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Water hardness

  • Thread starter Brew-cat
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    minor tap
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Brew-cat

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A recent water analysis (I'm a brewer) puts my tap water at 35 ppm total dissolved solids, mostly CaCO3 and bicarbonate. 8.2 ppm Chloride. This is pretty darn soft, but is it close enough for some CPs? I understand that Neps may be more tolerant of minor mineral content. Is this water appropriate for CPs, or what level might be acceptable if not? I could dilute this water with distilled to increase my supply...

Ben Rodman in Lyons, CO
 
From what I can gather, it may still not yet be safe becuase of the minerals. Many of the people here recommend distilled or rain water.

I'm not quite sure yet though.
 
Brew-cat, while it's not as pure as distilled, you can use that water, but be aware that the minerals will build up in the peat over time.  Many people have soft tap water that they use on their CPs with no problem.  Ways to slow down the build up include flushing the soil to remove the mineral build up or repotting in fresh peat in spring just before they come out of dormancy.  It seems to me that 35ppm is in the range of what home RO systems produce but I can't find the web page I saw the numbers on to confirm that.
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The other thing you should do, is let the water set out for 24 hours to allow the chlorine to evaporate.
 
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