Aerogarden.org.uk – Hard tap water problems
The water used in aeroponic gardening needs to fall within a certain range of pH and dissolved-mineral content. Most tap water supplies are treated so that they fall within this range and work well with the AeroGarden.
However, most spring, softened or very “hard” waters have high dissolved-mineral contents that can cause problems when used in an AeroGarden. High dissolved mineral content or strong pH can interfere with the proper uptake of the AeroGarden nutrient/pH-buffer tablets by the plants, which can prevent or delay germination of seeds, severely stunt growth, and cause “chlorosis”, or yellowing of the leaves. This will be a problem for aerogardeners using tap water from a “hard” tap water area. You can find a map giving a rough guide to locations of hard tap water areas in the UK here… http://www.dwi.gov.uk/pubs/hardness/index.htm#4
So-called “hard” water has a high dissolved calcium and magnesium content, and is the tap water that we get here in London.The high mineral content of the water can cause an excess build up of mineral deposits or limescale that could damage your pump, as well as the other problems listed above.
Most home water filters, do not remove dissolved minerals. They are designed to remove contaminants such as organic solvents and chlorine taste, but dissolved minerals generally occur as tiny ions which are too small to be filtered out.
Distillers remove minerals, by heating, vaporizing and re-condensing water and leaving the mineral deposits behind. Pure distilled water works well in the AeroGarden, provided it is within normal pH range.
The easiest alternative is probably to use inexpensive bottled “drinking”, “bottled” or “distilled” (not “spring” ) water instead, which has a low mineral content is available at most supermarkets. One of our customers, Alex has used Ashbeck Mountain Spring Water, available from Tesco, and reports excellent results with faster growing, healthier plants. Cleaning the aerogarden out between garden plantings can help reduce the build up of mineral deposits and the damage it can cuase – mainly to the aerogarden pump. Click here for instructions on how to do a “rinse and refill”.
I live in london where the water has lots of limescale -would using distilled (de ionised water sometimes called) water be better for the aerogarden or would the buffer additive in the tablets
cause the water ph to go off too much?
thanks
Most home water filters do not remove dissolved minerals, but distillers do remove minerals, by heating, vaporizing and re-condensing water and leaving the mineral deposits behind. Pure distilled water works well in the AeroGarden, provided it is within normal pH range. This should work better than tapwater in the London area.
Thanks
How about using rain water collected in a water butt?
We wouldn’t necessarily advise using rain water. It’s difficult to know what’s in the water and what might leach out of the barrel. In this day and age, there is the real possibility of some not-so-good stuff in rain water.