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Reverse Osmosis Vs. Brita

motofox16

motofox16

Member
Whats the difference here? I don't have a reverse osmosis filter yet (new to the whole city water thing) and I have been reading all this stuff about letting your water sit out and aerate for 24 hours before you water to get rid of the chlorine, but with water today there is also chloromine anyway, so I have my Brita water filter and it filters water to the point where i cant taste anything, so does the brita do the same thing as a reverse osmosis?
 
Sam the Caveman

Sam the Caveman

Good'n Greasy
Veteran
No, not quite.

The basic Brita filter is only a carbon water filter and removes mainly chlorine. I don't know if it does when it is in its chloramine form or not.

Reverse osmosis removes most of the trace elements, Ca, mg, mn, boron etc...

I noticed in walmart there is a new 2 stage brita filter I haven't seen yet that has whats looks like a small RO pad below a carbon filter and it claims on the package that it removes trace elements as well as chlorine. It would be interesting for someone to test ppms of tap water, brita carbon filter and the brita 2 stage filter to see how they compare.
 
motofox16

motofox16

Member
Ok thats understandable, but it still seems like a better way to filter out chlorine than letting it sit out for 24 hours. Plus water that has been sitting out for 24 hours doesn't taste nearly as good as through a brita, so i have to think it does a pretty good job filteroing chlorine.

Ya my hanna meter is in the mail (seems so long when your waiting for something like that in the mail) so i couldn't test ppm of anything just figured id ask in the time being
 
freeride high

freeride high

Member
i use a modified brita filter to filter my water, no meter so i cant test ppm's but i do see my ph drop from 7+ to 6.
how i modified it was drill a hole in the top of a filter, then a hole in a bucket with a hose going from bucket to filter. now i can filter 10 liters of water at a time.
 
Sam the Caveman

Sam the Caveman

Good'n Greasy
Veteran
There is a thread with a diy RO filter using a mr clean car wash spray nozzle. The reviews online say the filter only lasts 4 washes and most people say they can't find them locally so they have to order them online and they are pretty expensive.

I don't know how much water 4 washes is but I'm guessing it is more expensive than an RO system if you use a lot of water. Good for small growers, bad for big.
 
Longhair

Longhair

Member
motofox16 said:
Whats the difference here? I don't have a reverse osmosis filter yet (new to the whole city water thing) and I have been reading all this stuff about letting your water sit out and aerate for 24 hours before you water to get rid of the chlorine, but with water today there is also chloromine anyway, so I have my Brita water filter and it filters water to the point where i cant taste anything, so does the brita do the same thing as a reverse osmosis?
Click to expand...

Hello,
I Started Using Brita & Everything Went Down Hill After That. Root Rot, PH Was All Over The Place. It Came Very Close To Killing My Plants. Went Back To RO Everything Came Back!
Went To Brita's Site & Asked The Question Are There Better Filters That Remove More? Got No Answer. I Do Remember This. Does Not Remove Fluoride & Salts. 40 Gallon Max Per Filter. There's More There.

Thank You
Longhair
 
!!!

!!!

Now in technicolor
Veteran
How bad is tap in your area anyway? Here it's 36 ppm - nearly a negligible amount. Tastes great too.
 
E

EvilTwin

cygnus said:
RO water is way overrated. And a huge water waster.
Click to expand...

The water that's wasted is an issue except that water is very inexpensive and is totally recycled. My billing cycle is in 1000 gal units. If I use 100 gallons of RO per month plus the waste, it's less then $10.

There are pumps that you can install to your RO that reduce the water waste from about 9 gallons per gallon of RO to closer to 3 gallons of waste.

And with city water that's in the 350ppm and above range...RO is not over-rated. It's required for successful growing.

There are ceramic micropore filters and that's probably what the two stage Brita is. I have a British Berkefeld gravity filter that's supposed to make scummy pond water safe to drink. But it's way to slow to produce enough for growing needs.
ET
 
E

EvilTwin

ourcee said:
what about this zero water thang? supposedly takes tap down to 0 ppm. Basically a unit just like a brita filter

http://www.zerowater.com/

anyone ever heard of it or used it?
Click to expand...


It refers to the filter element as an "ion exchange". That's sort of how water softeners work. I don't see how it can get ppm down to 0 when most RO units don't even do that.

The problem with Britas and most little units is that you end up spending too much on replacement elements which don't last very long. I bought a small inexpensive ro unit several years ago. Around $100 and it's served me well for a medium large grow operation. For micro grows...you could get by with a little unit.
ET
 
H

Haps

stone fool
Veteran
I used a brita set up the first two years of hydro, it worked just fine. There was some inconsistentcy in PH with some filters though, so you need to test after putting in a new one. I had the shelf unit, and I set it with the spigot over the edge of the counter with a bucket underneith, works fine, I still use it for my tea. But my water is OK out of the tap, so I stopped. Depends on your water.
H
 
K

kamezzle13

New member
brita filter took my tap water from 7.8 down to 6 - pretty much neutral, takes the ph of anything that's put in it (ie nutes).
 
C

Chesticles

Member
Watch out for any brita, pur, or similar filter, a lot of them have an ionic exchange resin(water softener) which replaces Ca and Mg w/ K and Na, and would also explain some of the pH problems, i tested one out before, tap water comes out near a pH of 8, after the filter it's near a pH of 6.2, after sitting for a day it's back up to the mid to high 7's

definitely avoid brita filters or anything with any ionic exchange properties
 
M

Mr.Piff

Member
just check the ph of yer water when you run it through the brita...


Quick question, If I water with the chlorine still in the water, how does this affect my children?
 
motofox16

motofox16

Member
well we all know brita can take out chlorine so that would explain the drop in PH. chlorine is a base thats why water with it has a higher PH and yes it does drop my PH too.

but ya i'm pretty sure my water has to be in the 200+ range. 30 is nothing to worry about at all, i know some people that start out with as much as 500 out of their tap. just been buying water for the time being though, until i get an R/O
 
C

Chesticles

Member
[/QUOTE]Quick question, If I water with the chlorine still in the water, how does this affect my children?[/QUOTE]

imo, chlorine and chloramine are hype, most tap water has chlorine/chloramine in the 1-4 ppm range, very small amounts. also chlorine/chloramine will quickly react w/ organic matter(anything C based) and be rendered harmless(you can always throw some humic/fulvic acid, vitamin c, or molasses in the water, wait at least 20 min. and be good to go), chlorine is also a micronutrient, and my final point, h202 and chlorine are both oxidizers and used in root rot antidotes(pythoff's sp? acive ingredient Chlorine)

hell i remember someone tested different waters sources and their effect on microbial populations in brewing compost teas, straight tap water made a compost tea more active than RO water

think of all the lawns and gardens across the country that have been watered w/ tap water for decades, if chlorine were nearly as bad as people in this community make it out to be most of america would be a baron wasteland
 
E

EvilTwin

Hi Chesticles...
The biggest issue with chlorine is that it can kill beneficial organisms. So if you're doing organic, you definitely want the chlorine gone.

Also it can alter ph temporarily but I don't know too much on that point.
ET
 
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