What's new
  • Happy Birthday ICMag! Been 20 years since Gypsy Nirvana created the forum! We are celebrating with a 4/20 Giveaway and by launching a new Patreon tier called "420club". You can read more here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

RO machine waste of money if I already have 80ppm tap?

mikeross

mikeross

Member
I'm blessed to be on city water that comes out of the tap @80ppm. I know the city treats with chlorine and not chloramine.

I assume I'm wasting my money and tons of water installing a RO machine? I also need lots of water so were talking lots of waste.

I'm thinking of just installing a Hydrologic Big Boy filter with a filter for Chlorine and a filter for sediment.

Any noticeable benefit trying to filter down the PPM even more than 80ppm?
 
mowood3479

mowood3479

Active member
Veteran
Depends on what medium ur growing in and what ur goals r.
But I’d say 80ppm would generally be fine for most applications.
 
T

TakenByTheSky

80ppm is very low. R/O wastes like 4 gallons for every one gallon of pure water they produce, if you pay for water that's one hell of a waste if it's not really needed.
 
mikeross

mikeross

Member
mowood3479 said:
Depends on what medium ur growing in and what ur goals r.
But I’d say 80ppm would generally be fine for most applications.
Click to expand...


Growing in 100% coco.


TakenByTheSky said:
80ppm is very low. R/O wastes like 4 gallons for every one gallon of pure water they produce, if you pay for water that's one hell of a waste if it's not really needed.
Click to expand...


I pay a flat rate of about $800 a year and can use as much water as I want to. Still don't want to waste it though. I think I'm going to move forward with just using sediment & chlorine combo. It doesn't waste any water when filtering.
 
dramamine

dramamine

Well-known member
TakenByTheSky said:
80ppm is very low. R/O wastes like 4 gallons for every one gallon of pure water they produce, if you pay for water that's one hell of a waste if it's not really needed.
Click to expand...

Nah, the good ones have like 1:1 or 2:1 ratio, unless the sediment or carbon filter gets too dirty. I have high iron on my tap water, so I rinse those filters when I think of it and it keeps the waste water pretty low.

I totally agree that 80ppm water would be fine. Probably would have a nice stable ph.
 
Crooked8

Crooked8

Well-known member
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Use a tall boy filter and a uv sterilizer and youre golden. No need for ro in your situation.
 
Creeperpark

Creeperpark

Well-known member
Mentor
Veteran
The only problem with using city water is the ppm will fluctuate with the seasons. In dry seasons it tends to go up and in wetter seasons it drops. You may be getting a low reading now but that can and will change in time. Anything ppm that's not conducive to the plants needs will block ion uptake for more valuable ions. Water is a replenishable resource that never actually leaves the earth. It just changes and moves a lot and keeps coming back. If you live in a dry region and water is scarce, i would use caution. If not, then the more water you use, the better it is for the grow and makes for a larger yield. Use as much RO water as you can if you want to grow a lot of weed.
 
troutman

troutman

Seed Whore
80ppm out of the tap is very nice. :)

Carbon filtration or letting water sit in a large container open to the air for a few days will take care of chlorine. :tiphat:
 
Lester Beans

Lester Beans

Frequent Flyer
Veteran
RO is never a waste of money. Having control of everything in your water is priceless.

That being said it sounds like your tap water is excellent. Mine is similar and it is splitting hairs between that and RO I would say. I still use RO though. Something about starting pure just appeals to me.
 
A

asher1er

Active member
Veteran
mikeross said:
I'm blessed to be on city water that comes out of the tap @80ppm. I know the city treats with chlorine and not chloramine.

I assume I'm wasting my money and tons of water installing a RO machine? I also need lots of water so were talking lots of waste.

I'm thinking of just installing a Hydrologic Big Boy filter with a filter for Chlorine and a filter for sediment.

Any noticeable benefit trying to filter down the PPM even more than 80ppm?
Click to expand...

Like others have stated.. 80ppm water is fine, however i will monitor it and make sure its constantly coming out at 80, ive worked with 120-150ppm tap with no issues in pure coco. On that note tho, if you want to be sure your giving the same everytime id go RO, a good system will not waste 4:1.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top