Question relating to water

[Noddy]

Hi everyone.

I have a question about the TDS readings and the boarder line, is it 50 plus, so we are aiming below 50 ppm so as to be ok.

Reason I ask is because I am running low on water however the new tank I am putting in is 1520 liters which will come off of a roof that had over grown plant material that had composted, I have since removed and pressure washed this, and allowed a few rain falls to help remove anything that's there. But I am concerned about cement that's holding the tiles, and any other contaminates, how do I test for things such as this. The Old pool is a swimming that's loaded with rain water and plant material growing in it, has not been touched for years, but it's 9ft x 20ft x 7ft deep, only down side it's it's not local and at a relatives.

Source TDS GH No3
Green house tank 1 15ppm 0 10
Roof (New Tank) 40ppm 0 12.5
Old Pool 34ppm 0 10

Any advise welcome.

Noddy

 

[Plant Planter]

If you want to collect rain, I usually don't get it off the roof, since the shingles can leach all sorts of nasty stuff into the water even if they're clean. I just leave a bunch of big bowls in the middle of my yard and store the rain in a big tank in the basement (where it's dark so no algae grows). You're going to need some advanced gadgetry to test for such things like total dissolved solids (or so I've been inclined to think), which isn't really worth it if you only have a few plants. Plus, if you aren't going to be watering them for long periods of time with water that might have some minerals in it, they probably won't be harmed. I myself have used tap water on rare occasions when I had no distilled water or rain.

 

[Noddy]

If you want to collect rain, I usually don't get it off the roof, since the shingles can leach all sorts of nasty stuff into the water even if they're clean. I just leave a bunch of big bowls in the middle of my yard and store the rain in a big tank in the basement (where it's dark so no algae grows). You're going to need some advanced gadgetry to test for such things like total dissolved solids (or so I've been inclined to think), which isn't really worth it if you only have a few plants. Plus, if you aren't going to be watering them for long periods of time with water that might have some minerals in it, they probably won't be harmed. I myself have used tap water on rare occasions when I had no distilled water or rain.

i

Hi Planter Planter

The TDS is 40 ppm at the moment for the roof with the old swimming pool at 34 ppm, and the clear glass of the green house at 15 ppm. I would not use tap ever or advise anyone to do this as it put minerals into the media that then need flushing out and I really need re-potting with new media, I over a a thousand plants which is why now I am going through so much water.

I Just wondered if there was a water god out there, I was hoping to avoid buying another R.O. unit.

I just one way is to take one and test, but I don't really have that time frame.


Noddy

 

[RSS]

Keep in mind what a TDS reading really is, a measurement of total dissolved solids. If you know what those solids are 10 TDS might kill all your plants or 500 TDS might be perfectly safe. People throw "safe" TDS numbers around because they either don't understand or don't want to educate anymore. Typing the same replay 50 times gets old fast.

With that said, I would test your tap water and see what it comes out to, when I was in OK my tap water was 10ish TDS so ran some trial runs and everything was great, moved down to TX and its 190ish and no where near useful. Even with an empty swimming pool to collect rain water that would not meet my water needs so I had no choice but to go the RO route. So now I'm using an RO unit to get 0 TDS water then adding ferts to raise the TDS back up to 50, 100, or 200 depending on the plants/setup. As the years go on I'm moving toward higher and higher fert based TDS #s. I've even grown about a dozen Cephs/Pings in 500+ TDS fert water without any new issues I haven't had in 0 TDS water. I have a handful of plants that get under 10 TDS water, literally a handful.

TDS meters are great when used for there role, but they are not a replacement for proper water testing. I would have your roof water tested further or do some small test runs before using it, that number seems high for roof water.

 

[SubRosa]

Keep in mind what a TDS reading really is, a measurement of total dissolved solids. If you know what those solids are 10 TDS might kill all your plants or 500 TDS might be perfectly safe. People throw "safe" TDS numbers around because they either don't understand or don't want to educate anymore. Typing the same replay 50 times gets old fast.

With that said, I would test your tap water and see what it comes out to, when I was in OK my tap water was 10ish TDS so ran some trial runs and everything was great, moved down to TX and its 190ish and no where near useful. Even with an empty swimming pool to collect rain water that would not meet my water needs so I had no choice but to go the RO route. So now I'm using an RO unit to get 0 TDS water then adding ferts to raise the TDS back up to 50, 100, or 200 depending on the plants/setup. As the years go on I'm moving toward higher and higher fert based TDS #s. I've even grown about a dozen Cephs/Pings in 500+ TDS fert water without any new issues I haven't had in 0 TDS water. I have a handful of plants that get under 10 TDS water, literally a handful.

TDS meters are great when used for there role, but they are not a replacement for proper water testing. I would have your roof water tested further or do some small test runs before using it, that number seems high for roof water.

This is the best advice you're going to get on the subject. Without a fairly detailed analysis you're really in the dark in regards to what you have in your water.

 

[tommyr]

If you want to collect rain, I usually don't get it off the roof, since the shingles can leach all sorts of nasty stuff into the water even if they're clean. I just leave a bunch of big bowls in the middle of my yard and store the rain in a big tank in the basement (where it's dark so no algae grows). You're going to need some advanced gadgetry to test for such things like total dissolved solids (or so I've been inclined to think), which isn't really worth it if you only have a few plants. Plus, if you aren't going to be watering them for long periods of time with water that might have some minerals in it, they probably won't be harmed. I myself have used tap water on rare occasions when I had no distilled water or rain.

I've been using roof water for my CPs and other flowering plants for years with no ill effects. Normal shingle roof.

Just saying.

 

[Plant Planter]

I've been using roof water for my CPs and other flowering plants for years with no ill effects. Normal shingle roof.

Just saying.

Good for you, then! Your shingles must be okay.

 

[tommyr]

Good for you, then! Your shingles must be okay.

Well the originals were 1940's shingles! Had a new roof put on a couple years ago. The old and the new never caused any issues.

 

[RSS]

I know my roof/guttering adds 5-15 tds vs straight rain water (depending on the amount of rain), so something unknown is getting in there directly from the roof/guttering, probably harmless enough given the reading but something it being added in the time it takes for the rain to hit the roof and get down my gutters, maybe 1m travel time tops.

Simple things like average rainfall/gutter material/gutter cleanliness can have a pretty big effect on what your roof is adding. Personally if we had the rainfall I'd do a trail run with our gutter water and see what happens, but its a non issue out here since I can not remember the last time it rained.