Hard water headache

[smallbuds]

Been growing in soil in auto pots want to move to coco in auto pots I mostly grow autos

 

plan A 

Was  to use Plant Magic coco Hard water.   TAP water EC= 0.8  and PH is 7.1  Ill tack on the water report on bottom of post

 

so i order 5 of plant magic A and b grow and bloom . I get the grow but not the bloom then find out that plant magic has changed hands and they not doing the hard water stuff any more.

 

so comes

 

plan B 

I  buy a RO system to install upstairs as grow tent is in spare room. i aint got enough pressure to run RO in bathroom

just realized /clicked its a old house and upstairs is gravity feed from tank

 

in the mean time hydro shop ring me and they found some plant magic Hard water bloom in the end and of got 5l of each grow and bloom A and b now

 

so im thinking

Plan C   go with the frigging Hard water nutrient from plant magic for now

 

until Plan D When I can work out,  away to get mains pressure upstairs for RO system, Maybe pull a water feed of the main supply to the cod loft tank,  thats got to be coming from the mains down stairs is proper mains pressure.

 

im not in the mood to carry 50liters a time of RO water up the stairs with a bad back

 

IF i go with Plan C now with the Hard water nutrients

 

can you recommend anything else i should do with the nutrients and coco ill be using canna coco pro pluss

 

TAP water EC= 0.8  and PH is 7.1

 

CALCIUM	149 mg/l
TOTAL HARDNESS              372.5 mg/l

 

[Moonstone420]

Mate my water comes out at .7 or .8 EC.

 

I have managed some really good grows despite it. Especially over the last few years which have been my best works to date so far. But credit must be given to the strain which I now run from Clone.

 

Never had my water tested, but my best and recent results have come by running a Total EC of around 1.2 to 1.7 at the very max all the way through. So that includes the 0.7 or 0.8 EC in the total.

 

I thought about going through the Hell of using an RO myself, but it just wasn't worth the hassle considering what I have achieved without RO water. You Can easily create bud you are happy with despite the High EC. Just got to find a nute line and method that suits. 

 

I would just find a hard water nute line you are happy to try, if not happy, change on next run.......But my god use clone only from test to test or you tests wont even be tests.

 

I am currently running

• Vitalink Coco nutes for Veg at 1 to 1.5 ml per litre
• Advanced Coco nutes from week 3 or flower at around 1mlpl to 1.5 mlpl
• Silica, Root stim, and PK booster.

As i have said, my best grows to date with this method by a longshot.

 

The RO Route is just a ball ache IMO for us home growers.  

 

Your situation may not be a ball ache if you just run it and see how it goes. Evidence above that it can be done with ease, and there are many others in similar situations who get by fine, hence the HW nutes. Also FYI the advanced nutes are not even made for HW, but they just seem to work better than others for my specific setup. 

 

Might have to try a suck it and see approach. Worst case scenario is that you get a few deficiencies. But with a relatively low experience level you can always get to harvest.     

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Moonstone420

[Herbal Kint]

Tap  0.8 to  0.9.  ,sensi  coco ph perfect nutes, plants look mint. Check my coco grow diary

 

If your having issues with present nutes this one's are fool proof trust me

 

Atb

[Lux_Interior]

Canna specific (A+B) nutrients are not 'grow' and 'bloom' they must be used together in equal amounts and must be mixed separately into the water.

 

My water is quite hard (never had it tested). I use 0.5ml/per 10litre P/h down to lower the P/h to about 6.0.

 

You may also consider introducing a bit of CalMag (of some sort) into the mix if you are using Coco.

 

Edit: I stand corrected. I found Plant Magic do two part Grow & Bloom Coco nutrients

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2023 by Lux_Interior

[mysticriver]

17 hours ago, smallbuds said:

When I can work out,  away to get mains pressure upstairs for RO system,

bro you need a membrane booster pump for your RO system

ive got one on mine - it takes my output from the ro from a trickle without pump, to 1L/min with pump

 

 

mystic

[GreenVision]

I've been growing coco / hydro with VERY hard water for many years now, you need an RO filter IMO.

 

They work fine with low pressure water, just a little slower, but the pump will make it much quicker.

 

From here you can top up with your hard water to get an EC of around 0.3 and use soft water nutrients to get a very clean stable EC of 1.0 -1.2, or 1.4 for coco.

 

 

That said though if you cant be assed with all that the Sensi PH perfect nutrients will work great, in coco I'd just make sure you do feed full dose of these in bloom as the Iron can slip a little, but other that they make life very easy.

[Herbal Kint]

@GreenVision  your thread inspired me to try coco for the first time,cheers

[smallbuds]

3 hours ago, GreenVision said:

I've been growing coco / hydro with VERY hard water for many years now, you need an RO filter IMO.

 

They work fine with low pressure water, just a little slower, but the pump will make it much quicker.

 

From here you can top up with your hard water to get an EC of around 0.3 and use soft water nutrients to get a very clean stable EC of 1.0 -1.2, or 1.4 for coco.

 

 

That said though if you cant be assed with all that the Sensi PH perfect nutrients will work great, in coco I'd just make sure you do feed full dose of these in bloom as the Iron can slip a little, but other that they make life very easy.

