I have been rooting cuttings in water for more years the I care to admit. I have rooted in soil, peat moss, vermiculite and sand. I have rooted many different plants and IMO water works just as well as any other medium for plants like impatiens, coleus, and begonias. That said I used to have hard water and I never had a problem rooting cuttings in it. I like to use yogurt containers the tall thin type and I usually put about three cutting per container. I leave them on a windowsill above my sink. I check them every day and add water to the container if needed, when they have about a quarter inch of root sticking out from the stem, I poke a hole in the soil and stick them in. I have at least a dozen plants in my backyard containers that I've started like that in the last month. As far as where it came from, I imagine it's been going on for a very long time. It was probably a happy accident. I really don't understand why there is such a fuss made about it. I think it is a simple method that many people are comfortable with and if it works for them what difference does it make.

What we needed to see... PH 7.2 TDS 812 mg/L Total Hardness CaCO3 436 mg/L Sulfate 64.0 mg/L Chloride 234 mg/L Nitrate-N 1.13 mg/L Fluoride 0.609 mg/L Alkalinity, Bicarbonate 264 mg/L Alkalinity Total 264 mg/L Iron/ICP (Total) 0.070 mg/L Calcium/ICP (Total) 139 mg/L Magnesium/ICP (Total) 19.9 mg/L Sodium/ICP (Total) 97.2 mg/L Manganese/ICP (Total) The best news of all... no bacteria and nitrates are very low. You should be testing for bacteria and nitrates every year or two. So, 2 adults, two bathrooms, no water hogging appliances. Looks like a 1.5 cu ft single resin tank softener will do nicely. Plenty of SFR and set up to run efficiently you'll use about one bag of salt a month. Will easily accommodate an increase in occupancy. You could get by with a 1.25 cu ft softener but it's only marginally less expensive. The 1 cu ft softener your local company recommended would be too small and operate very inefficiently wasting salt and water. There is no compelling reason to consider a twin resin tank softener. With your hardness and TDS I'd recommend an RO under the kitchen sink for cooking, drinking, and ice cubes/fridge.

Thanks, aliceinwonderland. I appreciate the time you took to read and reply to a long technical post. 1) SST vs other resins- "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing," is how my wife dryly comments on most of my projects, right before she rolls her eyes. You're right- The SST is about $15 cheaper than the 10% crosslink, but it's about $70 more than the 8%. I had not compared SST vs 8% before. I don't recall my reasoning at the time, but I think I was worried about "chlorine breakthrough" from the carbon filter. After reading a graph from DOW on the effect of chlorine on resin, I was envisioning the resin dissolving from chorine like a sugar cube hit by a fire hose. (Google search on "Form No. 177-01754-0305" for the graph.) So I think I'd wanted the stronger resin to resist any chlorine that stealthed past my Centaur carbon. 2) I want the Big Clear for the visual, but several reviews said that the clear plastic was prone to cracking. 3), 4) and 5) Thanks! 6) Yes, I think I'll install duplicate bypasses. 7) I was considering a smaller tank because I don't necessarily trust the recommendations of the company selling stuff to me. (Case in point, they first recommended a 32000 grain softener to me. ) I noticed that they were using a 10 inch tank for both 3/4 and 1 cu ft carbon, then found out that the Vortech was not offered for smaller than 10 inch. I wondered if they were oversizing the 10 inch tank just so they can include the Vortech as an option. I had not thought about the pressure drop and tank diameter. 8) Thanks! The softener sizing and frequency of recharge has been difficult to evaluate. There does not seem to be consensus on how long a softener should go between recharges. How long do you think is too long? 9) Yes, I'll do that. I found a double valve by Webstone that I'll be using for water sampling and pressure testing. Thank you again for your feedback. I'll be adjusting my purchase because of it.

Being in Texas myself and close to Austin, 99% of the softeners here are outside and the remaining 1% are in the garage for those willing to give up the space. In our neighbor 1/2 the garages are detached thus, water line goes nowhere near the garage. My neighbor across the street has his in the attached garage and I notice his wife struggles to get out of car and past it. I was fortunate; my water line enters on the AC condenser side so mine is on the slab outside between the 2 AC units, behind the fence. Also made it easy for the irrigation tap. The plastic tank and fiberglass body with an outdoor install sleeve available as an option will be just fine. In the event of a cold snap, some people leave a faucet trickling and I have seen some wrapped with self regulating heat tape.