how important is a RO for hydro??

[Fast eddy]

My well water sits at 225ppm after I switched to r/o the gjrls started to drink. I dont know what the 225ppm in my well is comprised of, how or where does one go about getting facts on what the make up

 

[MonsterRobot]

They both work... I have run both and had no problems with either... The only thing to remember when using tap water is that you need to take into account the tds before you add nutes since it will build on your original number... If you do that you shouldn't have any problems

 

[Camnibus]

I run Detroit city water. Makes some mean mo fo plants! j/k I really do, I just let the chlorine evap. There's online reports about what every major city's water quality/content. MY city water runs arouns 150ppm/ .3ec from the faucet. I discount the entire amount when feeding.

 

[Ohiofarmer]

tap water up to 600 ppms will work for almost any strain worth is weight however i do suggest a small boy to make sure no chlorine is in the water. take it easy guys

 

[Tightnugs]

Go to https://producers.wardlab.com and you can order a water sample its like $30 i think prob more not sure but its great to know your water I ck mine for beer brewing and its great for IPA's and Green just have to let sit for 12 to 24 hrs and let chorine evap
I use tap water in my soil and in my Ebb& Grow and get great results

 

[ttystikk]

I didn't see St3ve asking me if I knew that silty spring runoff was gong to raise TDS in municipal sources or if it was just a guess. Sorry it took so long for a response:

Guys, this isn't magic; it's advanced common sense. Once you've fallen out of a tree, you should know that jumping off a cliff will hurt too- so there's no need to go repeating the experiment, right?

Rivers rise in the spring, swollen with melted snow, and they scour the riverbeds and pick up a load of dissolved solids along with sand, silt and even rocks. Same thing on flatland, only now it's rainwater leaching various salts from the land, plus agricultural runoff from chemical fertilizers and the like. This seasonal flush then diminishes as the water levels fall over the late summer and on through winter, leading to lower TDS.

This is also true on a short term basis; it's not news to anyone with a sump pump in their basement that wet weather can affect groundwater, often with a very short delay. Again, it stands to simple reasoning that as this groundwater level fluctuates, water is moving and as it moves it picks up and dissolves more solids. This time, the relationship is usually backwards; rising groundwater generally has a lower TDS reading than falling. In other words, drought tends to concentrates minerals in groundwater.

I am fortunate to live in a health conscious community (ok, so they're a little nutty about it, really!) that asks its water department to regularly post their water quality findings on their website, along with explanations of how and why dissolved solids get in there and when to expect them. I read up, and that's how I was able to confirm my earlier suspicions about seasonal TDS variances.

My point here is to educate yourself- the more you know, the more you can recognize and deal with effectively.

One more clarification to handle: chlorine vs. chloride vs. chloramine. Squiggly here would be able to give you the in depth deets, but the bottom line is that chlorine and chlorides in solution act very similar and will evaporate by themselves. Chloramines will NOT, and so you need to either filter it out or add something to the water to help it outgas. One is bleach, in very small amounts; maybe 1ml/gallon, then let it sit and outgas- or aerate it- for 24-48 hours. Another method is sugar. Yes, Ms. Poppins, a tiny bit of sugar (1-2 ml/gallon) will also encourage the conversion of chloramines into a form that will outgas.

In these low concentrations, the chlorine and/or chloramines will not affect you or your plants- but they will very likely screw with any microbial life you put in there, as that's the original intention of adding it in the first place; to kill off any nasty bugs in the water that might make people sick. Because I currently run sterile RDWC, I use tapwater without a second thought; when I start playing with microbial teas, I will have to be more careful.

 

[willy led wonka]

tap water kills bennies. Just use carbon filtered water and then you wont be wasting money putting all those nutes back in there. The small boy is around $110 and you can get the carbon filter with it. Chloramine that is being used in alot of water systems these days will kill your plants, cuttings, and seedlings. Theres a whole thread on chloramine here.

 

[mastergreen]

Declorinizer and your good to go. I grow topshelf ogs and haven't had a ro for year or 2

 

[tedsprogz]

I don't see how falling water levels will lead to a lower TDS count. The water levels fall because of gravity(runoff and drainage) and evaporation. That would decrease the total volume of water in the table and raise the TDS count. And that also explains why
"rising groundwater generally has a lower TDS reading than falling. In other words, drought tends to concentrates minerals in groundwater."

 

[oscar169]

RO Water all the way, you start with a clean slate & add back what you want.:D

 

[G Star]

RO WASTES too much good water !! For every 1gallon produced it also creates 3-4gallons of waste water going down the drain.

RO Filters have 4-5 different stages; the RO membrane usually being the last. I've unplugged my RO membrane and using Stage 1-3 to clean my tap water without any waste water created. Best of both worlds !

Cheap RO systems do waste a ton of water, better systems like my Growonix HF is only 1:2 and the 1000gpd is actually 1:1. That's why I went with their system.

Indoor gardens are incredibly wasteful, my ro isn't.

 

[Unit541]

My tap ranges from 40ppm to 250... sometimes within hours. What this means is that I've got to re-compute nutes every time I mix. With R/O, adding the same amount of the same stuff always yields the same results... My tap also has PH buffers that make it difficult to get a bead on what the plants are doing. Therefore, R/O is simply more in-line with my "by the numbers" approach to growing. Keep the colors between the lines and you end up with a pretty picture.

