R/O water iscussion

[justiceman]

R/O Water and Calcite Cartidges

Hey everyone it just came to mind that one can use "Calcite cartridges" for R/O systems. They remineralize the R/O water at the end with calcium carbonate. I am not sure how much they remineralize in terms of PPM though.

Do any of you guys use one of these calcite cartridges instead of adding Calplex, Calmag plus, etc?

It seems to me like the addition of one of those cartirdges would possibly save some money and time in adding calcium back to the water. A side effect occurs after adding calcium back to the water. The PH rises. For me personally this would help as I always have to add a lot of PH up to my nute mixes, and I fear that the addition of a crap load of PH up hinders my nutrient performance by adding to much potassium.

What do you guys think?

 

[CheechWizard]

Curious how that would work with the back flush the RO's do. Would it run some of the calcium out of the waste line? Or would it be installed as a standalone post filter or something. Interesting idea, let us know how it goes.

 

[justiceman]

Curious how that would work with the back flush the RO's do. Would it run some of the calcium out of the waste line? Or would it be installed as a standalone post filter or something. Interesting idea, let us know how it goes.

Ya man I'm very interested to see whats up. I wonder If anyone else has checked into this.

In theory I would have my Stealth R/O connected to the hose. I would connect an adapter to the R/O line (1/4" to female garden hose) then I would connect one side of a double male garden hose to the adapter and the other side would hook up to stand alone filter(Calcite cartridge) and feed out to where ever I want the water to go.

In other words: Tap water > sediment filter > carbon filter > R/O membrane(s) > hose > calcite cartridge > hose > reservior

So theoretically since the calcite cartridge would be hooked up after the R/O filter their shouldn't be any calcium in the waste water line.

 

[Seamaiden]

Typically tap water that has high carbonate hardness (aka dKH) is water that has CaCO3 and MgCO3 (calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate, respectively) in it already. Why strip it to then add it back? Instead of going to all that trouble, if you want CaCO3/MgCO3 back, add a little tap water back to the RO water.

There is also a problem with CaCO3/MgCO3 in that they don't seem to be readily available for uptake by the plant, at least not as I've found by my own efforts. I believe that the form of Ca/Mg is very important, and if it's a form that can't be taken up by the plants then it needs to be mineralized by microbes. This is why I can use unfiltered tap (well) water that has not only a very high level of carbonates, but also general hardness, on my OD organic girls, yet cannot on my indoor coco girls--well mineralized soil with a healthy soil food web in situ vs non-mineralized coco sans healthy soil food web.

 

[justiceman]

Typically tap water that has high carbonate hardness (aka dKH) is water that has CaCO3 and MgCO3 (calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate, respectively) in it already. Why strip it to then add it back? Instead of going to all that trouble, if you want CaCO3/MgCO3 back, add a little tap water back to the RO water.

There is also a problem with CaCO3/MgCO3 in that they don't seem to be readily available for uptake by the plant, at least not as I've found by my own efforts. I believe that the form of Ca/Mg is very important, and if it's a form that can't be taken up by the plants then it needs to be mineralized by microbes. This is why I can use unfiltered tap (well) water that has not only a very high level of carbonates, but also general hardness, on my OD organic girls, yet cannot on my indoor coco girls--well mineralized soil with a healthy soil food web in situ vs non-mineralized coco sans healthy soil food web.

I would personally strip the water of everything and then add calcium carbonate back because it's not that I don't want the calcium carbonate. I'ts that I strip the water because I don't want excess amounts sodium flouride, chlorine, chloromines, and other elemnts that I don't know about varying in concentration every time.

Interesting about the type of calcium and uptake. I will say I have a durban poison mom in a 3 gal smart pot 100% coco, and I use General Organics Calmag+ on her(calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, molasses), and the girls in my flower tent get Organicare Calplex/GO calmag+(calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, molasses)/(calcium carbonte). I switch off to try and not bring magnesium levels up too high.

I noticed a couple grows back when I used botanicare calmag plus(calcium nitrate, magnesium nitrate) the N, Ca, Mg uptake was definitely excellent with no delay whatsoever. After I switched to carbonate based calmag products I have seen a type of well "get used to it" phase where the plants run into slight calmag problems at first but then they have no problems for the rest of the grow. I suppose like you said the key to carbonate uptake is through good microbial digestion. As I'm thinking that the biolife at the start is very small an unable to digest the carbonates where as they grow they can digest a lot more making them plant available.

