Plant Care
- • Climate Control & VPD16
- • Disease & Pest Management14
- • Nutrient Solutions & EC34
- • Plant Health Monitoring7
Inputs
12 parameters · live recalculation on every change
PH
0pH
7pH default
14pH
MS/CM
0mS/cm
0.5mS/cm default
5mS/cm
PPM CACO₃
0ppm CaCO₃
100ppm CaCO₃ default
1000ppm CaCO₃
°C
0°C
20°C default
40°C
Pro Settings — Lab Controls
PPB
0ppb
10ppb default
1000ppb
PPM
0ppm
1ppm default
10ppm
SAR
0SAR
2SAR default
20SAR
Advanced Settings — Deterministic Corrections
%
80%
95% default
99%
PPM
0ppm
100ppm default
500ppm
PPM
0ppm
200ppm default
2000ppm
Deterministic model
12 inputs · 10 outputs
Runs 100% in your browser
This is a deterministic model: the same inputs always produce the same outputs, calculated entirely in your browser with nothing sent to any server. It is a planning aid — not a quote, not a dosing instruction, and not a yield forecast. Treat every line as a working estimate and validate it against your own prices and measurements.
It models one system: The feed-water screener for a hydroponic reservoir. Pick a water source type, drop in the pH, EC and hardness in ppm CaCO3, and the engine rates the water on a 0–100 quality score: every point of pH away from the 6.0 optimum costs ten, EC and hardness and chlorine and heavy metals and sodium all stack penalties until the bound reads clean or calls for treatment. The water hardness converter classifier names the band — soft, moderate, hard, very hard — and the RO system calculator derives the permeate ppm from your rejection percentage, while the water treatment cost arm prices $/1000 L off hardness, metals and chlorine and sizes the pH buffer acid dose. RO and carbon strip chlorine, so the score reads what actually reaches the roots. Green above 80, yellow 60–80, red under 60 or when metals or chlorine are unsafe.
What the Water Quality Analyzer — Hardness, RO & Treatment Blueprint returns
The engine computes 10 outputs from your 12 inputs. The headline number is Water Quality Score (pts), alongside Hardness Class, RO Permeate, Treatment Cost. Every output updates live as you change a parameter.
What it does not do
Outputs depend on the inputs and assumptions shown here. Confirm relevant measurements and local conditions before acting.
STEP 01
Pick the water source type and read the feed: pH, EC, hardness in ppm CaCO3, temperature.
STEP 02
Score each arm off the 6.0 pH optimum — every pH unit off costs ten, EC ten per mS, hardness one per 10 ppm, chlorine ten per ppm, metals and SAR a tail — and clamp the water quality score 0–100.
STEP 03
Classify the water: hardness bands soft/moderate/hard/very hard, TDS class off the meter scale, SAR class off the sodium hazard.
STEP 04
Run the RO system arm: permeate = feed TDS × (1 − rejection/100), read against the 95% membrane guideline.
STEP 05
Price the treatment: $/1000 L from the treatment base plus hardness, metals and chlorine removals, and size the pH buffer dose at |pH−6| × 1000 × 0.1 mL.
STEP 06
Read the band — green above 80, yellow 60–80, red under 60 or metals over 50 ppb or effective chlorine over 2 ppm — and honor the >200 ppm alkalinity "RO Recommended" flag.
Q = 100 - \left(10\,|pH - 6.0| + 10\,EC + 0.1\,H + 10\,Cl_{eff} + 0.001\,M + 5\,SAR\right), \quad 0 \le Q \le 100
Water quality score — stacked penalties off the 6.0 optimum
Cl_{eff} = Cl \cdot f(t), \qquad f(\text{carbon}) = 0.05,\ f(\text{RO}) = 0.02,\ f(\text{UV}) = 0.8,\ f(\text{none}/\text{softener}) = 1.0
Effective chlorine — residual after the treatment in line
\text{Soft} \le 60 < \text{Moderate} \le 120 < \text{Hard} \le 180 < \text{Very hard}, \quad 1\,\text{gpg} \approx 17.1\,\text{ppm CaCO}_3
Hardness classification — ppm CaCO3 bands
P_{permeate} = TDS \cdot \left(1 - \frac{r}{100}\right), \qquad r = 95\%: \ 200 \rightarrow 10\,\text{ppm}
RO permeate — membrane rejection on the feed TDS
C = C_{base} + 0.01\,H + 0.001\,M + 0.1\,Cl \quad (\$ / 1000\,\text{L})
Treatment cost — base plus what the water forces you to remove
B = |pH - 6.0| \cdot 1000 \cdot 0.1 \quad (\text{mL}\ \text{per}\ 1000\,\text{L})
pH buffer — acid-equivalent dose off the optimum
TDS_{500} = EC \times 500,\qquad TDS_{700} = EC \times 700 \quad (\text{meter-scale dependent})
TDS from EC — scale must be stated, EC is the absolute
\text{Green: } Q > 80,\quad \text{Yellow: } 60 \le Q \le 80,\quad \text{Red: } Q < 60\ \text{or}\ M > 50\ \text{or}\ Cl_{eff} > 2
Safety bands — the bound the whole screener lives in
pH 6.0 is the nutrient-availability optimum: the archived pH-adjuster drove from the same 5.5–6.5 band, and pH is logarithmic so 5.0 is ten-times more acidic than 6.0.
