Water Quality and Chlorine

[Dr. Frog]

(Hopefully this is in the right section)

Hey AFN, just decided to share my experiences with water quality and offer up a few ideas. Hopefully other members will chime in on this.

So my last run of plants started to really suffer all of a sudden, despite my usual plant care regime. I tested the original water pH, the mixed feed pH, and the runoff pH. All good! But wait... what else could be wrong?

Then I started thinking about my tap water. I usually have 5-6x 2.5 gallon water jugs in rotation, that sit out a week or more before using on my garden. I figured this would let some of the chlorine evaporate off. However, there is chloramine in more and more municipalities these days...

My city gets its water from a nearby river and dependong on the time of year, the taste can change dramatically (which just happened a few weeks ago, same with beginning of spring/summer). I called up the local water plant and asked for a report. Upon disclosing where I lived, the employee said, "oh! We've just got another complaint from somebody in your area." ....not why I was calling, but good to know lol.

Anyhow, when I point blank asked the dude, "Do you guys use chloramine?" He responded...

"Well the water is chlorinated, yes."

So again, "oh, I know, I'm specifically asking about chlorAMINE. I have a fishtank and want to know what sort of filter I need."

He says, "Well we do make our own bleach on site. And that is the state approved disinfectant. They say it's supposed to be a certain amount and we try to keep it below that amount. It fluctuates with the season as the river has more algae during the hotter times"

(Lightbulb moment: maybe that's why my winter plants kick ass and my summer plants are just so-so)

So, not sure if he was addressing my question, but I didn't want to press further. He said he'll come out today and test my water and mail me a report. Pretty cool.

So now I'm looking for water filtering solutions. Idk if I want to go the reverse osmosis route as it looks kinda pricey, plus I like having *some* minerals in my water. Seems like activated carbon filters might work.

So there's my story. We'll see how the water report comes out. Anybody have any illuminating water quality stories or info? Any filter ideas?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Dazed]

I saw an improvement when I switched to rainwater, but saying that, we have chloramine in tap water and it doesn't seem to have any negative effects on my outdoor garden/veg plot. I know it will work against the the little beasties in the soil, but a good solid healthy soil should be able to counter act that IMHO, I know the TLO guys would disagree lol but I grow organic not TLO. I just think rainwater is better all round and it's free!

 

[Dr. Frog]

I saw an improvement when I switched to rainwater, but saying that, we have chloramine in tap water and it doesn't seem to have any negative effects on my outdoor garden/veg plot. I know it will work against the the little beasties in the soil, but a good solid healthy soil should be able to counter act that IMHO, I know the TLO guys would disagree lol but I grow organic not TLO. I just think rainwater is better all round and it's free!

Hey Dazed, right on with the rainwater. How do you go about collecting yours?

And yeah, I bet soil beasties can probably tolerate a ton of different things that end up in our dirt. I think it's just that in my specific area with the whole river/algae connection going on, they really up the bleach during certain periods. When I drink the tap, I notice. Sometimes it tastes gross with just a slight hint of something green, guessing algae. Then like a week after it reminds me of pool water, very noticeable chlorine taste. In the coldest of winter, our tap water rules. It's tastier than bottled IMO. So I think they're always fluctuating and I dont want to be at the mercy of outside factors. That's why I grow indoors! [emoji14]

 

[Dazed]

Hey Dazed, right on with the rainwater. How do you go about collecting yours?

I cut a hole in the lid of an old trash can, cut off the bottom half of a down pipe on my garage and stuck it in lmao. Works great holds around 100ltrs. Use some womens nylon socks to get any bugs or anything out of it, I always used to bubble it for an hour or so too before using to oxygenate it.

 

[Dr. Frog]

I cut a hole in the lid of an old trash can, cut off the bottom half of a down pipe on my garage and stuck it in lmao. Works great holds around 100ltrs. Use some womens nylon socks to get any bugs or anything out of it, I always used to bubble it for an hour or so too before using to oxygenate it.

Brilliant! Ah, to be a homeowner. I look forward to the freedom of modding my own home.

 

[Dazed]

Lol, I'm not! There are specific things you can buy that don't damage the down pipe so much, you can plug a hole that can be filled when you want to put it all back!

Something like that.

 

[geddy]

Drop charcol brikets , nonethat are presoaked with fuel of course, wait a day an water, really heips..