GamerChronic

Cannabis Water Reservoir -w/- Tips for Working with H2O

Watering your cannabis plants is a necessity you should learn to love. Giving your plants good water is one of the keys in growing great ganja.

Adding a water reservoir to your grow space, if you haven’t already, makes giving your plants high quality H2O that much easier.

Even for small grows, adding a water reservoir is simple. You can scale up the size of your water reservoir based on your needs. A 5 gallon bucket is all you need for a couple of plants.

Contents

Main Advantages of a Water Reservoir…

Adding more Oxygen to your water…

What is pH?

Can I use my TAP WATER?

What is the BEST WATER for cannabis?

Reservoir Materials & Tools

Article Overview

Main Advantages of Adding a Water Reservoir

• Oxygenates the Water – More oxygen going to your plants roots means more growth.
• Keeps Water from Stagnating – Especially if your using tap water and letting it just sit somewhere in your home.
• Creates a space for easy check of water’s pH and/or Adding Nutrients – Proper pH is critical for plants uptake of nutrients.

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Adding more OXYGEN to your Water?

Since roots need oxygen to thrive, adding oxygen to your water can boost plant growth. Normally when you water your plants, as water travels down through the soil, it pulls oxygen down into the plant’s root mass.

The easiest way to boost oxygen in the water is by using an air pump along with an airstone, placed inside the water reservoir. If you were a plant, think of it as bathing your roots in water fresh off a waterfall, versus water dredged from a sitting pool. One seems a lot more refreshing right?

The air stone and pump will also keep your water from sitting and stagnating. Plants don’t want stale water, they want fresh oxygenated H2O…

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What is pH and why does it MATTER?

In order for your plants to properly absorb nutrients from the soil, the soil itself needs to stay at the PROPER PH. If your soil’s pH is too low (Acidic) or too high (Alkaline), nutrient deficiencies may start to show up in your plants.

Luckily for organic soil growers, the soil is usually full of bacteria and fungi that will automatically balance the pH of the soil. Though for hydroponic growers, accurately pH’ing your water before feeding it to your plants is a must.

The best way to avoid any nutrient deficiencies is to pH balance/check your water before giving it to your plants. If your growing with organic soil, it is still good to check your soil’s RUN OFF after watering. Checking the pH of the run off will give you a gauge your soil’s health.

If you don’t have a way to check the pH of your water, you nee d to get SOMETHING. Its critical for maintaining your plants health. I recommend getting a cheap digital pH meter like this one (like I have). While the cheap pH meters work, the only drawbacks are that they take longer to get a reading, and need to be re-calibrated more often.  Make sure to add some calibration liquid if you decide to get one.

Proper pH of your plants soil should hover around 6.5.

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Is using my TAP water COOL?

Maybe, however there are some things you should know if you DO decide to use tap water. The first thing is that not all tap water is equal. Some tap water may be much more HARD (callcium), while others soft. Using harder water may lead to compounds in the water, building up in your plants soil. Not good!

Using a cheap PPM (Parts Per Million) meter, you can check your tap water and find out how hard or soft it may be. Using tap water with a PPM reading of 200 or more could lead to residue build up. My tap water is over 500 PPM! I don’t use it. PPM (or T.D.S.) meters are also used to measure the amount of nutrients in water. If your growing hydroponically or want to add any nutrients to your plants soil, you’ll want one. PPM meters are cheap, accurate and a good addition you your growing tool bag.

Last thing to know about using tap water is that you MUST let is sit for 24 hours before giving it to your plants. Letting the your tap water sit, or bubble (if you have a reservoir setup) for a day first will allow any added chlorine to evaporate off.

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Whats the BEST WATER to USE?

If your tap is under around 120 ppm you can most likely use it without any problems. If you still want to up your water game, I’d suggest getting a large 5 gallon water jug and getting bulk filtered water from the supermarket. Another option would be getting gallon containers of distilled water. Though this last option can get expensive/cumbersome if you have more than a couple plants.

Distilled water is the closest you can get to ‘pure’ water. This is what hydroponic growers use. Though they may use a different process (reverse osmosis) to gain the purity. This ‘pure’ distilled or R.O. water will test at 0 ppm.

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Build a Water Reservoir – Materials & Tools

• 5 gal. Bucket
• Air Stone
• 1/8″ air line hose
• Small Air Pump
• pH meter
• PPM Meter (T.D.S.)
• Measuring Container

Overview

• Optimal soil pH for growing cannabis is 6.5.
• Adding a air stone and air pump will help add oxygen to your water and more thoroughly cook off chlorine from tap water.
• Get something to check and measure your pH. Cheap pH meters work but need to be more often re-calibrated with solution.
• A TDS or PPM meter can be used to gauge the usability of your tap water. It can also be used to gauge the strength of any nutrients or additives in your water.
• Tap water over 200 ppm should be avoided.
• If you decide to use tap water, let it sit for 24 hours first before giving it to your plants.

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