The reason I'm okay with using carbonates is because I'm trying to stick to using organic, and natural mineral products.

 

[mastacheeser]

this is a very good iscussion
can i join in on this iscussion?
i think seamaiden is right on with this iscussion
the calcium really needs nitrogen to assist in the untake of the calcium, and you will find none of that in your iscussion
i think fat man has a good iscussion about it
a very good iscussion

 

[Mmmmasonite]

I like r/o water...then adding calmag.....but......Seamaiden has a good idea of using a bit of tap water.....i have a buddy who uses 25% tap water along with r/o....He just lets the chloramines and such evaporate off the night before he uses it.....He doesn't use calmag, which saves him some dough......He gets great yields and quality.......Peace

 

[justiceman]

this is a very good iscussion
can i join in on this iscussion?
i think seamaiden is right on with this iscussion
the calcium really needs nitrogen to assist in the untake of the calcium, and you will find none of that in your iscussion
i think fat man has a good iscussion about it
a very good iscussion

I know I spelled discussion wrong. Sorry about that. I noticed it the second I did the OP but I couldn't change it once it was posted. My apologies once again. Fortunately you were able to make out the meaning of the misspelled word so I suppose the title wasn't all that misleading to ya.

If all calcium needed was nitrogen in order to assist in uptake then seamaiden wouldn't' have talked about the different forms up calcium. He specifically detailed that in his experience carbonates were not as affective in his coco grows, not because of a lack of nitrogen but because of the type of calcium.

I like r/o water...then adding calmag.....but......Seamaiden has a good idea of using a bit of tap water.....i have a buddy who uses 25% tap water along with r/o....He just lets the chloramines and such evaporate off the night before he uses it.....He doesn't use calmag, which saves him some dough......He gets great yields and quality.......Peace

Ya the tap water is definitely a decent Idea, but I would rather have the chlorine, and chloramines removed inline without having to let the water sit out for 24 hours. But if One is willing to wait it is a good idea no doubt.

--------------------

I just figured that people are already using calcium products that contain calcium carbonate, and magnesium carbonate. Calplex from Organicare, and Calmag plus from General Organics are two of the products in circulation right now. I have used both and they seem to work quite well.

I just figured that a calcite cartridge might save the time, and money of adding back cal mag products, as well as saving the time, of waiting for chlorine to dissipate from tap water and having to add it back to the r/o water, not to mention chloramines never dissipate.

 

[Mmmmasonite]

Chloramines don't dissipate? Huh.....Cool.....Thanx for the info....Calcite cartridge huh? Where did you hear about that? Sounds really cool and it would be nice to stop paying for all the Calmag

 

[justiceman]

Chloramines don't dissipate? Huh.....Cool.....Thanx for the info....Calcite cartridge huh? Where did you hear about that? Sounds really cool and it would be nice to stop paying for all the Calmag

Sup mmmmasonite. Ya man from what I have heard at least from hydrologic is that chlorine dissipates into the air but more recently city's have been putting chloramines into the tap instead of or coupled with chlorine.


Wikipedia "Choramine"

Chlorine (sometimes referred to as free chlorine) is being displaced by chloramine, which is much more stable and does not dissipate from the water before it reaches consumers.

I found a Calcite cartridge when I was looking for cheap sediment filters online instead of shelling out the cash for a smallboy from hydrologic. I happened to come upon a site called pure water products. I picked up a garden hose sediment filter witch is really cool as it's inlet and outlet are both garden hose connectors. It will be really helpful for my outside garden that way I don't have to hall any water. I can just bring the hose right to the raised beds.

But that's my outside plan. For inside I already have an R/O filter. That is where the Calcite Cartridge idea comes in. Theoretically I could hook it up after my R/O with a 1/4" to garden hose adapter and add calcium carbonate back to the water therefore not having to add any back by purchasing nutrient bottles, not to mention it raises the PH of the water so that way it has greater ability to neutralize acids, and for me that means adding less PH up as my nute mixes generally bring my R/O water down to 5-4.5 before adjustment.

The Calcite cartridges can be found on a lot of different water filtration sites, and possibly at water filtration stores as well. They are advertised for adding calcium carbonate back to your R/O for the fish tank, plants, or for a better taste in the coffee you make in the mourning.

 

[RockPhosphate]

These calcite cartridges sound great.

Here's a thread that we were discussing chloramines in depth-->

 

[Mmmmasonite]

Justiceman............Thanx for the great info brotha!!....That's what its all about....Save on ph up and cal mag!! Werd son!!! I am in!