Tbh. My water comes out about 500something ppm. I let it sit with no bubbler for a day. Then for 48 hours bubbling and that drops it for me oddly from mid 5s to low 2s and it's working for me. No products just good ole evaporation. But water source's vary from place to place and yup. It's well water! Good luck!

Gamrstwin36 said:

Tbh. My water comes out about 500something ppm. I let it sit with no bubbler for a day. Then for 48 hours bubbling and that drops it for me oddly from mid 5s to low 2s and it's working for me. No products just good ole evaporation. But water source's vary from place to place and yup. It's well water! Good luck!

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I've tried all types of combinations of not bubbling/bubbling with no luck. thanks for the response

Wow. That's some stupid hard water bro. Might be more than advertised inside. Anyway you can get it tested I'd do it. Update on your progress man.

While i don't have a solution for ya, i can definitely relate. My tap water (City water, no well) comes out at approx 730 ppm. Tall boy gets me to about 500 and stealth ro gets me to right under 200. I haven't gotten my water tested further to see what all is in it, but in using it ive noticed a definite difference (negative) in my plants health from the water at my old spot (tap 110, RO 0 ppm). Hope you/ we find a solution soon. Good luck all.
Motiv

motiv303 said:

While i don't have a solution for ya, i can definitely relate. My tap water (City water, no well) comes out at approx 730 ppm. Tall boy gets me to about 500 and stealth ro gets me to right under 200. I haven't gotten my water tested further to see what all is in it, but in using it ive noticed a definite difference (negative) in my plants health from the water at my old spot (tap 110, RO 0 ppm). Hope you/ we find a solution soon. Good luck all.
Motiv

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same here. i was killin it at my last spot and have been struggling for over a year at the spot im at now

im leaning towards spending the $$ (about $1400) on a complete Hydrologic Evolution system with the pre-filter, uv sterilizer and de-ionization post filter but id really like to hear a success story before pulling the trigger

blueraz said:

im leaning towards spending the $$ (about $1400) on a complete Hydrologic Evolution system with the pre-filter, uv sterilizer and de-ionization post filter but id really like to hear a success story before pulling the trigger

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Been thinking of doing something along those lines myself.

well first off you really don't need to be at 0 ppm, being at zero ppm means bringing the water back to at least 100 ppm so pH will be stable. So your just 100 ppm shy of where you want to be, not such a big deal. Adding a DI filter will do nothing to lower your ppm. If your using hydroponics like ebb & flow or pails don't worry about it. If your in dirt I want you to go out in the woods and find the biggest stick you can carry and come back and give it to me so I can hit you with it, lol if in dirt no worries.

How to buffer reverse osmosis water

- For those who prefer simplicity, all you have to do is add 20% tap water to your reverse osmosis water.

- For the purists who do not want to use tap water, or whose water is particularly bad, here are two easy steps:

1 – First increase your pH up to 10.0 with pH Up or potassium carbonate
2 – Then bring it down to 6.0 with pH Down

In both cases you’ll obtain water well adapted to hydroponic nutritive solutions, while avoiding untimely pH fluctuations.

You need to raise pH first because the “buffer” elements have a very high pH or very low pH. You can start by adding acid, but then you will need pH up to raise your pH.

You need to buffer R.O. water simply because pure water has no buffering capacity. It is subject to big swings in pH every time you add something to the solution, making it unsuited for cultivation. Using pure R.O. is a classic source of failure.

If you’re using reverse osmosis water, add 50-100 ppm of Cal/Mg; this helps to buffer your water so nutrients absorb better.

What happens is that the basic/alkaline components (mainly calcium) that are responsible for the high PH (as in 7.3 or 7.6) also buffer it together with the more neutral components. As soon as you add SOME acid, the basic elements neutralize it in 24 hours, but loose some potency, respectively get eliminated partially within the "reaction". If you repeat that process, the alkaline components- and their buffer capacity get lower and lower until the alkaline buffer is "gone". The "last" time you add ph-down/acid to your water, it will drop drastically to perhaps under 5. This mostly happens when a week PH down is used repeatedly. With Nitric acid at 75 or 95 %, this will not happen; it will get the alkaline elements down in one shot. But that is the stuff that burns through concrete floors like alien blood and it's truly not everyone's cup of tea.

