Corpusfishing.com

[kadiyaker]

We have not had any significant rain for well over a month and as a result I'm forced to water with the city water supply.
I know that when I cook with the water here - adding it to soup or something that is water based - I can definitely taste the chlorine.
I grew up drinking (and irrigating with) nothing but well water (untreated - it was good stuff), so when I went to college the chlorinated water was new to me and I hated it. To take a shower and still smell like chlorine is not my idea of clean (and our water here in BCS is "superior")
So maybe I'm extra sensitive to the stuff, but I swear I can taste it in my tomatoes. This weekend I made some fresh ceviche - I walked out to the garden to get some extra ripe tomatoes - everything in the stuff was out of the garden minus the fish. It was awesome, but I could clearly taste chlorine. My wife didn't notice it, but she not very keen at picking up on subtle flavors?!?!? I figured the water the tomatoes I'm picking now have received came only from the city water.
Has anyone else ever noticed this?
_________________
Posted by

KadiyaKer



'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

[robul]

SA water supply has more clorine than corpus. So I truly believe that.. I personally wont touch the tap water in corpus. I tested the PPMs and PH of the water down here and from my TAP the ppms where close to 1000 and the ph was 7.5..

I bought an Reverse Osmosis system when I moved here and I make my own water for my cooler and its much better. I only use RO water for my fish tanks as well. Its much more stable than regular tap..

[gonefishing]

[B-1 83]

On another site, I am known as "Ask the Agronomist" ,,,,,,

College Station water is loaded with sodium. and plants are not happy with a steady diet of it. In a pinch, use it, but use a bunch of it to try to flush it deep, Too light of an application will tend to accumulate it shallow.

[Bluffer]

Get you a well put in. I do all my watering with well water. Only use city water for what goes in home.
_________________
-STAY THIRSTY MY FRIENDS!-

[richmoore]

To remove the chlorine from your tap water, install an inline carbon filter. It will remove almost all chemicals from your city water supply. Only problem is that mold will grow in the toilet bowl and you will have to add bleach from time to time to your dishwasher. The water will definitely taste better and not smell of chlorine.
_________________
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree at sometime or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me." -Melville-

[landlocked beachbum]

I found this about chlorine and plants.

Dave


RE: Seedlings and softened water
Brought to you by
Advertisement
clip this post email this post what is this?
see most clipped and recent clippings

* Posted by spiced_ham z5 NY (My Page) on
Sat, May 3, 08 at 9:20

A quick search on the web shows that softened water does contain sodium. Enough for the Mayo Clinic to comment on it.

Plant cells are the opposite of animal cells in some ways, one is the osmotic physiology of the cells. Animals relie on high levels of sodium (think saline IV bags for hospital patients, saline solution for contact lenses etc.) and low levels of antagonistic calcium, while plants relie on high levels of calcium and potassium in the same way...anything above trace levels of sodium really screws up plant cell function in most cases.

Salts are not all 'salt'.
Salts are a class of chemicals that dissociate into ions. Plants take in their nutrients in the form of ions...thus salts. Table salt is sodium chloride (in water it becomes a sodium ion, and a chloride ion). A similar salt is potassium chloride. One will kill a plant and the other will help it grow. The chloride ion is not that problematic for plants, the plant can use the potassium ion (the K number in your fertilizer), but the sodium ion is bad above trace levels. Fertilizers, be they organic slow release, or blue chrystals, or compost, contain-release salts (ions needed by the plants). This is totally different than poisoning with sodium. So you are not poisoning the soil with "salt" by adding Miracle Grow at recommended levels. At high concentrations in drying soil almost any type of salt will tend to pull water out of root hairs and damage them. Ammonium salts (nitrogen source) affects pH (acidid) and can damage roots in high concentrations in that way. On the other hand magnesium sulfate (Epsom salts) can be given to plants at very high levels where fertilizer would burn roots.

Another misconception has to do with chlorine. We are perfectly safe drinking chlorinated water but the chloride ion screws up fish gill function. For some reason people often think that because the chlorine in tap water kills the fish it will harm plants. It won't, hasn't for the millions of commercially grown nursery plants raised on municipal water. Another thing to think about with aquarium water is that fish food is animal based, so it is high in sodium. Aquariums evaporate and concentrate this over time, so this, coupled with the unknown ratio of nutrients is an arguement against using aquarium water as your main source of water-fertilizer for plants.
_________________
Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[kadiyaker]

Dropping a couple grand on a well is not exactly in my budget at the moment. I would be nice though...

I have a carbon filter in the line going to the frig, but never thought of putting one in the main supply so that the all the water would be filtered. WHat's the cost of the filter - how often do you change?
_________________
Posted by

KadiyaKer



'Tis better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.

[2salty4U]

Nothing will out perform rainwater. Collect it and drip-irrigate by gravity if possible. Plastic drums come cheap, and you can manifold them together for greater storage capacity. If you can't collect enough - at least consider channeling the runoff from your roof to your garden rows. What, no gutters? Now that's a problem.

[LFAMOSO]

i would try to rig one to your garden water supply.
and as for length of time i have an in-line one before it goes into the house. and its only about a month before i notice a decrease in water pressure. depends on how much we water outside plus washing machine. sometimes clogges faster than other times. but i dont have a chlorine problem just well sand.
JM

[LFAMOSO]

plastic barrels, we have an endless supply at work. and your right they work great. when we lived in corpus i had them under each valley. rain water always seems to work better than city water. our sprinklers run 24/7 almost, here at the ranch and the grass is green but when it rains we cant keep up with the lawn cuttings
JM

[landlocked beachbum]

I keep two 55 gallon plastic rain barrels going under one of my down spouts. You can buy a few guppies or any other type of live bearer and put them in the tanks with some water hyacinth and they do a very complete job at eating any mosquito larvae. Just buy 2-3 females. They are alway pregnant when you get them and in short order you will have MANY skeeter eaters. The water hyacinth not only shades the water keeping it relatively cool but also filters it for the fish. Without it you will need a pump and filter to keep them alive................... a hassle.

Mosquito fish [also live bearers] live down there in the wild if you can find them. Mathis used to be full of them when I was a kid.
_________________
Dave


"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits". Albert Einstein

[richmoore]

You can purchase inline carbon filters from Home Depot/Lowes and probably from Wal Mart. They are small and require frequent filter cartridge changes. I would suggest that you call your local 'Culligan Man' or 'RainSoft' and have them price out a whole house carbon filter. They cost a bit, but you can clean the carbon from time to time and they will last for years. Again, the downside is mold can grow in the toilet bowl and dishes should be bleached occasionally.
_________________
"If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree at sometime or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me." -Melville-