RO? Or not to RO?

[Blender]

So, long story short, my tap water sucks, being 450 ppm. City water, shit. Gonna be running rdwc. I hear tap has pathogens and all kinds of craziness in it, and I need to get my water down to 200ppm or less, so I can add my GH FloraMicro and FloraBloom in there.

I don't want to use the FloraMicro Hardwater, because it has no Boron, and 4% less calcium than regular micro, so i feel as if I'm missing out.

RO filters waste a shit ton of water/$, can't do that. No one sells GE Merlin 720 (RO unit) anymore...Was wondering if possible I can just setup a small boy/shortboy (whatever they're called), and maybe I can place a UV light shining onto the filtered water so I can kill the pathogens instead of spending $800 on a hydrologic1000?

Or should I just straight up get a home steam distillation unit at this point? Sigh....

Conclusion: Running RDWC, 450+ppm H2O, RO unit too much $/waste, need to bring ppm down without breaking bank...plz help gooby D:

 

[bmp420gti]

bottle your own at a machine outside a food store or maybe theres a water store close to you somewhere that has taps you fill your own bottles with. Nothings going to magically lower your ppm unless its a filter kit or you buy someone elses filtered water.

 

[Davey420]

That's what I do cost me a dollar for 5 gallons

 

[Blender]

looks like I'm going with the 5 gallon blend...unless someone else has some amazing ideas they'd like to chime in with

 

[Granger2]

I don't know where you're shopping, but here is just one example:
http://www.marinedepot.com/reverse-osmosis-deionization_spectrapure_ro-ap.html

Small boys [I have one] are just sediment/carbon filters. I like having carbon filtered tap, and RO. I mix them. Good luck. -granger

 

[Dropped Cat]

I use an under sink filter with a premium cartridge, my EC is 0.1

Without the filter is 0.6. I lugged bottled for a while, got old fast.

 

[rangergord]

It may or may not suit your circumstances but I use rainwater or melted snow in my flood and drain system. My well water is very hard and I cannot waste water on RO.

 

[Blender]

Thanks for the insight guys, I appreciate the help. Going to have to do a combo of lugging bottles, then tap

 

[Snow Crash]

How many Gallons per day are you looking for?

It sounds to me like your setup could use a Hydrologic Stealth RO with some attachments to reduce your waste. There are other variables, like water pressure, that determine your final GPD, but these units tend to be pretty economical and effective.

If you go with an RO system definitely get the carbon filter upgrade to handle chlorine and chloramines. These will wreck a membrane a lot quicker without the correct pre-filters that also remove heavy metals and some other junk before the RO membrane.

You can get set up with a StealthRO100 w/ KDF, a 1:1 flow restrictor, and a 1/4" float valve for $200 plus tax (if it applies) and shipping. Here's the links:
StealthRO100 w/ KDF Upgrade
1/4" Float Valve
StealthRO 1:1 Flow Restrictor

Add them to the cart and at checkout use the coupon code Stealth100Kit.

At $200 you should get about 2,000 gallons out of that unit before replacing the filters. That's an upfront cost of about $0.10 per gallon plus what you pay for water (usually >$0.006 per gallon). Considering that you also save all your time and energy going back and forth to the water machine... You're going to save a couple hundred dollars with an RO setup versus trekking for jugs.

Replacing all of the filters will be about $90 plus tax and shipping. The cost there, per gallon, is under $0.05 per gallon. Over time this unit is going to pay for itself for you 2-3x over, maybe more...

Just make sure that if you need more than 4 gallons per hour that you step it up to a larger system. That's the idea with the float valve though. You just set up a reservoir and let it fill that until the valve shuts your unit down. This keeps you from being a slave to the machine.

A drain saddle is a good idea too, to manage the waste water, and they are like $7.
Oh yeah... And the UV Sterilizer too, not as cheap

 

[simple green]

If you have a dehumidifier and AC unit you can collect the runoff. Between that and maybe buying some RO water, you could mix it so that your water is acceptable.

At the end of the day, nothing is better than RO water. You're starting perfectly clean!

 

[Blender]

How many Gallons per day are you looking for?

It sounds to me like your setup could use a Hydrologic Stealth RO with some attachments to reduce your waste. There are other variables, like water pressure, that determine your final GPD, but these units tend to be pretty economical and effective.

