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Well I know the benefits of RO water but dont know the effect it has on the plants....Could anyone point me to a side by side comparison between tap and RO? I know you can let the res go longer with RO and the osmotic pressure is greater on the roots letting more nutes in. What is the final result Yield and quality wise with RO vs Tap?
I think people don't use tap because of the shit that come along with it. I know i get RO water thats 0-5 ppm. My tap is around 300. Thats chlorine and all this other carp i dont want.
Can anyone reccomend an affordable RO System?
Peace
i know they have them on ebay for about 100 bucks sometimes cheaper. I'm sure those do a swell job. You'd just have to install. Not too hard if you are handy,
I dont use RO water and I never will. For every 3 gallons of RO water you get, up to 7 or 8 gallons of water is wasted. Thats horrible for the environment. Why would you take out minerals only to re-add them with Calmag afterwords? Obviously this only applies to people who have good water to begin with, but I know too many people that spend tons of money on water bills and filters using RO on water that I use with absolutely no deficiencies with a ton of different strains and growing methods and dont filter it through anything. I will argue that RO water does not hold pH stable nearly as well and I will also argue that when you get rid of all those elements and minerals, your nutrients have less to bond too. For people with algae blooms and bad water (what I consider high ppm over 250 and pH of over 7) then I think RO is neccessary but I think a ton of people could get the same results with tap water.
The more money you spend on an RO system, the longer your filters last and the less water you waste. Its worth it. You will pay the difference in water bills within a year.
My tap water is about 220 pH in the 7s. My bitch is looking nice! On rez changes I add 10 gal of water then my 3 part nutes 1:2:3 ratio since I am in week 2 of bloom, then I adjust from there. This is my first hydro grow I only have 1 plant but shes a beauty and shes getting large! I have had no problems using tap water so far. I will probably flush with purified water the last week using floraKleen.
Peace
yeah, ima get one for sure. My tap is like 7.9 and 330 ppm. Wtf huh
sounds like your waysted and dont know what the flip you are sayin.
Peace
there are other filter methods. you might consider researching some of them. i just think its a travesty to waste so much water. I mean i go through literally 120 gallons of water a week now. If I was using a nicer Merlin system, I would be wasting about 300 gallons of water while making those 120. Thats 1200 gallons of water wasted every month. That...is a lot. Add a dishwasher, washing machine, showers, etc and man...your not only wasting water your paying out the butt for it too. but yeah, the last place I lived was 7.9 pH and came out a 350ppm. However I would have used an alternative filter type instead of RO so that it was cheaper and easier to replace and doesnt cut the ppm down to 5. Im sure there will be many people disagreeing with me. But thats my stance and I am lucky to have nice water that my plants love.Quote:
Originally Posted by GodBud
RaceX, whats a R.O. going to do for water with a pH over 7 besides absolutely nothing ? And, by the way, a pH of 7 is neutral. Its neither acidic or alkiline. I know its not optimal for growing, but if your water has a pH of 7.0 it needs ZERO done to it unless you are using for growing.
And Dusto, do NOT buy ya a R.O. system bro thinkin its going to lower ya pH. Waste of ya hard earned bucks. It will lower your T.D.S. (sediment, minerals, etc) and remove any chlorine, but thats ALL! Only way to lower pH is to add acid to it, and unless you had a pH of 9 or above, I would not even consider it for household use. Just live with it that you need to use pH down for ya nute solution.
The pH scale is logarithmic and as a result, each whole pH value below 7 is ten times more acidic than the next higher value. For example, pH 4 is ten times more acidic than pH 5 and 100 times (10 times 10) more acidic than pH 6. The same holds true for pH values above 7, each of which is ten times more alkaline (another way to say basic) than the next lower whole value. For example, pH 10 is ten times more alkaline than pH 9 and 100 times (10 times 10) more alkaline than pH 8.
And I know what the "flip" I am talkin about GBud......LOL:rasta: :rasta:
b0nger
Bro after i add my nutes, the ph is down around 4.3 . I then need to add much base to get it up.
I dont care WTF anyone says. I've seen a difference since last grow. Last time i used the tub and I had some deficiencies during flower. This time I'm using RO and the shit looks healthy as can be. Same nutes, same everything. You tell me what happened. OIh yeah, same strain(clones) too.
Use G/H Hardwater Micro and don't worry about it ??????
G/H recomends it if tapwater ppm. is over 220 i think .
I was lucky -n- was blessed w/ 80 ppm. outa the tap.
Peace
Crispi :jointsmile:
looks to me like they just dont add the calcium in there.
Everyones water chemistry can be hugely different. In my own case, using RO filter absolutely makes my water unable to stabalize on it's own. I have to add back sodium bicarbonate to give it buffering capability, even after heavy nutes. Otherwise my PH drops like a stone to 5.0 or so, it's pretty bizarre.
Normal PH Up doesnt cut it for more than a few hours. I have to use baking soda which raises PH, but most importantly, gives the water the ability to stabalize. Water is one area where you have to trial and error on your own, even with volumes of good information on the subject. Use the info. as guidelines, but fine tune on your own.
While I do value everyones opinions I would like some fact...as to what I can expect going from tap to RO...my tap is 250ppm and 7.8ish PH...Can any experts chime in? I know tons about water purification but not so much on the positive effects it has on the plants other than what I stated.
I would welcome Zandor and others with what they have to say.
Oh and if anyone is worried about efficiency just add a booster pump...not really cheap but much better than tap pressure.
And I know what the "flip" I am talkin about GBud......LOL:rasta: :rasta:
Easy now bonger, simma down now. What are you talking about. I never commented on anything you said.
Chill
Dude your stats are almost identical to mine. I am having no problems. I just make sure I mix my nutes correctly and adjust Ph accordingly. Things have been going fine!Quote:
Originally Posted by Cyclonite
Peace
I haven't had any problems either but I know using RO will make them even better. I already got the unit on the way so we will see. Heres my logic, when you use tap water with the salts and minerals that the plant doesn't need the osmotic pressure will be fighting the roots as far as uptake of nutes and such.
When you use RO there are a few things I think would happen
1. Toxic salt build up takes longer then plants are more stress free and they yield more.
2. Along the lines with the salts you can go longer without a res change if you really want to.
3 Nutrient uptake should increase efficiency, only nutes that need to go to the plant are there and the whole osmotic pressure deal.
If A= Initial RO purchase and extra water and B=Increased yield (Monetary value)
then if A < B its worth it...and from my experience and reading I would think that is so...plus its good drinking water.