zero water or ro water

[saltr]

(www.freedrinkingwater.com) and buy their countertop unit. It will last more then a year.

I've been shopping around for an RO system for a while and that counter-top unit is rather convincing. What's your starting ppm and what are you left with? Other than the quick connect, any reason to go with this over the Hydrologic Stealth? Thanks!

 

[SSHZ]

I have very bad well water....... I also have a chlorinator and water softner. I live on what once was a peach tree farm so there's tons of salts and heavy metals from ferts used back then. I have used this countertop r.o. device for about 3 years. My starting ppm is off the charts. My ending is about 10. Buy it with confidence- it's a nice product that will last forever. I just replace all the filters about every 15 months when the ppm slowly starts to rise.

Also my water straight from the tap has a pH of around 7.4. Out of the r.o. machine it's varies between 5.8-6.2.

 

[iahsound]

Ya my water is at 7.5 aswell and after it runs through the filter its just about the same, i do have a ro unit and used it for a few years but i seem to be able to do the same. Although i never really payed attention to the ph diffrance out of the ro unit that seems like you would save on buying ph down!

 

[Bobby Smith]

Anyone care to elaborate on the tap vs Ro? My tap always checks between 85-125, ive strongly considered moving to ro system cause i always have p lockouts and problems in veg. I have no clue if its the water, but ive had many harvest and i cant seem to pinpoint my problems.

Bump to this question.

My tap's 125-150PPMs and 7.5pH; I have an R/O filter (Stealth 100), but it's such a pain to hookup a rez and figure out a place to drain the waste to (have no sink in my garage), so I've been debating whether or not R/O is worth it to me (setting up my new room, so need to decide if it's worth it to figure out a drain for the R/O).

Anyone have any insights?

Leaning towards my water being perfectly fine to grow with but would love other opinions.

 

[Seamaiden]

I don't know what others would say, but to me those are awfully good numbers for coming right out of the tap. I'd be a little hesitant to add reverse osmosis if those were my numbers, too.

Btw, I hooked up some 1/4" drip tubing to my RO/DI outlet and move it around, water the plants out front with it, fill up the animals' water tubs, etc. Since it's already been filtered, it's at least cleaner than what comes out of *my* tap (should be getting that new meter this weekend!).

 

[Bobby Smith]

I don't know what others would say, but to me those are awfully good numbers for coming right out of the tap. I'd be a little hesitant to add reverse osmosis if those were my numbers, too.

Btw, I hooked up some 1/4" drip tubing to my RO/DI outlet and move it around, water the plants out front with it, fill up the animals' water tubs, etc. Since it's already been filtered, it's at least cleaner than what comes out of *my* tap (should be getting that new meter this weekend!).

That's kinda what I was thinking; have flooded my garage twice by forgetting that I left the R/O unit running (ruined two 1K ballasts and other electronics that I stupidly had on the floor at the time) - I know these things can be avoided with float valves and by having a drain in my growroom, but if I can just use my tap without too many issues, I'm leaning that way.

 

[420king-MASSES]

im gonna go with a r/o machine my homegirl seamaiden has steered me in the right direction on more then 1 occasion

 

[Bobby Smith]

I don't know your exact setup or anything like that, but I'd HIGHLY recommend testing your water first to know if you need an RO filter or not - you'll save yourself hundreds in setup costs (filter, rez, float valves, etc.) and that's assuming you have a drain in your grow room - if not (like I used to not have, although I've built one into my new room) then you've REALLY got some issues.

Seems like the consensus is that anything <200PPMs is perfectly fine - it just (basically) saves a step of having RO water and then having to add 200PPMs of CalMag to it, IMO.

That's a slight oversimplification, but not by much.

You can have my Stealth RO if you want it - the increased water usage and general pain in the ass of it have become too much for me to want to deal with.

 

[cemchris]

RO is all about PH stability. When running rezs RO vs tap is messing with your PH once a day or more or messing with it once a week. Also alot of people mix tap with RO for trace minerals. Different strokes for different situations. To me growing all revolves around water in one way or another. I dont skimp on nutes, lights, AC, ect I'm not gonna skimp on the lifeblood of my plants.

My tap is 110ppm city and I still use RO all day everyday.

Also using RO and adding Calmg lets you know how much Calmg you are adding and using. Not just taking an educated guess.

 

[Bobby Smith]

I'm not growing in a laboratory under clinical conditions (although I try to come as close as I can), and I highly question any grower's ability to regulate their nutes to that fine of a level - hell, most growers can't even totally drain a reservoir mid-flower without leaving some leftover nutes in it.

And FWIW, I find my pH to remain MUCH more stable with my tap water than when I was using R/O water.

But like you said, different strokes for different folks.

 

[420king-MASSES]

well ive been bubbling 2 30 gallon trash cans 24/7 and i was just gonna get a tall boy r/o machine and hook it up to my sink and run it when i need to feed or water it would save me the hassle of filling up 1 can every 3 days

 

[leadsled]

It will take 4-6 times as long to produce the same amount of water. You'll be burning thru filters so quick you'll spend alot more of time so I'd advise spending more upfront (www.freedrinkingwater.com) and buy their countertop unit. It will last more then a year.

fyi the units on freedrinkingwater dot com look exactly like water general brand.

Can get em for about 120-150 not 300.00 like advertised on the website. All of the prices are about double.

Just a heads up to maybe save some $$.

 

[420king-MASSES]

$163 for the hydro-logic tall boy is anyone running the tall boy if so how is it is it worth the price also how many gpm does it do

 

[leadsled]

$163 for the hydro-logic tall boy is anyone running the tall boy if so how is it is it worth the price also how many gpm does it do

tallboy is supposed to do 120gal per hour. Is not going to clean the water like a r.o will.

DO you have cloramines in your water? if not then would work fine.

Otherwise if you got cloramine in your water would probably be better off with a r.o machine

HEre is a 5 stage r/o for $143.00. Cheaper than tall boy and better filtration. Is a water general unit. May be same brand sold at pwc.

Without a booster pump I do 60 gallons per day.

 

[cooper1]

i live near the beach i just moved here and had no idea about the water before this i never even checked my ph but where i live there is salt in the water and the ph is so hig like 9 i would love to check the ppms bu8t i just got a stealth ro1000 it slow but nice before my water was like 9 on the ph then when i put it on the stealth the ph is like 6 i though it was going to be 7 once its pure it that weird

i taste the waste water and i can taste the salt so for the past 5 months i was watering my plants with salt water no wonder i could not to get them to look good i hit them for one day they jumped up all the wrinkle in the leaves are all most gone now im going to kill it