I’d assume straight chlorine is more reactive and more detrimental than chloramine which is more persistent but that’s a pure assumption. Both will degrade microbial populations, but both will degrade or get bound up pretty quickly in the presence of organic material. Definitely can speed up the time with bubbling. I ran my compost brewer for the first run yesterday and was astonished by just how strong the chlorine smell was when running it with just tap water. That dissipated after about 45m-1h. That was using a lot more air than a typical aquarium bubbler though so take it as you will.
Do you mean 150ppm? Because most swimming pools don’t exceed 5. 4ppm is the drinking water limit. 150ppm is…unlikely. It’ll really brighten those whites, though lol.
Not true. It’s probably the cheapest part of growing. AN pH down is like $15 at the grow shop and I use about 2mL to adjust 10 gallons of very hard high pH water. Citric acid is unstable. You want a mineral acid like phosphoric.
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Any kind of acid will do.
Citric acid is nice, the plant produces it naturally, but it doesn’t tend to last very long.
Lactic acid is my go to lately, usually combined with fermented plant or fruit juice. Nutrition and pH balance.
Humic/fulvic acids will also work, but I find it is not as concentrated as other options.
Acetic acid (vinegar) is another option. I’ve heard brown rice vinegar is not only effective, but also very stable.
Phosphoric acid is very stable in a resivoir, but it adds phosphorus, so be aware of how much you are adding.
Sulfuric acid, not commonly used with plants but is similar to phosphoric acid.
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Look at the chart I posted above for the levels of chloride in the drinking water in this area……. 250 ppm’s This area see’s a lot of fracking due to all the oil well production. As I stated not everyone should be painted with the same brush……
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I think there’s a mix-up with chlorine and chloride.
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chloride is not free chlorine, my dude. If it was, you could bleach clothes in your tapwater and you sure as hell couldn’t drink it.
Chlorides can be lots of things…table salt is a chloride. Calcium chloride, magnesium chloride…etc. You got salty water, not chlorine-contaminated water.
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Yes this is very true.
And at proper levels are not harmful to plants, at other levels not so much……
The point is I’m trying to make is: regular tapwater chlorine and chloramine levels are not going to hurt your plants. Municipal tapwater shouldn’t exceed 4ppm and you certainly don’t have 150ppm.
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Looking at your water report it seems to average at about 13ppm which seems well below the recommended level.
edit: for reference I just looked up mine and it sits about 47 ppm. I’d definitely take 13!
It’s the fluoride that doesn’t evaporate.
I’m wondering if THAT is what might cause the burnt tips.
I don’t do anything my tap is ph’d at 7 just make sure I add a little pure dolomite lime powder when I make new pots or recondition them. If your using tap or RO I always use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon per gallon of cal mag. I also like to use kelp me kelp you supplement every other week
Doubt it, since Germany doesn’t fluoridate their water.
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Any Germans here who water their plants with tap water?
If so, do you or do you not get burnt tips?
Germany not fluoridating their water isn’t a big point to fluoride not being the cause, as long as we find Germans having the same issue.
If we don’t, however, it adds credibility to the theory if anything.
Is that right? Or is it the other way round? I need a smoke, I’m not nearly high enough.
Yeah, I’m going out on a limb here, but I don’t think it has anything to do with fluoride content, which is usually equally as minor a constituent as chloride or chloramine.
FWIW my wife does this for a living and @vernal has the right answer. 4ppm chlorine is top of the range, ours locally is about 1.5. Depending on how far you are from your local treatment plant you’ll get different values (ie if the water leaving your treatment plant is 4ppm chlorine, the further you are away from the treatment plant, the less chlorine remains in the water). She says if you’re far enough away they’ll have to add more chlorine in at booster pump stations.
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This^.
Chloramine in my municipal system. Understand there’s no outgassing chloramine and hearing it doesn’t matter.
Tap runs from 7.1ish to 7.8 on a bad day.
I add .05ml of PH down per gallon (2) out of (3) straight (no ferts) waterings to bring the ph down to 6.2/6.3 range.
For the odd watering where we don’t, we just let it go at whatever comes out of the tap. This presents a range that seems to be working.
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I’d argue it absolutely does. You mentioned you live in Germany, therefore your water is unfluoridated. Are you suggesting your tapwater naturally has extremely elevated levels of fluoride above fluoridated-water levels?
Almost all municipal water in the US is fluoridated, including the water I use, and my houseplants look great. It’s not fluoride. It’s not chlorine.
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If you’re really finicky about it you could just start with distilled water and add additive X and Y to whatever concentrations you’d prefer.
Seems like a lot of work to avoid the tap.
I did not mention I live in Germany. Get your flags straight.