Growing with RO water

[Lammy]

A couple points here. One is my merlin says while using hard water you HAVE to have a water softener. It makes it work better and if you don't use one it voids the warranty. (maybe you don't have hard water, I don't...)

Probably got the same city water you do. 160ppm now.

two is call the company and ask them WTF? if you buy a ro filter, why is it not RO'ing? Maybe its broke? I had to get a 200$+ booster pump for mine because they said anybody elses booster pump would also "void the warranty" gotta love that... All it did was made more water per day, not get the ppms down. which brings me to

I feel like tech support is going to tell me to buy filters or something. I should call and bitch though, but I don't want that negative energy. I'm just done using the stealth r o unit though. the wastewater is a deal breaker for me.

point 3: don't ever do what they tell you to do. The manufacturers guidleines are for one thing, to cover their ass (while giving you a general vague idea of where to start.) Somebody using 1000 gal of hard water is gonna clog up their filter faster than somebody using tap from clean source?? I've been suing the same merlin for over 1 year and I've bought new filters, but I've never changed them because my stick has never even so much as blinked once in the "pure" RO'd water. I stopped using it now because I moved from the place with the well water. I'm gonna return the filters I guess... Anyways, not to get off point, don't change it at a certain time.

I couldn't have ran more than 2000 gallons through the unit. Brand new it took the ppm from 120 only to 60. Perhaps because it does not remove the chloramine from the water. which is mainly what I wanted it for. however at the time I believed it was chlorine that they put in the water. It's ridiculous if the filters need to be changed that often anyway.

ooh the carbon filters. I use the ge brand (cuz its from depot and its cheaper that the whirlpool they sell at lowes) and they sell matching charcoal inserts for like $10/ 2 pack. You have to get a "whole house" system otherwise you won't get 3/4" ins and outs. They're about 19 bucks empty so you buy 2 and a pack of filters, get a couple brass hose fittings and you have a hook up there. Now i will go for the green coco husk filters they sell in the hydro store because they fit the same and last waaay longer than the black depot ones. The whole hookup will cost between 60 and 100 bucks depending on what you do but it will be infinitly more effective than the hydro logic thing of the same price. I would even do a sediment then 2 charcoals to be extra safe for a total of 3 white filter housings inline of your water system whether it be solid pipe or garden hose

THANK YOU SO MUCH. You just saved my butt. The only thing I saw was the small in line filters at home depot for refrigerators. they don't even have replaceable filters. the system you described sounds perfect!! Glad to know I can also get specialized filters from the hydro store for it.

MiMedMan, Thanks again

 

[MiMedicineMan]

ya theyre the same filters as the small boy takes or whatever the small one is. Lowes, depot, and the hydro store, they're all the same size within 1/4" or so and they work in eachothers housings

 

[Jbonez]

Coco and lucas work great with RO, minor adjustments but otherwise never had an issue.

 

[Mia]

RO water here.
3-5 ml calmag per gallon which is cut out towards the end.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

The stealth RO says it wastes 3:1 on water. My city water is 140ppms the RO unit used so much water the city came banging on my door.

You seem to be having a LOT of issues with that unit... Personally, I'd send it in for a replacement or whatever the company does.... it sounds like the R/O filter is damaged.

Stay Safe!

 

[simple green]

I have cal mag around as a backup....

personally needed calmag for "lucas" flora 6/9 2-4 ml per gal
didn't need any calmag for H+G coco A+B
using maxibloom now and so far am not seeing the need for added calmag yet

just my experience

 

[HighBurn8]

^^^ arer you using RO SimpleGreen? Ive heard great stuff about maxibloom....

 

[the_extremist]

Using r/o with House and Garden Cocos and the plants couldn't be prettier. No CalMag either. Believe it or not the H+G Cocos has 12% Ca in the A bottle. Plenty, lol.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I have cal mag around as a backup....

personally needed calmag for "lucas" flora 6/9 2-4 ml per gal
didn't need any calmag for H+G coco A+B
using maxibloom now and so far am not seeing the need for added calmag yet

just my experience

IF you do see a need (would be strain dependant), try adding just a tiny pinch of epsom salts instead of Cal/Mag. You'll get the same greening up and you won't lower potency with additional nitrogen.

Stay Safe!

p.s. I think Cal/Mag will still be in business without the cannabis world buying it.

 

[GIS]

The person I learned to grow from used an RO filter so I never really questioned it. I always used RO water, even when it required lugging half a dozen five gallons from the store, out the car and up stairs, etc. Fast forward a few years, RO water became a security issue of sorts. I am in a building which it was causing the water line to pressurize and other tenants to remark about it. So I switched to tap. I'm running coco with the GratefulHead forumula (lucas was a bit hot and burned some strains) and switched to the hard water micro. To my surprise, didn't notice a bit of difference. Zero. And I have super hard water @ 500 ppm. The nutrients lower the ph from around 8, to about 6. For me tap water works great, just as good as RO ever did. To think of all the hours I spent waiting around "making water", ugh. So for me it is a bit of a revelation, tap water works just fine. It's not hard to do a side-by-side with RO and tap, which is what I did before fully switching. Didn't notice a darn difference, so I switched completely and now the RO filter is gathering dust.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

I am in a building which it was causing the water line to pressurize and other tenants to remark about it.

Get a booster pump for your R/O unit... line pressure stays the same, pump does the pressurizing, not line pressure. Problem solved.

