..
The Hardwater-Calcium-Lime Thread
- Thread starter bigshrimp
- Start date
I would run with the 5.3 if you are using soil. I've found that a variety of pH levels of water do not really effect the pH of a decent soil with lots of organic matter.
I've lived in a variety of locations myself and consulted with farmers with widely ranging water pH. Where living soil philosophy/method has been applied, virtually every 'garden' has eventually stabilized at around 6.3 to 6.6 pH - given time and sufficient organic matter. It is an interesting phenomenon which I do not claim to know the answer to.
I should note that this may not apply to containers under 5 gallons in volume.
You already know that you should add back in the minerals removed. So far as I know, both reverse osmosis and distillation remove minerals from water.
I use distilled water for research to eliminate certain variables but use filtered tap water for watering, ACT, etc.
You may wish to research using an EM fermentation to 'consume' some of your possible mineral/salt build up.
i use rainwater these days, one of the best things i ever bought was a 500 litre water butt.
HITH, i have heard people say that they add a little normal hard tapwater back into their RO water to give it a tiny bit of hardness/buffering capability. seems like an easy solution.
VG
HITH, i have heard people say that they add a little normal hard tapwater back into their RO water to give it a tiny bit of hardness/buffering capability. seems like an easy solution.
VG
seeing as i havent edited/deleted anything or got in to a huddle w/ the admin ~it would seem no "moderating" is going on here on my part
burnone wants this to be a friendly forum w/o arguing and politicking and i have no intention of arguing or off topic bickering or anything that might bring him dismay
the fact still remains that RO is an expensive, wasteful, overkill solution to your "problem" and other people reading this discussion should not get the impression it is necessary or even beneficial
RO is not necessary
perhaps, for some reason of circumstance it fits your particular situation but certainly not for the reasons stated
i have been recommending rain, distilled, or mountain stream literally for years & any of those are the solution if your well water isn't suitable or municipal is particularly bad in your region
it is not an argument and, i don't "have to be right" ~it's simply a statement of fact
burnone wants this to be a friendly forum w/o arguing and politicking and i have no intention of arguing or off topic bickering or anything that might bring him dismay
the fact still remains that RO is an expensive, wasteful, overkill solution to your "problem" and other people reading this discussion should not get the impression it is necessary or even beneficial
RO is not necessary
perhaps, for some reason of circumstance it fits your particular situation but certainly not for the reasons stated
i have been recommending rain, distilled, or mountain stream literally for years & any of those are the solution if your well water isn't suitable or municipal is particularly bad in your region
it is not an argument and, i don't "have to be right" ~it's simply a statement of fact
Reverse osmosis does not remove chlorine (to the best of my knowledge). If your reverse osmosis unit comes combined with a carbon filter, it is this which removes the chlorine (or chloramines). We use a carbon filter alone to remove chlorine.
Ignorance IS Bliss
Last edited by a moderator:
Excellent article on the applications and limitations of Reverse Osmosis. For very hard water a softener is recommended upstream of the RO unit, for chlorinated water an activated or catalytic carbon filter is recommend upstream of the RO unit to protect the membrane. As Microbeman referred to, RO units are poor filters of chloramines (product of chlorine reaction with ammonia) or trihalomethanes which are carcinogens that occur with halogen based (such as chlorine) oxidation of organics.
http://waterquality.cce.cornell.edu/publications/CCEWQ-04-ReverseOsmosisWtrTrt.pdf
http://waterquality.cce.cornell.edu/publications/CCEWQ-04-ReverseOsmosisWtrTrt.pdf
Or, you can use one of these.
http://www.amazon.com/Hydro-Logic-36005-upgraded-Catalytic-Carbon/dp/B008KL0JG6
Not as cheap as other methods, but except for Fluorine, removes a lot of other stuff, which can be beneficial, depending on your water. Good luck. -granger
http://www.amazon.com/Hydro-Logic-36005-upgraded-Catalytic-Carbon/dp/B008KL0JG6
Not as cheap as other methods, but except for Fluorine, removes a lot of other stuff, which can be beneficial, depending on your water. Good luck. -granger
I am a little confused by this post.
RO is expensive,wasteful, overkill that is not necessary but if your water is bad enough to make something necessary then distilled water is a good option? how are you distilling water?