PH of boiled water of 8.4 after 13 hours of boiling is "normal" because you evaporate lots of water, while calcium and other alkaline elements (already responsible for the high pH) remain in the water and hence will be present in higher concentration and push up the pH. There may also be some chemical reaction and transformation within these 13 hours of boiling, I don't know of.

Nutrients generally lower and buffer a certain pH, that's what any mineral composition with an acidic sum, added and dissolved in water does anyway. NUTRIENTS are actually made to lower the PH, as the usual 7+ is not suited. The only difference is that some manufacturers point this out explicitly while others don't. Some manufacturers may indeed add some more of specific components like mono potassium phosphate that helps lowering and buffering such Ph, but that's pretty much it. As a side effect (when running higher EC) you may have excessive Phosphorus that will result in Ca deficiency.

But in this context it is important to know that a higher nutrient concentration will lower the pH more than a weaker ratio. Hence in some cases it's not a bad idea to simply (slightly) increase the nutrient concentration by a click or two. It's also a reason why some manufacturers recommend higher concentrations as needed, and some commercial growers push the nutrient concentration higher.

If the PH of the base water is too high, most nutrients can't bring it down to around 6 and that's (only) where pH down- as in acids or other components are required. In ANY case it is always best to have, use or get water that is around and not (much) over 7.

RO water is fine, but take care what nutrients you use, as with some extra acidic nutrients (many are developed with areas in mind that have an excessive amount of calcium carbonate in the (well)water) you may end up with an unwanted but extraordinary low PH as well.

Attention, Ph and EC are interconnected; EC reading of a nutrient solution will not be the same at PH 5.0 as it is at 7.0!

while soil crops have suffered with the change in water (the only thing thats changed), im more concerned about my aero systems

thanks for the info

hope you brought your pen and pad cuz @woodsmaneh just took us to school!:bookworm:

@blueraz - if u need an excessive amount of water per day, then yes a 1000 series filter might suit ur needs. ur well water wont come out to 0ppm, it will be around 300-400 ppm even after ran through filter. in this case you might need to upgrade to the KDF membranes. i believe there is 2 different ratings of them. oh and they also cost an arm and a leg:nurse: much luck. and dont forget to back flush ur filter atleast 1x/week, maybe even after every use. Hard water will clog ur membranes much faster and maintenance needs to be kept up or else you will be seeing:greedy:

blueraz said:

while soil crops have suffered with the change in water (the only thing thats changed), im more concerned about my aero systems

thanks for the info

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Anything that got through would be less than 1 micron, have you back washed the membrane? Most RO systems have a optimum range that they work in , pressure zone, if you don't have enough pressure you won't get the best results, Most run well between 70 and 90 psi and if your under 50 you can buy an in-line booster pump for under $100.00 and it should increase performance. You can see my booster pump in the right side of the system, I have since removed one Ion filter. The blue gauge above the brown filter is an in-line ppm meter that takes before and after readings.

Gamrstwin36 said:

Tbh. My water comes out about 500something ppm. I let it sit with no bubbler for a day. Then for 48 hours bubbling and that drops it for me oddly from mid 5s to low 2s and it's working for me. No products just good ole evaporation. But water source's vary from place to place and yup. It's well water! Good luck!

Click to expand...

blueraz said:

I've tried all types of combinations of not bubbling/bubbling with no luck. thanks for the response

Click to expand...

Aeration does nothing for reducing total dissolved solids in this scenario.

blueraz said:

im leaning towards spending the $$ (about $1400) on a complete Hydrologic Evolution system with the pre-filter, uv sterilizer and de-ionization post filter but id really like to hear a success story before pulling the trigger

Click to expand...

I think something may be wrong with the system because it doesn't filter based on total ppms, it filters based on particle size (and type if we're including the carbon, which is chemical filtration as is the deionization that comes at the very end of filtration) and it should be giving you very low to zero dissolved solids even without deionization (which I use, try rinsing a just-washed vehicle with just RO water on one side and then rinse the other with DI and tell me what you see ;) ).

I absolutely am landing with woodsmaneh on the booster (or in my case, I use a permeate pump because I *do* have sufficient water pressure, but wanted better efficacy from my RO/DI unit), but right now I'm questioning the operating efficacy of your unit, it shouldn't be resulting in 200ppm.

