toxic to Paphs if measured in PPM I'm not sure.

Thank you for the resource link for the garden hose filter! I wonder if it can remove Sodium too?

When one is thinking about the mineral content of their water it would be better to measure it in EC.

This description was pulled from Getgrowee.com

"
EC stands for electrical conductivity, and it’s the measurement of the amount of dissolved minerals in your nutrient solution. EC is measured in millisiemens per centimeter (mS/cm).

In short, EC tells you how much fertilizer is available to plants at any given time.
"

This seems to be the gold standard measurement that surpasses TDS. I watched this video from a Hydroponics company and they sum up the reasons why nicely. I highly recommend watching

Thank you to Xavier, Gego and everyone else on your recommendations!

 

[Russ1992]

Just found an article by Sue Bottom at the Saint Augustine Orchid Society relating to the topic of ion toxicity for specific minerals. Full article Link

Calcium, Boron, Chlorine, Sodium are the ones I know to look out for but there may be others.

 

[Ray]

@Russ1992 - That filter is just carbon. It will not remove dissolved minerals.

I think you may be crediting EC with providing more info than it really does. Certainly, it’s better than TDS for telling you a factual fertilizer concentration, but only if you know the EC/concentration relationship for each specific solution you test.

For example, comparing 100 ppm N solutions of MSU WW and K-Lite, both made using the same ingredients, K-Lite has an EC that is 4% greater than that of the MSU solution, but the true TDS is 45% greater.

 

[tomp]

Rain is good and free, just need to catch it. Make sure you don't have any metallic component that may contaminate the water.
pH meter, a good one is very important.
Check the website of your water supply and find the quality report.
A TDS of 300- to 350 is good enough...the pH is normally maintained at 7 by your water provider...with your fertilizer, you will need to adjust the pH. The value depends on your media.
Make your mix then document it. What you added to come up with the right pH should be recorded and the final TDS...Now you can make your mix everytime you need it...no need to check pH all the time. Checking TDS is a good test if you have doubts you forgot what you mixed..LOL...Checking pH once a month is good...when you get a good one with a probe, you will understand what I mean, cleaning and storing the probe is a pain.
Check the micros in the report, iron, Fe is usually higher than others...something to consider in your final mix. Sodium and chloride are usually high in water with very high TDS...
Experiment...goodluck.

Double check you water company Ph level. A lot of water providers now maintain a Ph of 8 to prevent leaching in household plumbing.

 

[Russ1992]

@Russ1992 - That filter is just carbon. It will not remove dissolved minerals.

I think you may be crediting EC with providing more info than it really does. Certainly, it’s better than TDS for telling you a factual fertilizer concentration, but only if you know the EC/concentration relationship for each specific solution you test.

For example, comparing 100 ppm N solutions of MSU WW and K-Lite, both made using the same ingredients, K-Lite has an EC that is 4% greater than that of the MSU solution, but the true TDS is 45% greater

Hmm, I hear you but the company website states the product helps filter out Chlorine and heavy metals. Will have to do some more research.

On another note, why would K-lite have an actual TDS (weighed minerals after the evaporation of the water) so much higher than that of MSU WW? K-Lite is 12% N and MSU WW is 19% N.

 

[Russ1992]

Double check you water company Ph level. A lot of water providers now maintain a Ph of 8 to prevent leaching in household plumbing.

Yup my tap PH is above 8 some days.

 

[Ray]

Hmm, I hear you but the company website states the product helps filter out Chlorine and heavy metals. Will have to do some more research.

Yes, activated carbon will absorb chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. It will not remove dissolved solids like the carbonates and bicarbonates that make up "hardness".

On another note, why would K-lite have an actual TDS (weighed minerals after the evaporation of the water) so much higher than that of MSU WW? K-Lite is 12% N and MSU WW is 19% N.

TDS is, as you stated, the weight of all the minerals after the solvent is removed, not just nitrogen, so for an equivalent nitrogen concentration, you would need 19/12.9 the amount of K-Lite to be equivalent to the MSUWW, plus or minus whatever the relative amounts of all the other ingredients contribute.

 

[Russ1992]

Yes, activated carbon will absorb chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. It will not remove dissolved solids like the carbonates and bicarbonates that make up "hardness".

TDS is, as you stated, the weight of all the minerals after the solvent is removed, not just nitrogen, so for an equivalent nitrogen concentration, you would need 19/12.9 the amount of K-Lite to be equivalent to the MSUWW, plus or minus whatever the relative amounts of all the other ingredients contribute.

Oh I see this makes sense.