A good potion of the planet would have trouble getting a supply of mountain stream water, and a constant supply of rain water might present a problem or two for most of us. If your water is bad enough to need a different water supply why would distilling be better than RO ? (unless you were doing it solar and consuming zero energy which not many if any of us could manage)
i am probably missing something but "it is not an argument and, i don't "have to be right" ~it's simply a statement of fact"
i guess i just live on a different planet than you guys
i suppose if you're a cash cropper and need a shit-ton of water then my advice doesn't apply here
must kinda suck where there's no streams or rain
& when i had a problem w/ my water supply i just bought distilled from the machine @ the store ~idk it was like 23 cents or 39 cents or something a gallon
use RO if you want/i dont see it as being "necessary"
i suppose if you're a cash cropper and need a shit-ton of water then my advice doesn't apply here
must kinda suck where there's no streams or rain
& when i had a problem w/ my water supply i just bought distilled from the machine @ the store ~idk it was like 23 cents or 39 cents or something a gallon
use RO if you want/i dont see it as being "necessary"
B
BugJar
god I don't think it has rained here since march. my rain barrels have been empty since early april
july starts the dry season for us ~give or take~
my whole point w/ all this is that people reading these posts might get the idea they "need" RO to get the results they are seeing {i have acknowledged that for some it may be more practical} all i am saying is these other options are preferable
if RO suits your purpose more so than these other options; use it
my whole point w/ all this is that people reading these posts might get the idea they "need" RO to get the results they are seeing {i have acknowledged that for some it may be more practical} all i am saying is these other options are preferable
if RO suits your purpose more so than these other options; use it
I'm not saying you need RO, but if you do it is a sane option. It just seems like it has become a taboo subject for some reason (like lime, bat guano, Ph and a few other things).
FWIW i don't think it's a good idea to close the book on a subject (or ask anyone else to) just because we can't all 100% agree with each other. Our situations are all different. Geography for example could make waiting on rain or walking to a stream impossible/impractical or downright crazy.
FWIW i don't think it's a good idea to close the book on a subject (or ask anyone else to) just because we can't all 100% agree with each other. Our situations are all different. Geography for example could make waiting on rain or walking to a stream impossible/impractical or downright crazy.
Colorado is a desert and were in a drought on top of it. When we give our water (ie s. Platte, colorado, rio, ect.) To all the other states, then they fine people huge for stealing water. Also with such little rain, I ain't feeding my plants asphalt water frome my baked roof. Also in most municipalities its still illegal to collect rain, like that means anything.
B
BugJar
There are people around here that irresponsibly divert tens of thousands of gallons of water from our sensitive local watershed.
We collect a few hundred gallons a year maybe but it all goes to veggies
We collect a few hundred gallons a year maybe but it all goes to veggies
dreadlock
Member
stumbled across some interesting ways to remove chlorine or its cousin chloramine from water:
............................................................................................................................................................................
What is Chloramine?
Chloramine is a newer form of sanitizing city water. It does not release (or bubble out of water) it out of water. If you fill a bucket with water containing chloramine, it will contain chloramine until it contacts something organic. When you drink chloramined water, your stomach is providing the sacrificial living organisms to combine with chloramine and release the chlorine.
Cities switched over to chloramine because of longer runs of water lines. They don’t want anything growing in their pipes to stop up the system. It works very well; however, your health is compromised when drinking tap water. Compost teas are destroyed by chloramine. The chloramine and chlorine has to be removed before water can be used to brew compost teas or extracts.
Removing Chloramine
Removing chloramine is a bit more involved than removing chlorine. Chloramined water needs to pass through something that contains sacrificial micro biology to bond with the chloramine. Once this is done, chlorine is effervesced out of the water and the water can be used. Here are few methods that can be used.
Humic Acid
Humic Acid can be added to Chloramined water to remove the chloramine. Where do you get Humic Acid? Two places you can get it. You can buy Humic Acid in the store where it is made of Leonardite material. Leonardite material is mined micro-organisms. This is the layer of micro-organism in the earth’s crust that never made it into becoming a coal, diamonds or crude petroleum oil gem. If this material is added to Chloramined water, it bonds with the chloramine and releases the chlorine into the air. Humic Acid can be bought in any hydroponic store.
A free source of Humic Acid is your compost pile. Take some completed compost and place it on a screen mesh. Filter water through it until the water is clear. Take the captured water and send it through again. Keep sending the same water through the compost until the water is very dark brown. Add this water solution to your Chloramined water as 1/4 per gallon. Your chloramine will be gone.
Citic Acid Injector
Adding lemon (or Orange) juice to Chloramined water removes the chloramine. Only a tablespoon or less per gallon is needed.
If you have large amounts of water to clean up, use an in-line fertilizer injector. One system suggested is an EZ-Flow. They are not very accurate for delivering the right amount of material to your water as stated, but they are good enough for water cleaning, but not for fertilizer injection. You can place this in-line with your hose and enjoy automated clean water.
Bentonite Clay
Bentonite Clay is absorbent aluminum phyllosilicate. This will take out chloramine as well. You can place a lump of this stuff in water or in your fish tank and it will take out any chloramine you may add. It is pricy. Whole “Pay Check” Foods has Bentonite Clay. Its highest power lies in its ability to absorb toxins, impurities, heavy metals and other internal contaminants. Bentonite clay’s structure assists it in attracting and soaking up poisons on its exterior wall and then slowly draws them into the interior center of the clay where it is held in a sort of repository. To state it another way, Bentonite is swelling clay. When it becomes mixed with water it rapidly swells open like a highly porous sponge. From here the toxins are drawn into the sponge through electrical attraction and once there, they are bound.
What is Chlorine?
