[shifty]

Hello there guys and girls!

Well after recently moving and setting up my system I've just checked the water..
The house has two taps as there is a water softener so one tap is mains one is from the softener.

The ec from the mains is 1.0 (ppm 499)
Softener 1.1 (ppm 568)

Now I have access to some stored rain water, with an ec of just 0.15 (68 ppm) but this is limited.

If I mix roughly half and half I can achieve an ec of 0.5 (ppm 263)

Would anyone agree mixing is the way to go?
And if so, use the mains or softened water? As although the ec is actually higher is this due to the salt content from the softener?
(I read salts can help the plants on nutrient uptake but is it the wrong salts?)

Any input would be great!

[Geo]

The softener will add a lot of sodium (Na) which isnt good. Rainwater is ok for soil but can be more of a risk with hydro.
I use pure r/o for aero and a mixture of r/o and hard tap water for everything else.

[shifty]

Thanks for the advice... I was wondering if the softener would just strip out a lot of the natural minerals and just replace them with salt.

When you say r/o water do you mean reverse osmosis water? If so, do you make your own or buy it?

I've got some 0.2Micron filters somewhere and am going to try filtering some tap water through them to see if it makes any difference... Is small enough to filter certain bacteria from oils but have a feeling due to minerals being in a dissolved state it will make poop all difference .

[Geo]

I use a small 50gpd r/o unit (£40-£50)to fill a 100L slimline waterbutt. It lasts a fair while, more control over whats in the nutes and saves a fortune on ph-down

[shifty]

Cheers geo!

Done a load of research now and that definitely is the best option! Just over £40 inc postage so not bad! Plus as you say, saves on ph down as well!

Filtered some tap water through that little 0.2micron filter and it halved the ec, but the filter its self is so small it would take an age to be productive enough!