Going from RO to tap water

  • Thread starter donmekka
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donmekka

donmekka

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Ok well my ro filter kinda took a shit on me last night and made a huge mess so in the mean time I am gonna need to run tap water. I never used tap water before and since I am organic I am a little scared I may eff some stuff up. If i just bubble it for a few hours it should be ok right ? I should probably cut back on my cal-mag to I guess.
 
donmekka

donmekka

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24 hours huh damn guess I can do that...better safe then sorry. Gonna set up another rez then so ones ready while the other is bubbling. Thanks bro!
 
Black Lab

Black Lab

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donmekka said:
24 hours huh damn guess I can do that...better safe then sorry. Gonna set up another rez then so ones ready while the other is bubbling. Thanks bro!
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I try to stay organic too. Check the water in your district. If it has chloramines (chlorine and ammonia) I don't think bubbling or letting the water sit out will break the ammonia-chlorine bond. My tap water has chloramines but I am a small enough grow that I can lug 5 gal water bottles from the Glacier RO machines outside of Home Depot or Ralph's.
 
donmekka

donmekka

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Great point just checked my boro's website looks like they use Chlorine there was no mention of chloramines so hopefully i am good !
 
d420dool

d420dool

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im guessin u dont have well water ehh. cuz i used to use rain water and now i just get it out my sink with no problems and not even much of a change. if theres anyway u can collect rainwater u would dig that
 
Canalchemist

Canalchemist

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I bought a Ebay RO filter setup before I started my DWC project, all I knew at the time was there was no way I could bubble 20 gallons of water on a weekly bases and get away with it, my better half would have been questioning my sanity.

Good thing there is a better way.
 
Jboys3

Jboys3

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donmekka said:
Ok well my ro filter kinda took a shit on me last night and made a huge mess so in the mean time I am gonna need to run tap water. I never used tap water before and since I am organic I am a little scared I may eff some stuff up. If i just bubble it for a few hours it should be ok right ? I should probably cut back on my cal-mag to I guess.
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I have used tap water from day #1! I hold my water for 24 hours in a bubbling 50 gallon drum and I bubble my watering resevoir too. Also all my tap water goes through a reverse osmosis filter before going into my 50 gallon drum too.

I would fathom to say this would make my water 'organic'?!?
 
mr roboto

mr roboto

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I just buy my water from the local water store or their machines outside. very clean water
 
R

Roskito

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Ro filters seem pricey. Can u use a Brita filter or somthin cheaper to purify tap water? what about heating it? will that rid water of chlorine?
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

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You can use citric acid to dechlorinate, or sodium thiosulfate which also breaks the Cl bonded to NH3. I believe the citric acid can do the same thing, but I'm not 100% positive about that.

Chlorine alone is not a problem, it outgasses over 24hrs, faster if it's aerated. Chloramine is the problem child here.
 
Black Lab

Black Lab

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Seamaiden said:
You can use citric acid to dechlorinate, or sodium thiosulfate which also breaks the Cl bonded to NH3. I believe the citric acid can do the same thing, but I'm not 100% positive about that.

Chlorine alone is not a problem, it outgasses over 24hrs, faster if it's aerated. Chloramine is the problem child here.
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Maybe Sqiggly might have some thoughts on this. Is there any reliable way to filter out Chloramine aside from RO?
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

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It doesn't really need to *be* filtered though. NH3 (ammonia) can be used by the plants, it's really more of a problem for fishkeepers. The remaining Cl, if any, would offgass.

My experience working with Cl comes from my experience in the ornamental aquatics industry (aquarium fish+exotics).
 
Black Lab

Black Lab

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Seamaiden said:
It doesn't really need to *be* filtered though. NH3 (ammonia) can be used by the plants, it's really more of a problem for fishkeepers. The remaining Cl, if any, would offgass.

My experience working with Cl comes from my experience in the ornamental aquatics industry (aquarium fish+exotics).
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That would be good news but I thought the problem was breaking the bond between chlorine and ammonia. But, I don't really know, it was something I read somewhere.
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

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It is, you're correct. But that bond can be broken chemically is what I'm saying, and IIRC citric acid will do it. If not, I know factually that sodium thiosulfate, while probably not exactly in line with organic methods, is perfectly safe, because of my work in aquatics. If it causes no harm to the most delicate invertebrates, then I feel it pretty much causes no harm. Also, use rates are stoopid low. You can buy a 2lb tub of pure ST crystals for about $5. You *then* mix that down to a 3% solution and THAT is then diluted to 1tsp/gal to dechlorinate tap water.
 
qupee

qupee

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Black Lab said:
Maybe Sqiggly might have some thoughts on this. Is there any reliable way to filter out Chloramine aside from RO?
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You could get a filter setup without a RO & DI stage. There are particular carbon filters for removing chloramines. You probably wouldn't want to just use the one filter, though, as I think it would clog or exhaust quickly without a sediment prefilter. But a sediment filter and chloramine filter on a bracket will be quite a bit less than a full RO system.

A couple good sites to get filters I know of are & http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/

Sodium thiosulfate sounds cheaper, though.
 
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Black Lab

Black Lab

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qupee said:
You could get a filter setup without a RO & DI stage. There are particular carbon filters for removing chloramines. You probably wouldn't want to just use the one filter, though, as I think it would clog or exhaust quickly without a sediment prefilter. But a sediment filter and chloramine filter on a bracket will be quite a bit less than a full RO system.

A couple good sites to get filters I know of are & http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/

Sodium thiosulfate sounds cheaper, though.
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Thanks qupee, I will look into that and see what they have. A sediment filter and a Chloramine filter would do it and I could stop lugging RO from the store. Would you still add Cal-Mag with the filtered water from that set-up?
 
Seamaiden

Seamaiden

Living dead girl
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qupee said:
You could get a filter setup without a RO & DI stage. There are particular carbon filters for removing chloramines. You probably wouldn't want to just use the one filter, though, as I think it would clog or exhaust quickly without a sediment prefilter. But a sediment filter and chloramine filter on a bracket will be quite a bit less than a full RO system.

A couple good sites to get filters I know of are & http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/

Sodium thiosulfate sounds cheaper, though.
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It is, as I said, stoopid cheap. You'd literally have dechlorinator for life if you went this route.
 
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