Chlorine is an element consisting of a stable state of two molecules as a pair. Chlorine is added to water to sanitize it from any human pathogens organisms. And it is normally put into city water. You don’t want chlorine in your water when watering plants because it kills the micro biology of the soil. A sign of chlorine problems can be browned tips on house plant leaves. Or the plant dies. For instance, if you are trying to grow carnivorous plants in your house, chlorinated water will kill them.
Removing Chlorine
Removing chlorine is very simple and easy to do. Chlorine is not bonded tightly to water. Chlorine can be removed by filling a bucket of water and leave it stand out for 24 hours or so. A faster method is to spray water as a mist into the air. The chlorine will escape into the air. For an example, when adding water to composts, spraying the water through the air before it hits the compost allows the chlorine to escape. It’s that simple.
............................................................................................................................................................................
from a site on keeping fish adding small amounts of sodium ascorbate or ascorbic acid removes cholrine from water completely. source of vitamin c powder. i'm Guessing if its safe for use in aquatic environments should be okay for plants however not sure about the required amounts so hard to say if it's cost efficient when growing..
............................................................................................................................................................................
What is Chloramine?
Chloramine is a newer form of sanitizing city water. It does not release (or bubble out of water) it out of water. If you fill a bucket with water containing chloramine, it will contain chloramine until it contacts something organic. When you drink chloramined water, your stomach is providing the sacrificial living organisms to combine with chloramine and release the chlorine.
Cities switched over to chloramine because of longer runs of water lines. They don’t want anything growing in their pipes to stop up the system. It works very well; however, your health is compromised when drinking tap water. Compost teas are destroyed by chloramine. The chloramine and chlorine has to be removed before water can be used to brew compost teas or extracts.
Removing Chloramine
Removing chloramine is a bit more involved than removing chlorine. Chloramined water needs to pass through something that contains sacrificial micro biology to bond with the chloramine. Once this is done, chlorine is effervesced out of the water and the water can be used. Here are few methods that can be used.
Humic Acid
Humic Acid can be added to Chloramined water to remove the chloramine. Where do you get Humic Acid? Two places you can get it. You can buy Humic Acid in the store where it is made of Leonardite material. Leonardite material is mined micro-organisms. This is the layer of micro-organism in the earth’s crust that never made it into becoming a coal, diamonds or crude petroleum oil gem. If this material is added to Chloramined water, it bonds with the chloramine and releases the chlorine into the air. Humic Acid can be bought in any hydroponic store.
A free source of Humic Acid is your compost pile. Take some completed compost and place it on a screen mesh. Filter water through it until the water is clear. Take the captured water and send it through again. Keep sending the same water through the compost until the water is very dark brown. Add this water solution to your Chloramined water as 1/4 per gallon. Your chloramine will be gone.
Citic Acid Injector
Adding lemon (or Orange) juice to Chloramined water removes the chloramine. Only a tablespoon or less per gallon is needed.
If you have large amounts of water to clean up, use an in-line fertilizer injector. One system suggested is an EZ-Flow. They are not very accurate for delivering the right amount of material to your water as stated, but they are good enough for water cleaning, but not for fertilizer injection. You can place this in-line with your hose and enjoy automated clean water.
Bentonite Clay
Bentonite Clay is absorbent aluminum phyllosilicate. This will take out chloramine as well. You can place a lump of this stuff in water or in your fish tank and it will take out any chloramine you may add. It is pricy. Whole “Pay Check” Foods has Bentonite Clay. Its highest power lies in its ability to absorb toxins, impurities, heavy metals and other internal contaminants. Bentonite clay’s structure assists it in attracting and soaking up poisons on its exterior wall and then slowly draws them into the interior center of the clay where it is held in a sort of repository. To state it another way, Bentonite is swelling clay. When it becomes mixed with water it rapidly swells open like a highly porous sponge. From here the toxins are drawn into the sponge through electrical attraction and once there, they are bound.
What is Chlorine?
Chlorine is an element consisting of a stable state of two molecules as a pair. Chlorine is added to water to sanitize it from any human pathogens organisms. And it is normally put into city water. You don’t want chlorine in your water when watering plants because it kills the micro biology of the soil. A sign of chlorine problems can be browned tips on house plant leaves. Or the plant dies. For instance, if you are trying to grow carnivorous plants in your house, chlorinated water will kill them.
Removing Chlorine
Removing chlorine is very simple and easy to do. Chlorine is not bonded tightly to water. Chlorine can be removed by filling a bucket of water and leave it stand out for 24 hours or so. A faster method is to spray water as a mist into the air. The chlorine will escape into the air. For an example, when adding water to composts, spraying the water through the air before it hits the compost allows the chlorine to escape. It’s that simple.
............................................................................................................................................................................
from a site on keeping fish adding small amounts of sodium ascorbate or ascorbic acid removes cholrine from water completely. source of vitamin c powder. i'm Guessing if its safe for use in aquatic environments should be okay for plants however not sure about the required amounts so hard to say if it's cost efficient when growing..
