How does Hard and Soft water affect my hydroponic growing?
The first way in which hard water affects your growing is feeding. A lot of nutrients are available in hard and soft water formulations so make sure you get the right ones. The other consideration is the PH of water which will generally be higher in a hard water area. Use phUP or phDown to adjust your PH.
Soft Water –
Soft water usually has a low pH due to the low amounts of calcium bicarbonates & other ‘light’ atoms & ions in the water. Soft Water feeds do not usually affect the pH of the nutrient solution on make up, so some pH manipulation may be necessary to get the nutrient solution to around pH 6. Phosphoric Acid is usually used for tiny pH down adjustments & Potassium Hydroxide used for tiny pH up adjustments. A tiny pipette or may be useful as only tiny amounts are needed.
Hard Water –
The more calcium bicarbonates & other ‘light’ atoms there’s in your water, the ‘harder’ it is & usually the higher the pH. For Hydroponic Nutrient purposes, hard water feeds are only for people with hard water with a cF 8 (500ppm total) or more & a pH of about 7.8 or above. Hard Water feeds do affect the pH of the final solution & therefore save any pH manipulation until after the feed has been added. Because hard water has a high pH, addition of a hard water feed will automatically drop the pH of the solution & reduce the amount of pH down needed.
For more infomation about Hydroponics Supplies visit "Advanced Nutrients"
