Is RO water necessary for indoor growing?
- Thread starter calstar
- Start date
If you use synthetic nutes, then I would probably use tap water. But if you're trying to cultivate soil full of microbes, then the tap water would be no good.
Think Green
Active member
Some local water municipalities have a higher ppm than others. What you need to determine is if the ppm range in your water is exceptable. The thing is if there is 300-450 ppm & your shooting for 900ppm, you only have a range 600-450ppm actual nutes. You have to consider your base ppm's when mixing your nutes. My tap came out @ 550ppm so rolling without r/o was not an option.
TG
TG
this is the real reason for using RO water... and also people like it so they KNOW EXACTLY what is in there water... its also great for hydro applications
nukklehead
Active member
have had serious problems in tap in my locale ( ph 8.5 and greater) r/o is the way to go if possible... got rid of early yellowing in my ffof posts due to high ph nute lockout
Bunz
Active member
hopleaf
Member
some towns use chloramine which does evaporate out of the water. getting a local water report is key to knowing whether your tap water is ok to use or not. if you only have chlorine then you can just evap it out and be just fine. anyone who gets greats lakes water is pretty much good to go.
Z
zen_trikester
I use amended organic soil, occasionally organic fish products in my water for deficiencies, I use tap water that has sat in a 5 gal stainless pot for 24 hrs, with no bubbles, PH 7.8. 1.5 years, no problems, but my local water treatment facility is top notch. YMMVJed
that wasnt caused by your tap water, thats because you failed to check and adjust your water's pH to the proper range before watering with it. you still need to adjust your water's pH when using RO water.
there's lots of things besides chlorine in our tap water, technically you can grow a plant without RO. with RO your going to need a product like CalMag to supplement calcium. HTG has a ro system for $160, not too bad. I'd do it, because then you know exactly what your giving your plants.
dunkydunk
Member
My tap water is 180 ppm with a pH of 7.1. It tastes good right out of the faucet, and I'm sure it's fine for my plants. I don't think tap water causes any problems until the ppms go over 200-250, but I split mine with r/o anyway to bring the ppms below 100. I've run both ways in my coco grows, straight tap and straight r/o, and the only difference I noticed was the tap water was more stable in the rez with the Canna nutes. R/O filters waste a lot of water, so by splitting it with tap, I waste less water and I keep a nice stable pH.
I think the chlorine/chloramine issue might be overrated, but like I said my water tastes good out of the tap, and I'm not running organics.
I think the chlorine/chloramine issue might be overrated, but like I said my water tastes good out of the tap, and I'm not running organics.
B
Bob Smith
Pretty much exactly what he said.
I have an R/O filter, haven't used it for a couple of grows now - my tap is 7.5/125, and I can get by fine without it (although since I'm going to try to setup an auto-topoff I might hook my R/O unit back up).
Besides the wasting water and a need for access to a drain, I've flooded my garage twice by forgetting that I left it on (lost a couple of ballasts I retardedly had on the floor), so a quality float valve is a must, IMO.
Without a doubt though, I use about 1/30th of the amount of pH down when using R/O vs. tap - with R/O, just add nutes and the pH comes out to ~5.5 without me doing a thing - not the case with tap.
nukklehead
Active member
How do you think I knew the PH .. thats because i checked it duh!! R/O dropped it into the 6.5 range and now I dont have yellowing.
Read and understand before you spout please.....ROOKIE
Incognegro
Member
RO, is it useful, sometimes yes.
NECESSITY, no.
I would recommend it if your tap is shitty, then yes. Some nutes though are MADE FOR use with tap water...
So it depends on a few things:
What your tap ph and ppm is
Nutes you're using
Growing style.
My
Totah Sam
Member
This ↑↑↑↑↑↑↑
I have a local store I can purchase RO water without even going inside. There is a dispensing machine and I've tested the water. It's perfect for growing. My tap water ph runs 8.5 or higher and the chlorine content is so bad you can't take a shower without your eyes getting bloodshot like you've been in a public pool for 4 hours. It's bad. RO is the only way to go for some of us.
catcherintheye
Active member
RO is sweet, i used tap set for 24 hours when i was too lazy to fill up, NEVER ph'd the RO it was always at 7.0 when i checked so i never added a thing.
Fed water and organic soil with some raw organic supplements. NO ph probs. But i defo should invest in a great starting soil mix. FFOF with some coco, perlite, high phosphor guano, diatom. earth and smore worm castings. I think that would call for a sweet mix. peace
Fed water and organic soil with some raw organic supplements. NO ph probs. But i defo should invest in a great starting soil mix. FFOF with some coco, perlite, high phosphor guano, diatom. earth and smore worm castings. I think that would call for a sweet mix. peace
I run organic soil grows. I have a RO unit on the wall left over from my hydro grows. I by-pass the RO now and my plants are happier. I have a 50 gal drum always sitting for 24+ hours for ridding my water of chlorine. PH=7.6 PPM=125.
I agree with the above poster when he says if you have good water, you don't need RO. You just need a water analysis from you water company to decide.
I agree with the above poster when he says if you have good water, you don't need RO. You just need a water analysis from you water company to decide.
Im in a coastal area where the tap was 320-350ppm with a high ph.
My rez clearly showed buildup of salts after a few weeks.
Just installed r/o and waiting to see results. Plants where healthier when previously using bottled r/o but trips to fill up became costly thus forcing me to use tap.
The plants came out fine on tap with some minor deficiencies, but im running coco and i wanna get some life going in the mix so out with the chlorine and salt. running 6/9 gh seems to have a decent ph buffer capability
My rez clearly showed buildup of salts after a few weeks.
Just installed r/o and waiting to see results. Plants where healthier when previously using bottled r/o but trips to fill up became costly thus forcing me to use tap.
The plants came out fine on tap with some minor deficiencies, but im running coco and i wanna get some life going in the mix so out with the chlorine and salt. running 6/9 gh seems to have a decent ph buffer capability
