So my tap water is softened at the source and there’s no way around it to my knowledge. It has sodium chloride as a result. I can’t remember the ppm’s exactly (will test soon) but if I recall it’s something like 700 total EC with a ph of around 8.
I’ve been having to buy gallons of local Spring Water since I’m afraid to use my tap water, however on one grow I actually managed to switch to tap water after flipping to flower and got good results but I was using GH nutes and was flushing quite a bit to try and mitigate potential salt buildup.
Does anyone know if putting high(er) EC tap water with sodium chloride in the bottom of an earth box would be okay? I’d be doing an organic living soil type setup.
Really just trying to simplify my life and save trips to the store and $$
I never owned a water softener myself, but I have cut into my plumbing lines many times.
Why not find a sweet spot in the water line BEFORE the softener, cut and add a tee like a sharkbite or a hose bib?
If not, maybe a whole house filter would remove some sodium, IDK, but mine was easy peezy to install it.
I’d be very shy to use softened water myself.
I too have softened water and use it as is, except to let it sit out a couple of days, for the chlorine to dissipate. I am in soil, so I pH to 6.5 and use. Sativas and hybrids seems to enjoy it. I don’t test for TDS or E.C.
I think what I’ll do is run one plant with my tap water only from start to finish, making sure to leave it out 24 hours to evaporate any chlorine and just see what happens. I think it’s really the only way to really be sure if it’s usable.