robert2191
Member
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2014
- Messages
- 75
Hi when you make your ferts up do you put cold water straight from the tap in or do you boil the water and let it cool
Why complicate something that is designed to be simple, I did when I started EI . Just use cold tap water, nice and simple, shake a bit, leave to stand over night and dose way. Tap water provides extra calcium, magnesium and nitrates all good stuff for plants.Best to boil it first and then let it cool down for 20 minutes.
Excellent, more phosphate, so even better for the plants and bad for algae. My tap water is looking better already....You would also be adding phosphate in many cases.
Why complicate something that is designed to be simple, I did when I started EI . Just use cold tap water, Tap water provides extra calcium, magnesium and nitrates all good stuff for plants.
Don't you ever worry about precipitates forming at the bottom of the bottle after the first week?
Nope. Never seen precipitates or undissolved salts in the bottle, despite me mixing EI at 1.5 times the amount due to my large plant mass (actually not that large now, but forgot to change mixing levels, oh well one day will remember to change).Don't you ever worry about precipitates forming at the bottom of the bottle after the first week?
Yes. Absolute worst case is a couple of mg of iron phosphate, out of say out of 6000mg (one tea spoon), of micro might precipitate out. So is it worth faffing around with boiled water & distilled water just to save a couple of mg.For micros also use tap water?
Couple of "wasted worry" points here.Boiling water part is more to kill any mold that might be lurking in my taps not harmful I know but meh
Nope. Never seen precipitates or undissolved salts in the bottle, despite me mixing EI at 1.5 times the amount due to my large plant mass (actually not that large now, but forgot to change mixing levels, oh well one day will remember to change).
As an experiment I did mix once some potassium phosphate and micro mix with tap water hoping to see some iron phosphate precipitate, but saw nothing after a week, bunged in tank. I suspect the pH was too low and the iron in the micro stayed in solution.
I doubt there would be sufficient phosphate in tap water (which won't be removed by boiling) to cause an issue with the micro salts and iron precipitating out. For instance phosphate in tap water at 1mg/l (1ppm) used in 500ml water could precipitate approximately 0.5mg which I doubt you would see. So using tap water you might have wasted 0.5mg out of one spoonful of 6 grams (0.008%). So used distilled water and save 0.008%. Great.
Again people are "wasting their worries" on something, that if you think about it isn't an issue.
Couple of "wasted worry" points here.
Beg to differ Ian-m
- Hopefully your tap water will be sterile (H2O2 in Netherlands or chlorine/chloramine elsewhere), thus unlikely to contain anything live like.
- The strength you mix the macro will kill anything attempting to live in it.
- The Micro usually contains ascorbic acid and potassium sorbate which make it acid killing mould and act as a preservative.
Above is not the case if you experience my outcomes of using Municipal Local Authority tap water!
All my Macro goes cloudy and accumulates some white coloured fluffy bacteria.
I assume its because we have a lot of Mg in our tap water....depends where you live.
Even when I dosed the tap water with Liquid Carbon the outcome was the same cloudy Macro ferts after a few weeks!
Only when I use RO or DI water there is no bacteria or reaction!
So again tap water is not fine in my opinion.....hoggie
The way I understand it is KH (not pH) has an effect on the ligand/chelator used.Explain better please. My KH is 10 . What it has to do with the salts?