Water, to buy or not to buy...

[krazey dayz]

Hey there my fellow countrymen , having been directed to this part of the forums I thought this would be the ideal place to ask my question. A lot of US folks I've spoken to about growing suggest using 'reverse osmosis water' whatever that is but I couldn't find any reference to it for sale over here. Closest I seemed to find was 'Battery top up water ' (aka distilled water) from halfords , £2.50 for 5 litres , not a lot of money I know but if its not that much different than using tap water that's been sat for 24 hours then I'm not going to bother. I'm curious as to what most folks use for the thirsty ladies .
Thanks in advance guys and girls .
Peace.

 

[Hydro-Soil]

Any idea what's IN your tap water?

Whatever reverse osmosis is? LOL Are you actually connected to the net?

Stay Safe! :blowubbles:

 

[lost in a sea]

simply it uses the process of reverse osmosis and filters to clean impurities from tap water,, aquarists use them alot to get perfectly clean water for little fishies..

it depends on the quality of your water ie what pH it comes out at and the hardness(mineral content).. if your water grows weed fine then dont bother..

water sat for 24 hours will see the chlorine evaporate but not chloramines which are clumps of chlorine reacted sewage particles essentially..

you can buy a r/o unit like this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/REVERSE-OSM...TF8&qid=1367603398&sr=8-1&keywords=3+stage+ro

or similar and hook it up to a tap with a screw on connector and then you can get water with less than 5ppm minerals,, you can also buy step up pumps if your tap pressure isnt enough to get more clean water coming out than dirty, slow water=very inefficient.. and you will have to buy a tank to store the water in..

this water is then extremely soft which can effect the alkalinity/acidity of your soil if you dont add some nutrients like cal/mag and NPK to it, but crucially pollutants are removed..

if you have to ask why you need it then you probably dont need it..

chlorine/chloramines specifically are worst for the microbial life in soil,, if you live in the midlands then it's possible you have flouride in your water and then you should get an r/o unit for your drinking water..

 

[gonzo`]

Seems like you are confused... Reverse osmosis (RO) water is not bought, its made... When people talk about using RO water they basically just filter their tap water with an RO filter...

What you have to remember is that people in the states have access to very different types of water, including well water which could have any number of harmful things within it...

RO water has an EC of 0 or close to it meaning there is NOTHING other than water... When I lived in the UK my water is 0.7 EC out of the tap which was a bit high, so what I used to dilute this with RO water to about 0.3 EC which I feel is acceptable...

You can also get nutrients that are made for UK water such as plant magic and you could try canna which was made for shitty dutch water...

Best thing to do is measure the EC of your water out of the tap.. anything over 0.5 and I would recommend diluting it down...

 

[lost in a sea]

well you can buy r/o water from places, like fish shops, but it isnt advisable because like most things it's mainly extortion through ignorance..

 

[joe guy]

I'm in the states and can't afford the upfront cost of a RO filter
So I use the vending machines for 20 cents a gal.
Ill get a pic of what they look like around here. It's regulated by the FDA as drinking water so they have to obide by certain laws regarding the switching of filters regularly.
But we Also have water stores that only sell water..
I have to get few more gallons today so ill make sure to grab a pic for you.
So you can be on the look out.

 

[foomar]

First thing to do is download a water quality report for your postcode , Severn Trent supply detailed info in a small ten page pdf.

This should state if chloramine or peroxide is used , along with flouride and any phosphate added to stop corrosion in remaining lead pipes .

Work out litres required and cost it out between RO and buying , if its really bad enougth to effect plants.

Useing rainwater when i have it , and an acidic compost to balance the high lime burden in tapwater when i have to use that.

 

[BagAppeal]

Water is great stuff!
I use a water purifier and ionizer from royalwater.com, it works easy and has a great filter, plus a lot of settings. I can just plug it to my tap directly.This cleans out most of the dirty stuff in the water so you can use this with any water quality(almost)

I have also seen grander filters beeing used with great results, but I believe this is best when your water is not to contaminated to begin with.
So those are two completly different options than r.o

 

[siftedunity]

I use it straight from the tap with no issues at all so like already said, unless you have bad water I wouldn't bother.

RO water is wasteful from what ive read so tbh I wont use it.

 

[joe guy]

There is this stuff too,
But have heard the stuff for fish tanks works too just not as strong
8oz bottle of green grow treats 2,000 gallons for 12/16 usd
But shipping maybe a ringer.. So tetra fish tank water treament
Maybe your best bet.

 

[BullnAChinaShop]

I recommend staying away from those fish tank water conditioners. A while back I tried them out and it fucked my plants royally. I run straight from the tap now. My water is 170 ppm and they use chloramines. It made me switch to using mineral based nutes but otherr than that I don't have any issues. I let it sit in a sealed container for 24 hours to stabilize to room temp though.

 

[Hazyfontazy]

I let it sit in a sealed container for 24 hours to stabilize to room temp though.

unseal the container

 

[BullnAChinaShop]

unseal the container

Why would I do that?

My water is 170 ppm and they use chloramines

 

[siftedunity]

chlorine in the water does kill nasty bacteria and shit so its not all bad. I wanna switch to filtered water to drink so I might try that with my plants

 

[Hammerhead]

I finaly had to buy a RO/DI system today. My tap water is iffy. some days its good 50ppm some days its so bad 600ppm I cant use it. Latly I have been getting high numbers. so I bought a smal 75gpd 4 stage all clear housings. I just need to find a use for the waste water there is allot of it. Thats why I never got one to much waste water.


FYI can get a system for 100$...the one I bought was 160$

 

[krazey dayz]

Alrighty, major thanks to foomar for letting me know about water quality reports, water quality is something ive never given any thought to in the past so I had no idea. So now I know that my water quality is 'very soft' but its average ph is over 7, looks like I definitely need a ph tester and to do some more reading on here to figure out how to bring it down some. I'm practically positive I can find that out, so much info on this site
Thanks all of you that gave advice and such, complete newberts like me need all the help we can get
Peace

 

[gonzo`]

its not about pH bro, its about EC... those water reports are unreadable to me!!

 

[lost in a sea]

if his water is rated as soft then his ec should be low but an ec pen is invaluable..

 

[siftedunity]

I finaly had to buy a RO/DI system today. My tap water is iffy. some days its good 50ppm some days its so bad 600ppm I cant use it. Latly I have been getting high numbers. so I bought a smal 75gpd 4 stage all clear housings. I just need to find a use for the waste water there is allot of it. Thats why I never got one to much waste water.


FYI can get a system for 100$...the one I bought was 160$

is it not drinkable?

 

[foomar]

The sample i complained about to ST was milky white with lime , pH 9+ and reeked of chlorine , descaleing the kettle involved a hammer and chisle.

There were dead things on the bottom , floaters on top and micro nasties swimming around undecided which way to go , and required insane amounts of pH down to keep below seven.

It still surpassed EEC standards on test for drinking water , but caused problems in hydro that made me switch to soil , peat based compost buffers all but the worst quality.