If you go with an RO system definitely get the carbon filter upgrade to handle chlorine and chloramines. These will wreck a membrane a lot quicker without the correct pre-filters that also remove heavy metals and some other junk before the RO membrane.

You can get set up with a StealthRO100 w/ KDF, a 1:1 flow restrictor, and a 1/4" float valve for $200 plus tax (if it applies) and shipping. Here's the links:
StealthRO100 w/ KDF Upgrade
1/4" Float Valve
StealthRO 1:1 Flow Restrictor

Add them to the cart and at checkout use the coupon code Stealth100Kit.

At $200 you should get about 2,000 gallons out of that unit before replacing the filters. That's an upfront cost of about $0.10 per gallon plus what you pay for water (usually >$0.006 per gallon). Considering that you also save all your time and energy going back and forth to the water machine... You're going to save a couple hundred dollars with an RO setup versus trekking for jugs.

Replacing all of the filters will be about $90 plus tax and shipping. The cost there, per gallon, is under $0.05 per gallon. Over time this unit is going to pay for itself for you 2-3x over, maybe more...

Just make sure that if you need more than 4 gallons per hour that you step it up to a larger system. That's the idea with the float valve though. You just set up a reservoir and let it fill that until the valve shuts your unit down. This keeps you from being a slave to the machine.

A drain saddle is a good idea too, to manage the waste water, and they are like $7.
Oh yeah... And the UV Sterilizer too, not as cheap

Thanks a lot man, I appreciate your help and info dude. Sounds like the best idea to me. I like working out and all, but those farmer walks get old after awhile

Is there anything else I can do to not waste so much water though? I'm in a small area and can't have city employees walking up knocking thinking I have a leak...when I'm just using a bunch of water because the RO unit lol. I won't need more than 10 gallons at a time, gonna have 30 or so gallons in my rdwc sys, but top off 10 gallons every few days or so, depends on how much girls drink.

 

[Blender]

Also, what's an efficient or economic way of utilizing the waste water/the water that didn't make it through the membrane? use that to water my vegetable and pepper plants? not the herb of course lol. Where is the UV sterilizer placed in relation to the RO water? Placed in front of water going in or water coming out of the RO unit?

 

[Blender]

Where do I place the UV light in relation the RO unit? Does the light shine over the water before it goes in?> or after it has been filtered? Thanks once again for the insight, much appreciated

 

[RetroGrow]

bottle your own at a machine outside a food store or maybe theres a water store close to you somewhere that has taps you fill your own bottles with. Nothings going to magically lower your ppm unless its a filter kit or you buy someone elses filtered water.

Those machines that vend "RO" water outside the supermarket which you put into your own bottles are a scam. They are NOT RO water. I have done extensive testing on this, and it's nothing but "purified" city water. Check the PPMs and you willsee for yourself. RO should be near zero, but you will never find that in those machines. Scam.

 

[RetroGrow]

At the end of the day, nothing is better than RO water. You're starting perfectly clean!

Strongly disagree. Depends somewhat on your medium and the PPMs of your tap water, but if you take "normal" tap water, ie., 200 PPMs give or take a little, it is perfect to use in coco without any cal/mag added. It's a myth that there is all kinds of crap in tap water. It is safe to drink, therefore it is safe for your plants. RO water is an urban myth which is usually not necessary, although there are exceptions. I only use it to flush plants at the end to get PPMs as close to zero as possible.

 

[bmp420gti]

Thankfully i have a place that you walk into and bottle your own RO on taps, it measures out to like 030ppm. I never used the machines at stores, I imagine its hit or miss depending on the machine and how they filter. I also buy 1 gallon jugs at food stores, some sell RO filtered water for like a dollar a gallon. Not the best option but its always there.

 

[Granger2]

If you have Water Mill Express, that's good pure water. Not lab grade, but close. A quarter a gallon. -granger

 

[Snow Crash]

Hydrologic recommend that the UV sterilizer is put on the final water line. This ensures that the final product is pathogen free. Putting the sterilizer on the feed line will kill the pathogens as well, but if anything does manage to breed in the system AFTER then sterilizer then that can make its way to the finished product.

But, having said all that, the only people who really worry about this stuff are those with wells. City water is pretty heavily treated and I've never heard of anyone getting an infection from their RO water system.

 

[stoney917]

All depends where u live.... but rdwc id def invest in a ro... n dont fuck with the waste yellow hose... it is not good for nething...