Seamaiden said:

Aeration does nothing for reducing total dissolved solids in this scenario.

I think something may be wrong with the system because it doesn't filter based on total ppms, it filters based on particle size (and type if we're including the carbon, which is chemical filtration as is the deionization that comes at the very end of filtration) and it should be giving you very low to zero dissolved solids even without deionization (which I use, try rinsing a just-washed vehicle with just RO water on one side and then rinse the other with DI and tell me what you see ;) ).

I absolutely am landing with woodsmaneh on the booster (or in my case, I use a permeate pump because I *do* have sufficient water pressure, but wanted better efficacy from my RO/DI unit), but right now I'm questioning the operating efficacy of your unit, it shouldn't be resulting in 200ppm.

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I know Mrs Sea. .. my ogre scientist screamed the same facts at me but im telling you idk it's odd. . Maybe meter false readings? Now this has me thinking lol Thanks Mrs Sea!

Last resort, if it's working as it should, yadda yadda yadda, outside adding deionization, would be to try adding more membranes/stages.

Theoneandonly Z said:

hope you brought your pen and pad cuz @woodsmaneh just took us to school!:bookworm:

@blueraz - if u need an excessive amount of water per day, then yes a 1000 series filter might suit ur needs. ur well water wont come out to 0ppm, it will be around 300-400 ppm even after ran through filter. in this case you might need to upgrade to the KDF membranes. i believe there is 2 different ratings of them. oh and they also cost an arm and a leg:nurse: much luck. and dont forget to back flush ur filter atleast 1x/week, maybe even after every use. Hard water will clog ur membranes much faster and maintenance needs to be kept up or else you will be seeing:greedy:

Click to expand...

i havent backwashed i will try that. Even with a brand new membrane and new KDF filter (which i think is what you meant?) the lowest I got my ppm was 190.

Seamaiden said:

Aeration does nothing for reducing total dissolved solids in this scenario.

I think something may be wrong with the system because it doesn't filter based on total ppms, it filters based on particle size (and type if we're including the carbon, which is chemical filtration as is the deionization that comes at the very end of filtration) and it should be giving you very low to zero dissolved solids even without deionization (which I use, try rinsing a just-washed vehicle with just RO water on one side and then rinse the other with DI and tell me what you see ;) ).

I absolutely am landing with woodsmaneh on the booster (or in my case, I use a permeate pump because I *do* have sufficient water pressure, but wanted better efficacy from my RO/DI unit), but right now I'm questioning the operating efficacy of your unit, it shouldn't be resulting in 200ppm.

Click to expand...

even with new membrane and filters (the KDF) i was still getting 190 ppm, so maybe pressure is the problem?

after this discussion im thinking of replacing the unit and adding a booster - i get anywhere from 35-50 psi right now)

also, ive gotten the same readings with mulitple meters fwiw

blueraz said:

i havent backwashed i will try that. Even with a brand new membrane and new KDF filter (which i think is what you meant?) the lowest I got my ppm was 190.

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ya typo on my part, thinking too fast.

are you using the stealth 100 or 200? I recommend the 200 with upgraded KDF. this has two membranes instead of 1. This should help.

FWIW - i threw away my RO system and just use a cabon and sediment, my water is around 380ppm after being filtered. Im not saying do this, because in your case, well water is still in the 1000's after this filtertration. So what im trying to say is that 190 ppm isnt bad. it will actually save u some $ in nutrient expense and at 190ppm, ph should be way more stable. this just might work out in your benefit so i wouldnt sweat it too much

Theoneandonly Z said:

ya typo on my part, thinking too fast.

are you using the stealth 100 or 200? I recommend the 200 with upgraded KDF. this has two membranes instead of 1. This should help.

FWIW - i threw away my RO system and just use a cabon and sediment, my water is around 380ppm after being filtered. Im not saying do this, because in your case, well water is still in the 1000's after this filtertration. So what im trying to say is that 190 ppm isnt bad. it will actually save u some $ in nutrient expense and at 190ppm, ph should be way more stable. this just might work out in your benefit so i wouldnt sweat it too much

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using the stealth 100

probly gonna go this route

booster pump->tall boy->stealth 200->uv sterilization

using the kdf filter

whatever the ppm is after that im just going to deal with it, not looking to get to zero, just want a system that is more efficient and is consistent