 

[St3ve]

Cheap RO systems do waste a ton of water, better systems like my Growonix HF is only 1:2 and the 1000gpd is actually 1:1. That's why I went with their system.

Indoor gardens are incredibly wasteful, my ro isn't.

Even still.. throwing away half your fresh water is very wasteful considering there are filters that still do a good job that don't waste any.

 

[Badmf]

Point of information most nute companies use tap to formulate their mixes. I have done it both ways and not much diff other than lower ph with ro.

 

[homebrew420]

Glad you figured out is was an adjustment in what is fed to the plant. I help run a commercial garden in Boulder CO where the tap is super clean, no filter. Just an FYI the chlorine/chloramine in the municipal water source will never be strong enough to kill off you micro fauna. NEVER. it is there to keep the clean water clean for the duration of it trip through the pipe to the faucet. If anything 2 stage carbon sediment filter will do ya right.
If its that big of a deal get the source water tested.

Good on ya for figuring it out with nute profile adjustment

Peace

 

[homebrew420]

Are we really going to believe that by watering our plants outdoors with the hose off the spigot kills the soil microbial population? Come on. That would mean that my veggie garden in the back is THRIVING in sterile soil. No its not. What will typically have a more detrimental affect on you microbial po is too heavy salts. Jst my 2 cents

Peace

 

[Cat Jockey]

There is a reason nutrient companies recommend RO water. Yes, RO water is BEST. Period. Is it absolutely neccesary? No. Can you grow some good weed without it? Sure. If everything else is the same and ideal, will RO water outperform tap water? Yes. Don't believe me? Ask the experts - the nutrient companies who have spent buttloads of money on R&D and employ people with graduate degrees as chemists, botanists and such.

RO water is better. Not the end of the world if you don't use it, but better. I see a lot of talk about waste. It is not as wasteful as it seems. Unless you are on a well and septic system, the water that goes down your drain as the 'waste' is not wasted as in gone forever. It is recycled. It goes down the drain, to the water treatment plant and then back to your faucet.

It is not wasted. It stays in a closed loop system, for the most part, and the water that you think you waste is actually returned back to you after a trip to the water treatment plant via your drain.

I'm not going to say there is zero waste, but the water that goes down your drain does not disappear. It is returned back into the system and used to produce more RO at your grow. Or for your neighbor to flush down a #2 in the toilet.

If your worried about wasting things on your grow and somehow contributing to bad things for the planet, the amount of electricity consumed is where you should look first.

 

[joehank]

If you look for any pond supply stores, they carry products for removing chloramine from Koi ponds. A very small amount treats alot of water, and if it's safe for the fish I would think it's fine for the plants. It says safe for fish, plants, and animals on the label.

I found out my public water supply adds Flouride to the water, but I haven't found any info on whether or not it will affect plants.

 

[joehank]

Something like this
http://www.amazon.com/Seachem-433-Prime-500ml/dp/B00025694O/ref=pd_rhf_pe_shvl45

However I don't know what this is really saying about the stuff with the nitrates. Hopefully it doesn't make them unavailable to the plants

 

[LexLuthor]

There is a reason nutrient companies recommend RO water. Yes, RO water is BEST. Period. Is it absolutely neccesary? No. Can you grow some good weed without it? Sure. If everything else is the same and ideal, will RO water outperform tap water? Yes. Don't believe me? Ask the experts - the nutrient companies who have spent buttloads of money on R&D and employ people with graduate degrees as chemists, botanists and such.

RO water is better. Not the end of the world if you don't use it, but better. I see a lot of talk about waste. It is not as wasteful as it seems. Unless you are on a well and septic system, the water that goes down your drain as the 'waste' is not wasted as in gone forever. It is recycled. It goes down the drain, to the water treatment plant and then back to your faucet.

It is not wasted. It stays in a closed loop system, for the most part, and the water that you think you waste is actually returned back to you after a trip to the water treatment plant via your drain.

I'm not going to say there is zero waste, but the water that goes down your drain does not disappear. It is returned back into the system and used to produce more RO at your grow. Or for your neighbor to flush down a #2 in the toilet.

If your worried about wasting things on your grow and somehow contributing to bad things for the planet, the amount of electricity consumed is where you should look first.

RO water will always outperform tap, thats not true. Some people have stuff in there tap thats not good, but the majority is just fine to drink and grow with so how is RO always better?? Does it yield more?? When you use RO you are taking out the micronutrients, then you put them right back in with liquid nutes you bought from a hydro store, thats redundant IMO, unless you have to use RO because of something harmful in the tap or well. If your gonna use tap water just get it tested and if there ain't any harmful shit, then use it after you allow the chlorine to evap, its so simple. Another thing, nobody said wasting water with an RO system means it dissapears, what they mean is they are paying the water company for 3-4 gallons and only getting 1 gallon, so thats actually very wastful.

I have been using distilled water for the past few months, I just started using my tap water a few weeks ago, but I allow it to sit out for 2 days then I use vinegar as my PH down. I have not seen any difference in growth at all, not even a slight yellowing on the leaves or anything. So my tap water is just as good as RO or distilled.

Could you please show me where these experts for the nutrient companies are that said RO water will always outperform tap water. Some nute companies "recommend" RO because of the high micronutrient content in some peoples tap will cause a toxicity when used with there high micronutrient products, but that does not mean it outperform tap water.