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Can I use tap water and adjust the pH?

Rick Sanchez

Rick Sanchez

New member
Hi!
Im in California (near LA) and got my plants yesterday. Can I use the water from the hose to water then if I change the pH to about 6-6.5? I have a filter for our drinking water but its hard to get 5 gallons a day from it (5 plants 7 gallon fabric pots) as it takes a while to refill it's resivoir plus I need to change the filter soon. Will I see serious negative effects of I use hose water changing the pH to 6-6.5? I'm using coco coir. Thankyou
 
Yes you can. Downside is you probably won't be able to add many nutrients without the EC rising too much. So go easy on the nutes while you use tap water
 
What's EC? All the nutrients I'm using us the flora trio and Cali mag, I plan on using the nutrients schedule found on this site, I just bought my teens so I'm going to use everything in the first vegitative column. Will I be ok? That's 4 different nutrients (3 flora 1 calimag)
 
You will be fine with tap water...most the planet uses tap water...ph it to 6...ec is another way to say ppm...continue on...good luck and best wishes...
 
I'm on central coast ca- i use tap water all the time, add nutrients then PH to 6. For my coco coir perlite mix. Been doing it three years. Just make sure your pH is correct for your medium :)
 
don't know what it is coming out of the tap, I've never bothered to check.
 
Awesome, thanks! One other question I need help with is how much should I be watering them and how often? It's coco coir in 7 gallon fabric pots, 5 plants. I have a 5 gallon bucket and a empty cleaned 1 gallon milk jug I just got done filling with water/nutrients. I read until 20% runoff but I dont understand that - is there a specific measurement (Gallons, liters, ext.)
Muchos gracias
 
East coast here. I use tap water all the time. I do let it sit in open gallon jugs for a couple of days before using so chlorine will dissipate. Then adjust PH and water... no problems.
 
Just to add to the other responses, I also use regular tap water. The tap I have now is better quality, but at my last place the tap water came out at almost 300 PPM and a pH of 8 - still worked great in coco and hydro (after pHing of course)! I'm sure some people have really bad tap water that is unsuitable, but I think it's good enough for most growers :)
 
You're famous! thanks for the response I was still kinda iffy about it but now I know for sure! I still haven't gotten a straight answer on this but how much are you supposed to water them? I have 5 plants in 7 gallon fabric pots (coco coir of course!) and I read fill until there's 20% runoff but I pored about a gallon in each plant (with nutrients in each gallon) and got no runoff and anything more seems excessive... what do you think? thanks again
 
Rick, when they're young you don't need to give them as much water since their roots don't go far down at all. You were doing the exact right thing not to drown them when they're small. As they get bigger they'll start drinking more and you'll have to start giving them more each time. Definitely feel free to post some pictures of your plants so we can all take a look!

Just curious, what nutrients are you using?

Since you'll be adding extra nutrients in the water for coco coir you will eventually want 10-20% runoff to help prevent extra nutrient build-up in the coco. You're in pretty big pots, so it may be a few days or even a few weeks before you can give them "full" water to runoff because the plants aren't drinking much yet and you don't want to give young plants "wet feet." Until then, you can give them water in a circle around the plant. Your instincts will help. If you find they need to be watered more than every day or two, it means you should probably be giving more water at a time. If they're taking forever to dry out, it means they need less water at a time until they get bigger.

With coco you want 20% runoff eventually, but if you were in soil and letting your plants use what's in the soil, you only need a tiny bit of runoff if any, so that you're not washing away extra nutrients. If you were in solo cups you'd want to be thoroughly watering them already since they'll dry up so fast in such a small container. The fact that each style is so different is why it can be so hard to get a straight answer about watering! Also, Free Rick!
 
Rick...i have not used 7 ga
Pots- just 5 gal pots. I was told it didn't make that much difference - size wise. That said once my plants have matured (will post a pic here someplace) I give each plant 1.5 to 2 gal each for a 10-30% runoff/waste. In flower they always get 2 gals. I was told by one hydro store fo feed rich ( no run off) once then next with runoff. I am not doing that - once mature they get the same each time ( this is with Canna coco nutes. Also some plants may take a little less than others. I have 8 plants in 5 gal pots co I collect 16 milk jugs, load them all at one time. Any xtra goes out side including runoff..to outside bushes.
Also my tap is about 7.5. Add all nutes and pH to 6. With my water & nutes it is about 3.8 mls pH down GH brand.
 
I'd be happy to post pics of my "girls"! I've read almost everything on your site (accept problems and symptoms) and dont know what PPM is but I water all my other plants (not quite as delequite) with tap/hose. Unfortunately the guy who sold me my teens didn't mention they were of different ages but ones 3-4" taller then the others, the shortest one is a bit over 12" and I trimmed the taller ones down so they're only an inch or two taller, but they're still much bushier and when I transplanted them I noticed the roots were all the way around the old pot on the big plants and on the young plants I couldn't even see the roots. I'm using all the nutrients recommended on the LED "kit" flora trio and Cali magic. My lights are 600w viaspectra (276w draw) and 4 4ft t5 lights 56w each light. I'll post some pics of the plants and thanks for making this whole website - if it wasn't here I probubly would have been too confused to even start.
 
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How often do you water them? 2 gallons a plant twice a week once with nutrients once without? Do you do 2 gallons with nutrients once a week then 1.5 Gallons without?
 
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