Hardness in ppm CaCO3 doubles as carbonate alkalinity that fights your pH; 1 gpg ≈ 17.1 ppm and 1 dH ≈ 17.9 ppm for the water hardness converter.
RO at the archived 95% rejection turns a 200 ppm feed into a 10 ppm permeate; a 4-stage membrane strips salts and metals together, and the archived pH-adjuster called for RO once alkalinity passed 200 ppm.
Treatment cost scales with what the water forces you to remove: +$0.01 per hardness ppm, +$0.001 per lead/copper ppb, +$0.10 per chlorine ppm on the $/1000 L reference.
Carbon and RO leave only a 2–5% chlorine residual while UV alone leaves 80% — effective chlorine is what actually reaches the roots, and >2 ppm reads red.
SAR under 3 is excellent for irrigation, 3–9 moderate, 9–18 high, above 18 a real salt hazard; temperature over 26 °C adds Pythium risk and meter drift from the ATC-free 2%/°C rule.
- Score: Q = 100 − (10·|pH−6| + 10·EC + 0.1·H + 10·Cl_eff + 0.001·M + 5·SAR), clamped 0–100, with pH 6.0 as the nutrient-availability optimum — a composite built from the archived pH-adjuster (5.5–6.5 band) and conversions-hub (EC as the absolute salt measurement).
- Hardness: ppm CaCO3 bands soft ≤60, 61–120 moderate, 121–180 hard, >180 very hard — the water hardness converter classifier, with 1 gpg ≈ 17.1 ppm CaCO3 and 1 dH ≈ 17.9 ppm for unit conversion.
- RO system: permeate = feed TDS × (1 − rejection/100); at the archived 95% guideline a 200 ppm feed yields 10 ppm permeate, and a 4-stage RO strips salts and metals together.
- Treatment cost: $/1000 L = base(treatment) + 0.01·hardness + 0.001·metals + 0.1·chlorine — the archived hydroponic-cost-calculator priced consumable treatment as recurring OPEX; here it is scaled to the thousand-liter reference.
- pH buffer: B = |pH − 6| × 1000 × 0.1 mL of acid equivalent per 1000 L, mirroring the logarithmic acid-estimate logic of the archived pH adjuster with its >200 ppm alkalinity "RO Recommended" flag.
- Safety: green score >80, yellow 60–80, red <60 or metals >50 ppb or effective chlorine >2 ppm; carbon/RO strip chlorine to a 2–5% residual (UV does not), and temperature over 26 °C flags warm-water pathogen risk.
This model combines the earlier Water-quality-analyzer, Water-hardness-converter, Ro-system-calculator, Water-treatment-cost models.
Q1: How to test water quality for hydroponics? ▾
Test the four things that determine hydroponic water quality: pH (the 6.0 nutrient-availability optimum), EC as the absolute salt measurement, hardness in ppm CaCO3 as the carbonate buffer, and what is actually in the water — chlorine, heavy metals, sodium. This analyzer reads all four into a 0–100 score, then shows what to treat. The archived conversions-hub anchored EC as scale-independent while PPM depends on the 500/700 meter scale, so always convert through EC.
Q2: What is a water hardness converter ppm CaCO3? ▾
The water hardness converter expresses total hardness as ppm calcium carbonate and classifies it into the standard bands: soft ≤60, moderate 61–120, hard 121–180, very hard above 180. For unit conversion, 1 gpg (grain per gallon) ≈ 17.1 ppm CaCO3 and 1 German dH ≈ 17.9 ppm. Hardness matters in hydroponics because carbonate hardness is alkalinity that buffers against pH-down, forcing bigger acid doses to hold the 6.0 band.
Q3: What is an RO system calculator? ▾
An RO system calculator derives the permeate quality from your membrane rejection: permeate ppm = feed TDS × (1 − rejection/100). At the standard 95% rejection a 200 ppm feed yields a 10 ppm permeate; at 99% it drops to 2 ppm. A 4-stage RO strips dissolved salts and heavy metals together — which is why the archived pH-adjuster recommended reverse osmosis once alkalinity passed 200 ppm instead of fighting the buffer with ever-more acid.
Q4: How much does water treatment cost for hydroponics? ▾
Water treatment cost for hydroponics scales with what the water forces you to remove: $/1000 L = base(treatment) + 0.01 × hardness ppm + 0.001 × heavy-metals ppb + 0.1 × chlorine ppm. Bases run from $1.40 for a carbon filter to $3.20 for RO; hardness adds a cent per ppm and chlorine a dime per ppm. On the 50 L/day reference the per-day line keeps even RO visible as recurring OPEX.
Q5: What is SAR in water quality and why does it matter? ▾
SAR, the sodium adsorption ratio, measures the sodium-vs-calcium-and-magnesium balance of the water. SAR under 3 is excellent for irrigation, 3–9 is moderate, 9–18 is high, and above 18 is a salt hazard that degrades growing media and clogs drip emitters. Each +1 SAR costs 5 points on the quality score because sodium competes with calcium and magnesium uptakes the way the archive nutrient models priced antagonistic ions.
Q6: Is tap water good for hydroponics? ▾
Municipal tap water is usable but rarely ideal: it typically carries 0.2–1 ppm chlorine or chloramine, 100+ ppm hardness, and sits near pH 7 — a full point off the 6.0 optimum, which alone costs ten score points. Carbon or RO drops the chlorine to a 2–5% residual and the pH buffer arm sizes the acid dose for the hardness. The analyzer's red/yellow/green read tells you whether to treat or just top up.