water pH HARD/SOFT picking nutrients

[MediGrower]

I have tested my water pH 7.3

I also have these other water readings below

110.4 Ca mg/L
276 CaCO3 mg/L
19.32 Clarke
27.6 French
15.46 German

im looking to buy Dutch Pro nutrients they do a soft and a hard water version and my pH 7.3 is about neutral


dutch pro rep says go for soft water and pH down

local grow shop sales guy says go hard water and ph up

anyone have any thoughts suggestions on which would be best

ive just tested tap water with ec pen also. readings below

EC 0.6
500ppm 270
700ppm 370

[MediGrower]

Hi marcus

Thanks for your input on this.
I kind of felt a bit lost between the 2 but agree that the dutch pro rep seemed to be a bit more knowledgable stating that the hard water would reduce ph too much causing a need for more ph +
than going for soft water and using pH -
he also noted that using the hard water and ph upping causes a cloudy solution (he said no issue) just customer pref to have clear solution,

for me there were 2 concerns

1. if ph -/+ was more harmful to use more or less of one or the other up or down

2. that either method would cause more adjustment than the other

for me id choose the safest option first then the least user input

but would be good to get the nutrient with the least need for adjustments -/+

[bigbadbillybob]

growers ark will make up nutrients based on your water sample, and they will be better than dutch pro stuff, imho.

[MediGrower]

[/quote]

I run DP hard water ferts when doing coco and I use silicon as pH up if needed.

Mix the A and B in separate buckets of water and then combine them and my pH normally falls spot on around the 5.8 mark.

Mix them in the same bucket and it'll be down at 3pH so needs a fair whack of pH upping.

I'd test my water daily though just to check for fluctuations, if it's dry weather my pH goes through the roof as opposed to wet weather. But you could grab a litre of both hard and soft and try them out side by side for your next grow. You'll soon see which suits your water. At £13 for the extra L of A+B it'll bring peace of mind and you'll know.

Shame they can't send you a couple of tester syringes of 10ml.

Edit - I use apple cider vinegar for pH down. No nasty pH up n down in this house... after burning bits of my skin with the stuff over time.
[/quote]

Thaks again guys

good to know you run DP so have exp with them. didnt know about the use of silicone as ph up?

have heard/read of mixing a+b in seperate buckets somewhere but its good to have the reasoning and logic behind it

ill keep that in mind. as i intended to leave tap water for res fills overnight to remove chlorine anyway and would then test pH in the morning before adding anything then again in the tank after mixing and adding. but ill try to rememeber this when keeping notes. So if it changes ill have at least one idea as to why

i have just heard back from DP rep and he said their labels are wrong in the way it determines HW SW they measure on pH and hard water is determined by the ammount of cal mag present.
so he said as the soft water version would carry the extra cal mag it would help me in later stages as the plants would have enough cal mag i wouldnt need to suppliment any extra cal mag. any thoughts?

good idea ill have to consider that as i may run 2 nft trays (maybe HW in one & SW in the other?) although being first gro & 2 dif strains im going to have a lot of variables to get to grips with..

Oh so its pretty nasty stuff then. this was my concern when considering HW or SW causing a need to add more of a substance like this with one method and less with thte other i would go for the safer method.

sorry to hear that dude i will have to be very careful with what i use then and maybe even think to look to alternatives that exist like ACV

ive not heard of the growers ark and its my first grow so not stuck to one type of nutes. i chose dutch pro based on their experience. but will have a look at the growers ark. thanks bigbadbillybob

[MediGrower]

i have some more readings
I left my tap water over night to dechlorinate so its as close to what i would be using in the grow.
And the pH was 8.3 E/c of 0.7 ppm 520 ppm 350 (previous read out the tap pH 7.3 E/c 0.5)

im in 2 minds as to what to buy asi was told to go with soft water and the extra accumalated cal mag would help in later stages? yet I have just read that the built up Excess cal mag can cause potassium lockout later stages decreasing yield?

any thoughts?

[2-Scoops]

i have some more readings
I left my tap water over night to dechlorinate so its as close to what i would be using in the grow.
And the pH was 8.3 E/c of 0.7 ppm 520 ppm 350 (previous read out the tap pH 7.3 E/c 0.5)

im in 2 minds as to what to buy asi was told to go with soft water and the extra accumalated cal mag would help in later stages? yet I have just read that the built up Excess cal mag can cause potassium lockout later stages decreasing yield?

any thoughts?

That`s hard water be that 0.5 ec or 0.8 ec, its what`s called hardwater cus of high mineral content as to what ferts you`d use i suppose it says it on bottles you buy "hard or soft water fertlizers" take your pick . :)

Hard water > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_water

[Labs Dexter]

My tap water is all tested by shit grey ppm and yellow ph pen those cheap ones

Ph is off tap 7.3
Ppm off tap is around 400 on a good day it says 370somthing ppm

All i use is canna anb and buddy for boosters i currently have green sensation freebies im finishing up ..

Its all ive ever needed and if they yellow i increase the AnB by 0.5 ml per ltr and watch over next few days ...

I grow in coco when i was growing in soil the hard water messed my stuff up allot, coco and hard water with standard canna coco AnB things are way better