So I switched to tap. I'm running coco with the GratefulHead forumula (lucas was a bit hot and burned some strains) and switched to the hard water micro. To my surprise, didn't notice a bit of difference. Zero. And I have super hard water @ 500 ppm.

You're not very sensitive (nothing personal). I, the lab, and your body can tell the difference between R/O meds and 500ppm tap-water meds.

Do yourself and anyone else that uses your meds a favor... please get a booster pump and go back to R/O... the pump will cut down on your 'wait' times as well as knock even a bit more ppm's out of it as well.


Stay Safe!

 

[GIS]

Hi, thanks for the info about the booster pump. I find RO to be a complete waste of time and money, after many years of using it religiously, I began questioning the RO orthodoxy and did my own experiments. From my own experiments and side by sides, and smoke tests, there is no difference at all. So all RO does for me is waste water, lots of water down the drain, and waste time and money on filters. Most people (as do I) drink tap water all day long without issue. I think it's perfectly healthy. I'd be interested to see the science behind the lab studies saying plants grown with tap water are unhealthy. I just don't get how tap water, which is highly regulated, what most people drink, can somehow become poisonous after passing through a plant.

 

[Kcar]

Nobody said it was poisonous. It's just that plants don't need 500 ppm of cal/mg.
They only need 100-150. The rest is 'wasted space' that could be used by nutrients.

 

[Mountain High]

My tap water is around 45-55 ppm with a pH of 6.4-.6.5

RO from this source come to 0 ppm and pH of 4.8

This is the reason I mix RO and tap somewhere around 50% +/- 10 %

The 50/50 mix come to 30-40 ppm and pH of 6.0

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Hi, thanks for the info about the booster pump. I find RO to be a complete waste of time and money, after many years of using it religiously, I began questioning the RO orthodoxy and did my own experiments.

Unfortunately you're not as sensitive as I and the labs are. Your meds are not medicinal quality... especially with the tap water you have now. Again, nothing personal... I just happen to have a palate and sensitivity that's greater than the last 2 thousand or so people I've met. *shrug*

Don't believe me though.... Take it to a lab and show me the results between your tap and a full R/O grow. IF they come out the same... I'll eat my hat. *shrug*

Toking and having your friends toke is not a 'real' test. Sorry.

Stay Safe!

 

[Kcar]

My tap water is around 45-55 ppm with a pH of 6.4-.6.5

RO from this source come to 0 ppm and pH of 4.8

This is the reason I mix RO and tap somewhere around 50% +/- 10 %

The 50/50 mix come to 30-40 ppm and pH of 6.0

PH means nothing in RO water as RO has been stripped of it's
buffers. The tiniest amount of PH up or down will make the PH of RO water jump or dive respectively.
That's why you PH your water after you add your nutes/buffers.

 

[greenmatter]

PH means nothing in RO water as RO has been stripped of it's
buffers. The tiniest amount of PH up or down will make the PH of RO water jump or dive respectively.
That's why you PH your water after you add your nutes/buffers.

^^^^^^^ TRUTH ^^^^^^^

 

[LuciferianSahdu]

ive been running a soil peat coco blend and adding theese to my nutes n tap water =http://www.traceminerals.com/products/liquid-tablet-minerals/concentrace-ionic-minerals

40 drops is bascially a cup of sea( i add maybe 5 drops per gallon, water minus the salt,90 plus minerals, tons of mag, there even gold in the water, my girls seem to really i mean really luv what im doing, my body craves theese so i tried adding them to my plants, its been nothing but sucess, plants gernaerally hate i mean HATE inert flat water of zero parts per million, my plants are shinny, stiff and reaching for the light, check my pics in my albums.

 

[Jbonez]

Unfortunately you're not as sensitive as I and the labs are. Your meds are not medicinal quality... especially with the tap water you have now. Again, nothing personal... I just happen to have a palate and sensitivity that's greater than the last 2 thousand or so people I've met. *shrug*

Bold claim. You think me and you are different, but I disagree, It takes a bit of intellectual fortitude or complete stupidity to make such a bold statement, but then again, I actually believe you... So dont be so quick to judge... Id be willing to bet after a sitdown we'd both be thinking differently... Guys like me need prove nothing, but experience is something I have in droves.

I cannot argue that using anything other than RO or distilled is not only careless, but in no way easier to grow.. Tap contains too many nutrients and they vary too much to be able to prove consistent, how the hell do you dial in a strain when you dont have full control over your nutes, cmon guys..

RO water assumes the ph of the first buffer and subsequent buffers added to it, try it, one drop of ph up or down in ro water will prove this.

Not to mention the shit in tap is so unregulated... Screw that.. I just see ph problems when people mention tap, and not when mixing nutes...

 

[Mountain High]

PH means nothing in RO water as RO has been stripped of it's
buffers. The tiniest amount of PH up or down will make the PH of RO water jump or dive respectively.
That's why you PH your water after you add your nutes/buffers.

Yup, with the 50/50 mix of tap and RO, you still have some buffers in there. I let the water sit for a day or two and then add then nutes and keep a air line in there to add oxygen. Wait a day to see pH come back up to around 6.0- 6.2 and THEN adjust the pH and EC before feeding. The pH seems to be more stabile with 25-50% tap water, thanks to the buffers.

100% RO takes too much time for me. I have a stealth prologic RO that just hooks up to my sink faucet with a hose connector. From there I just fill up 18 gal rubbermaid with 10 gal and top it off with some tap to save time and less water waste. The rubbermaid just sits with an air stone to evaporate the chlorine before adding it to my main res with nutes.