How do you prep your city water?
 

Just wondered how you make your city water safe for your hydroponic plants.

I think the primary concern is to get the tap water to the proper pH. Use a pH kit to test the water straight out of the tap. Then use either a pH Up or pH Down solution to raise or lower the pH to around the 6.0 range (exact ranges will vary depending on what it is you are trying to grow, but I think 6.0 is a pretty widely accepted "generic range" for most plants). I will actually try to lower mine a bit below 6.0 (more around 5.0 to 5.5 because my pH usually rises a bit after adding the nutrients). I've heard some folks will also use a chlorine remover much like what you would use in a fish tank. The natural chlorine levels in my water is actually really low, so this isn't something I personally worry about. Not sure it's really needed at all though.

Thanks for the reply. My drinking water comes out of the Ohio river. Treated it contains enough chlorine /chloramine to give a faint smell. I thought about using Campden Tablets (potassium metabisulfite) that i use in Ale and wine making.

I would like to know just how much damage chlorine /chloramine can do to a Hydroponic plants.

I wonder but i am lucky in this matter as the tap water which we use here is quite purified..more over i also use water filter for purification purposes...purification means that pH value is round about 6 to 7...sometimes infact very rare you can say that once in a blue moon if i have a little very little suspicion about its purity and pH value i do use filters and take proper actions as my gardening and ploughing is my whole asset...if it is ruined that means i am ruined...