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Well water quality

Locrian99

Locrian99

New member
hey guys I’ve done some poking around and haven’t really found an answer on this (or much info on it) other than simple PPM levels. So I have well water, and it’s hard, however the PPM is only around 150. The Ph is high at 7.6, I haven’t tried mixing nutes in it yet and checking but I’m going to guess it’d drop into the 6’s. I had a local water company out last summer was looking into a water softener so I have some more detailed info on what’s in there and that’s where my question is. I have very high iron and silica levels. Worried they may be too high for watering (currently using distilled). So here is what I know is in there:
hardness (lime). 10 g.p.g.
iron (rust) 3.5 p.p.m.
silica 38 p.p.m
maganese .4 p.p.m.

i know it’s is rather specific just trying to figure out if this water is usable (thought about growing a plant in a closet with a few cfl’s just to try it) but thought if someone might know the iron/silica levels that are acceptable I’d check. Thanks
 
I'm on a well with some degree of hardness, but not enough to warrant a softener. I do have an active charcoal filter in place and one of those white fiber pre-filters in a clear housing that I change out every couple of months as the water smell returns. I used that water for my outdoor plants this summer and never adjusted the pH or even tested anything and it seemed to work just fine (other than the yellow leaves at flower since I added no nutrients and thus had a reduced harvest).

Now that I know a lot more, I plan to pH the water next summer, but am currently using RO water plus cal-mag/nutes for my indoor. Not sure that helps at all lol
 
Might look into one of those RO things, just kind of annoying using water I’m buying at the store when I literally have a sink in the room with my tent.
 
I already had an RO system in place for my salt water aquarium, but the RO water feeds to my fridge and it's a big pain to get 1 gallon of water out of the front of the fridge. I'm considering a second line off the fridge feed to fill a bucket and have more on hand as needed. From what I've been reading, RO is great because you are starting without anything in the water and you add cal-mag, nutes, etc and you know exactly what's in the water you are feeding. I feel like I'm playing Mr. Wizard when I mix up my nutes haha
 
Yea that’s pretty much what I’m doing with distilled water at the moment. My watering process for four plants takes me about an hour, would probably be quicker with fewer breaks for bong hits
 
Spot on GDF..:)

I'm also on well with a 244ppm, however I have an R/O system setup and use a 5 gallon bucket to fill with a float valve that shuts it off when full. Likewise we can also get a small 3.5g air pressurized tank that fits under the sink and can T off of that to your fridge/sink or wherever. Amazon has for $40ish.

Not sure if you run one or not, I have to run a small aquatec pump (more money) inline to help keep the pressure in the right range for the R/O membrane and also something to think about is the waste water. I am on septic and do not want the waste water filling up the septic so I pipe it outside to holding tank for outside soil veggie garden.

L99, I have run the raw well water before with ok success, as long as you keep your pH in the right range, you will be good. But just like GDF, I like to know exactly what is in my H2O for our girls..:) That away when issues do arise (and the will) you will be able to check off H2O issues real fast.

I'm no scientist, however those levels you mention do not seem worrisome to me, will be looking forward to others replies..
 
My RO setup does have the pressure vessel, but I'm not sure of the capacity. I have a similar float in a 44 gallon drum that I use to make salt water (DI) for water changes. I also have a second 44 gal that was in the basement when I moved in, but not sure I need to keep 44 gal of RO water for 2 plants. I would need a second float anyway, so maybe the 5 gallon bucket is the way to go, especially since I'm needing an extra gallon per day for my humidifier in the tent. My only concern is that I may need a pump to circulate the water so it doesn't stagnate. Then again, maybe I'd be using enough of it that it won't matter much.
 
Yea I’m curious. So an idea of why I’m worried at the 3.5 ppm of iron I literally end up with a layer of iron on the bottom of my toilets holding tank and the Staining. RO is definentky something I’ll look into as buy distilled st .89 a gallon does add up. Just waiting for the check out lady to ask me what I’m doing with the 20 gallons of distilled water. Legal in my state though 😀. The well guy said .3 is what they shoot for for drinking water.
 
RO systems are reasonably priced and at .89/gal it will pay for itself in no time. Since you won't need a full RODI and only need RO, you can get a system cheaper. Here's the company I purchased from. I'm am pleased with it, but did have a problem with my order. The whole thing was assembled, but mounted on the bracket backwards, so I was going backwards through the whole thing and had to figure that out on my own after my aquarium filled with hair algae. They made it right with me, but just a heads up. https://airwaterice.com/drinking-water-system.html
 
I'm no scientist either,,an I'm sure I'll hear some static, but RO,water is a terrible waste of resources, hard well water is perfectly fine ,there has literally been tons of pot grown using it, that's what we used many years ago growing outdoors, that's all we had on this farm. No problems ,other than normal, an your gonna have some problems with what ever your using.
 
Sockfilter I forgot to mention I'm on a septic as well. I'm not sure that RO waste water is bad for a septic system, but I dump my bong cleaner residue down he sink and run a bunch of hot water and haven't had any issues. I actually have 2 sump crocks and one goes out to the septic, I believe and the other (RO waste) pumps up to a PVC valve tree that allows me to water the front flower beds or send it out to the front woods. I didn't design it, but it's pretty handy and keeps the beds watered (almost too well) in the Spring/Summer into the dry season.
 
No Static from me DAAS as you are absolutely correct as a waste of natural resources, however I reuse my waste water so I don't feel too horrible lol..

And lets not forget that Soil grown can tolerate a greater range of nutrients/impurities than those that are going hydro or coco, so with that being said if you are in Soil L99 then I would for sure run the well H2O..:) And save your $$..
 
Exactly on the float valve GDF..:) The rejection water from the R/O is not harmful to septic by any means, I just dont want all that water in the septic when I can use it in my soil veggie gardens or any other use I might have. Only reason I dont run it to the septic.. I like to recycle and reuse what I can and even though I agree with DAAS on the wastefulness of it, it can still be setup to where it is not a total waste..:)
 
No need to circulate the 5 gallon bucket, the R/O water will be fine, I let it sit for a day or so anyways so it can suck up CO2 out of the air and pH can become stabilized. Fresh R/O that has not sat out in open air has a pH of 7, however sitting in open air, it becomes acidic and will drop to something around 5.5-6.5ish.
 
Absolutely Socks, everyone needs to conserve ALL our resources, but most especially water, it's already short
supplies in some states.
Waste is not good at all, I know you gotta do what you gotta do, but damn,at least try to conserve it like your doing Socks. Good Job.
 
Thanks DAAS, so glad to see others that really care about this planet we call home, we are killing her faster than she can fix at the moment...:(

I live on 15 acres and keep it all natural with trees all over, I can see my little spot in 50 years (I will be long gone) being the place people come to enjoy fresh clean air as mother nature intended..:)

Wife and I are actually talking about getting rid of the septic and going with composting toilets and all other grey water waste would be recycled for outdoor use..:)

We do what we can...
 
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