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I know it is a sacrilege to bring up such a subject but how do R/O users handle pH?
My water is coming out to 5.3 after R/O, what I read says to re-mineralize before pH reading but I don't want to add a CalMag supplement after working so hard to remove it from my water. I've got plenty of C&M amendments and soil and probably a mineral buildup as well after so many years of recycling with hard water, so I dont think it would be necessary to add C/M to the water.
Is pH adjustment necessary or should I just run with the 5.3?
I haven't used it yet, but I am also in the middle of a grow so I wont have a control group to work with for a few months when this round is finished.
I have been re-using the same soil since 2010 so it might take a few waterings to rinse out some of the mineral build up. My tap water is ok some of the time but it fluctuates and gets pretty bad depending on the time of year and rain fall so anything has to be better than that.
The R/O will give me a steady base line to work with, that's what I bought it for.
In most cases distilled water is inferior to R/O. R/O doesn't require electricity or heat to produce and water can be produced almost on demand.
Distillation will also not remove chemicals like chlorine. And for drinking distilled tastes flat.
R/O is pure is as you can get at home and you can generate as much as you need on the spot without having to haul jugs of water around.
Rain water? sorry but I wouldn't use anything that is collected off of my roof, and talk about impractical, sitting around waiting for it to rain so I can water my plants. In this polluted world we live in I wouldn't even bother with rain.
R/O is a fad, such nonsense. Especially if you are using a water source that has extremely high mineral content. I battled swinging pH, high ppm, and mystery lock outs for years, not worth the head ache trying to polish a turd.
If these are your "legitimate" solutions I'm not buying it.
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