hi
i know in general its fine to use water straight out of the tap if you're in compost but does this still apply when you use granules? is there any chance of it killing any of the friendly stuff?

cheers

dont use water straight out of the tap,not even in just compost.it kills off the micro flora.

leave the water to stand over night-or bubble it for an hr

leaving it to stand isnt good , i always bubble it but air pump is busy at the min.

i always assumed water from tap isnt good to use but plenty with many times the knowledge i have say different ...... whether they meant with organic nutes/additives or not i dont know ?

Always bubble the tap water I didn't bother before, but have noticed much better growth since.

its hardly much effort, bubble for at least 24hrs
before use

you cant over bubble, so just keep it running and topped up

also, from keeping fish I know that you should never wash the filter medium in tap water, as it kills the friendly microlife in the filter needed to break down the waste and keep the water clean and healthy.

product support people !

i do bubble , an hour is easily enough but as said pump wasnt available. its granules / chlorine i was wondering about

Chlorine will kill anything no matter what the media used.

I'm sure I remember reading a post of OT1's saying that Essence is 'knocked back' with chlorine. Don't really know what 'knocked back' involves but I've been assuming it kinda means acclimatised. I'd of thought that if that's the case with Essence then it is with Granules too

yeah i know you have to give it a little time when brewing essence for chlorine to disperse but sure i remember it being said that the top inch or so of compost will cancel it out (for want of a better word) meaning all of the roots in contact with granules will be fine?

i just left it to stand for a while , not the best but rather safe than sterilised

I would say bubble if you are worried, rather than leave standing. I've tried making essence brew with fresh tap water and it didn't work.....it worked fine if you bubble for around an hour (probably less TBH).

I personally don't worry about chlorine when watering cos I think it's destroyed pretty much on contact with the compost........but saying that I'll be buggered if I can work out were I first learnt that..........and if others have seen an improvement with bubbling then maybe that's your answer.

If you normally bubble but didn't just this once I'd really be surprised if you could do any real damage.

e2a - I tend to follow this advice..... http://www.uk420.com/boards/index.php?show...t&p=1334889

Excellent post BP When I 1st read that I switched from RO to bog standard tap water from the shower head. Made sure to get water temps rougfhly in the zone, bubbled a bit and my plants have never looked happier

There was another OT1 post about how Essence has already been 'knocked back' several times by or against chlorine. Dunno where though and I'm rubbish at searching

Pretty sure Granules will be ok watered with tap water - I still use RO for tricky plants like carnivores but weed-wise I only use it for bubbling Essence now (and that's prob not necessary it's just habit - might try bubbling some with tap water to see if there's any diffarence)

As BP says bubble to oxygenate the water and discourage anaerobic bacteria from flourishing Check out the link BP put up

i always bubble to get as much o2 in there as poss , when i do anything big scale i use a heater too. was just the once (air pump was brewing essence)

water round this way doesnt seem to have as much chlorine in as some areas but i just let it stand incase.

In many areas chloramine is present in the water supply and I'm afraid you can bubble to your hearts content but it won't remove it from the water.

What do you mean by bubble?OT1 says "Any water left to stand for more than 2 hours should be bubbled to keep it oxygenated, this is for both tap and rain water"

how do i keep it bubbleing?

ty

Use an air pump and and an air stone or two, and you'll be set Check out the Brew Guide for Essence for pics.