Zehm Posted February 6, 2018 Share Posted February 6, 2018 Using a PPM meter, I'm getting a reading of around 104ppm from tap water. That seems incredibly low to me and it making me question the validity of the reading. Usually filtered water will have a reading of something like 70ppm, bottle water around 120ppm, a lot of people around the world seem to get readings of 250-350ppm from their taps. Is Yorkshire water really this soft? Or am I getting faulty readings somehow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgksheff Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 How do you think water hardness is measured? What, exactly, is your meter measuring? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naive Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 What, exactly, is your meter measuring? Dissolved stuff. Hydroponic “herb” growers like to know that sort of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgksheff Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Dissolved stuff. Hydroponic “herb” growers like to know that sort of thing. You there as well? You reading that same meter? Water hardness is not measured in ppm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naive Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 You there as well? You reading that same meter? I have your “Are” words over here, all safe and sound. They can attach back to your sentences whenever you like. The ops meter measures any dissolved ions. I’ll leave you to find out why he might want to know that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zehm Posted February 7, 2018 Author Share Posted February 7, 2018 Ha. I get you, but you're barking up the wrong tree. I'm trying to grow dwarf oranges, not herb. PPM (parts per million) is a measurement of the dissoluble material in a liquid. Plants can only absorb water of certain hardness, so it's important to understand the PPM so when adding nutrients to the water it doesn't create a mix that chokes the plants with salts. I'd still like to get a second opinion on the reading. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jomie Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Nutriculture or Rotherham Hydrponics Centre should be able to give you a second (and third) knowledgeable opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cgksheff Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Yorkshire Water don't give us a Total Dissolved Solids figure for tap water in ppm. They do give us a Conductivity figure in uS/cm. My locality is given as 178. Converting at 1ppm to 2uS/cm, this equates to 89ppm TDS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mafya Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 Ha. I get you, but you're barking up the wrong tree. I'm trying to grow dwarf oranges, not herb. PPM (parts per million) is a measurement of the dissoluble material in a liquid. Plants can only absorb water of certain hardness, so it's important to understand the PPM so when adding nutrients to the water it doesn't create a mix that chokes the plants with salts. I'd still like to get a second opinion on the reading. Your water is soft, anything under 4ec is considered soft water.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davyboy Posted February 7, 2018 Share Posted February 7, 2018 (edited) If you want a definitive answer to the question, phone the company that supplies your tap water and ask. Certain plants: camellias, lemon and orange trees suffer from chlorosis if you water them with hard water or grow them in "ordinary" compost. Chlorosis: Loss of the normal green coloration of leaves of plants, caused by iron deficiency in lime-rich soils. If you have hard water, as we do in Kent, adding iron sequestrine to the water counteracts the chlorosis. Slightly off topic I couldn't keep certain species of tropical fish which needed soft water due to the hardness of our water supply. I could have bought reverse osmosis water but it was too expensive. You could use RO water for your plants. Edited February 7, 2018 by davyboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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