 

 

mate i tried it nothing come out of clean water after an hour running not a drop  just a dribble out of the waste water.    the pressure was so low   it too 20mins to fil the pre filters to flush when fitting 

 

theirs not enough pressure to get past membrane and DI resin old house upstairs bathroom taps are gravity feed .  Ill have to tap in to water main feeding tank in loft

 

the original ider was to have a second res so Ro water was ready when i need end with a ball cock in res so i could just always have ro to hand

 

there must be a main going in to loft that said upstairs bog take ages to re fill after a flush  I think best idea. is to bypass tank  and tee off main in loft so the whole upstairs bath room in on mains and not feed from tank

Edited August 12, 2023 by smallbuds

[smallbuds]

14 hours ago, Lux_Interior said:

Canna specific (A+B) nutrients are not 'grow' and 'bloom' they must be used together in equal amounts and must be mixed separately into the water.

 

My water is quite hard (never had it tested). I use 0.5ml/per 10litre P/h down to lower the P/h to about 6.0.

 

You may also consider introducing a bit of CalMag (of some sort) into the mix if you are using Coco.

 

Edit: I stand corrected. I found Plant Magic do two part Grow & Bloom Coco nutrients

 

 

 

hi I got canna coco nutes and plant magic as originally i purchased 5l of plant magic but plant magic have been took over and stoped doing hard and soft water stuff now  then i was stuck with grow and no bloom   buit i found some where with the bloom now i got both and canna a and b

[Lux_Interior]

1 hour ago, smallbuds said:

hi I got canna coco nutes and plant magic as originally i purchased 5l of plant magic but plant magic have been took over and stoped doing hard and soft water stuff now  then i was stuck with grow and no bloom   buit i found some where with the bloom now i got both and canna a and b

 

If you liked the Oldskool Plant Magic check out Intense Nutrients.

 

Other nutrients are available though.

[GreenVision]

On 12/08/2023 at 1:31 PM, smallbuds said:

mate i tried it nothing come out of clean water after an hour running not a drop  just a dribble out of the waste water.    the pressure was so low   it too 20mins to fil the pre filters to flush when fitting 

 

theirs not enough pressure to get past membrane and DI resin old house upstairs bathroom taps are gravity feed .  Ill have to tap in to water main feeding tank in loft

 

the original ider was to have a second res so Ro water was ready when i need end with a ball cock in res so i could just always have ro to hand

 

there must be a main going in to loft that said upstairs bog take ages to re fill after a flush  I think best idea. is to bypass tank  and tee off main in loft so the whole upstairs bath room in on mains and not feed from tank

 

 

Sounds like your gonna need a pump matey.

 

You can get them from most online water filter shops. Even some aquarium shops sell them for pond filters. Usually no more than £50 unless u need 1000s of litres a day.

 

They're very low wattage but dont usually have a switch so u got to unplug it once u got the amount of water u need.

 

After reading how bad your pressure is tho I suddenly feel like mine isn't as bad as I thought. Mine will actually go through my growmax 1000 so it can't be as naff as I thought.

[smallbuds]

22 hours ago, GreenVision said:

 

 

Sounds like your gonna need a pump matey.

 

You can get them from most online water filter shops. Even some aquarium shops sell them for pond filters. Usually no more than £50 unless u need 1000s of litres a day.

 

They're very low wattage but dont usually have a switch so u got to unplug it once u got the amount of water u need.

 

After reading how bad your pressure is tho I suddenly feel like mine isn't as bad as I thought. Mine will actually go through my growmax 1000 so it can't be as naff as I thought.

 

 

my main pressure is fine  the mains is at about 8bar  Its because its and older house and the upstairs aint on the mains like the kitchen/downstairs  the upstars bath room is feed from a loft tank,  why they use do that years ago i don't know as the upstairs water aint good to drink  out of a rusty old 70year old tank

 

iv worked out how to do it now  iv took upstairs bath room off of the gravatiy  feed tank   and tee`ed it into the mains pressured supply to tank    and just left the gravity  tank for the central heating now i got full mains pressure upstairs

i could have put ro sytem downstairs  but i aint carry 50L of ro water up the stairs every time i need a res change

[Slippy One]

Has anyone mentioned the infamous 3:1 cal mg thing yet?

[Oakapple]

10 hours ago, smallbuds said:

 

 

my main pressure is fine  the mains is at about 8bar  Its because its and older house and the upstairs aint on the mains like the kitchen/downstairs  the upstars bath room is feed from a loft tank,  why they use do that years ago i don't know as the upstairs water aint good to drink  out of a rusty old 70year old tank

 

iv worked out how to do it now  iv took upstairs bath room off of the gravatiy  feed tank   and tee`ed it into the mains pressured supply to tank    and just left the gravity  tank for the central heating now i got full mains pressure upstairs

i could have put ro sytem downstairs  but i aint carry 50L of ro water up the stairs every time i need a res change

Oh yes! Tankenstein up in the loft, full of spiders and stuff and takes forever for the loo cistern fill tinkle tinkly plinky drip drip.

Never drink from the upstairs tap or get Typhoid.

 

 

It used to take so long for our bath to fill.

 

Had it taken all taken out and a combi boiler put in- much better.

 

I live in a really hard water area too - {but use soil bring down the ph with phosphoric acid.} Could you collect rainwater? Some people do. Never tried RO water, but I get your frustration.

 

Edit : Well done for sorting out the plumbing- Water or soil- it's all heavy to lug about. {I'm not strong these days}

Edited August 15, 2023 by Oakapple

[David Attenborough]

You should have mains pressure upstairs, cold tap in bathroom, loft tank if unvented heating system is installed. 1st/2nd floor head wont effect mains pressure that much, it would be barely noticeable.