Im getting an RO as soon as I move to my new house. Wanted one since 2005!!!!!!!!!!!! Good looking out on the link too, big help to some people im sure!
I agree guys, RO is the best way to go. Just never felt I needed it. The PUR stage 3 faucet mount has always been adequate for my soil gardens. R/O would be a nice upgrade.
I swear man, once i get the harvest i have been dreaming of for 5 years (and every actually works out...for once) RO WATER FILTERS ALL AROUND!! FOR ALL THE LONG TIME GK HOMIES.
R/O water is NOT a necessity for a good grow, but it does eliminate certain factors that can in some cases cause problems. Water quality can also vary pretty widely from one area to another. I would say that having R/O water is far more important when doing hydro as apposed to soil. Soil acts as a buffer that will absorb and hold excess nutrients and minerals that may be found in Tap water. Chlorine is obviously something that no grower wants to give their plants. A good carbon filter is much better than nothing at all and using tap water can be done with success as mentioned by Kron and a couple others, you can fill a reservoir and allow it to sit for 24 hrs or more in order to allow the chlorine to evaporate. Using R/O water allows a grower to further control all elements of the growing environment. I started using R/O water after I had pH control issues when using my local tap water. Using R/O water makes sure that all my beneficial mycorrhizae, bacteria, and trichoderma stay alive and thrive in my soil or reservoirs. It makes pH control much easier and minimizes the chances of nutrient lock out and allows for maximum nutrient uptake. So in summary, it is not necessary to use R/O water, but it is an added tool to further allow a grower to control all aspects of their growing environment.
I've never used water that was treated in any way. Local tap water has a starting ppm of about 280, and it's got tons of chlorine and calcium in it. Letting the chlorine evaporate for a day before using it is a pretty standard technique. If you don't wanna do that, they make water filters just for chlorine. Of course water is important, but what's most important is to see a valuable return on your harvest for the money spent. I'm with Ras that RO water is much more important for hydro, so I'm going to be buying a filter when I switch back to it, but for the moment am just using soil and am fine with tap water and a little epsom salts. Oh, and that's not a stupid question at all. That's a question EVERY grower who is interested in doing more than keeping their plants alive has along the way. Hope that helps.
No you just fill what ever reservoir you like. The 100 gal. per day is based on having 60 psi inlet water. They sell a pump that you can add to boost inlet pressure to 60 psi if your pressure is low. I'm not sure what my inlet pressure is, but I will know once I hook up the filter tonight. If it can't provide at least 50 gal. in a day I will have to upgrade. I am going to have 2 5o gal. reservoirs plus all my mothers and clones. If I have to change a reservoir and water some moms in the same day I'll need more than 50 gal. I am going to have a couple extra reservoirs though and I plan to always have at least 1 of them full with fresh water so I can just swap it out when I want to change reservoirs and I have several 5 gal . buckets that I can keep filled. I looked into the models available at Home Depot but none of them could provide more than 11 gal. a day according to their listed specifications. So I looked in my hydroponics catalogs and decided to get this model. Most of the reviews I have read say that it does what they claim it does.
Did you get this model yet Ras? What was your success with the hook up and did you hook it up to your house sink or a hose? bout to say ef bottled water and pick this up. thanks! :anibong: :anibong: :anibong: :anibong:
Use what comes out of your faucet. Get a Britta....or just let it sit overnight to let the chlorine dissipate. Adjust the pH. My water is from a spring--no chlorine but VERY full of minerals. I just adjust the pH with white vinegar. Consider this--what makes water "hard" is the minerals in it. Lots of folks go BUY mineral supps to ADD to their soil. Plants naturally grow in soil that contains minerals-- Somebody would have to show me a side by side to convince me the plant minds minerals. I say, if you'd let your kid drink it...your plants can, too. Dixie
I love it and it works like a charm! I also found out that I can upgrade my model to the RO200 if I find that I need greater capacity later, by adding another RO membrane inline. They also sell an upgraded carbon filter that filters out chloramine and I will be getting that one eventually too. The unit works great. I hooked it to a hose bib under my bathroom sink. You can just put a T in and add a hose bib under the sink and it hooks up in a few seconds. The water tastes clean and fresh without that chlorine smell and metallic taste that my tap water usually has. I tested the PPM with my TDS meter and it always tests at around 8 PPM down from 300 PPM tap water.
Nah. I was poking fun at you for being a MAN, LOL....with the doodads and gizmos and gadgets, that's all. Men do love machines. Of course, it's only fair to mention that I did feel comprelled to order the electric paninni press I saw on TV last week. Now I can make a tiny pizza in just five minutes OR a grilled ham and cheese in THREE! Dix
Sounds awesome Ras, gonna go that route. Thanks Dix for the suggestion, send a panini my way lol. :mashed: :mashed: :mashed: :mashed: :mashed:
About 100 gal a day. :thumbs-up: Takes just over 1 hour to produce 5 gal. I need to get a 200 gal. res. to store fresh water for when I do a res change. I think I can get a nice 250 gal plastic tank off of craigslist for $100.00 I'll set that up with a float and I'll never be without fresh filtered water.
Good thread. I was planning on getting a RO unit too. Glad to know you've found a good one Ras. For a bill and a half, I say it's a steal. Not to have to start the day before by filling containers just to change your ressys plus the pH controlablility. One less thing to consider when you've got problems. Any time I can eliminate a variable I'm happy. Like Dixie says too I get all giddy when I can get a new toy for the garden. Retiree
This thread has come full circle! Finally got it! Can't wait to have a glass of this shit once she's done running through her start cycle.
just for the hell of it Fuck all ya hydro people! :mashed: It SEEMS so tedious...do the plants really grow that much faster? If someone mixed the soil together at the beginning and packed the buckets would you go soil instead? I know little about hydro so I don't pose as all-knowing, lol. With all the equipment used it appears to be more expensive.... Maybe not if the pump and tubes last for years...I'd spent that much on soil I guess. SOIL! (yelled with no comparison whatsoever!) :angel4: :new_alien:
Im a soil guy all the way, nug. Just got tired of buying dollar gallons for these damn thirsty plants. Never have to make a dumb trip to go get h20. Plus the water is DELISH!
OK, I hear ya. But what about spring water? I KNOW my water is hard and full of minerals. Should I get a PUR? Im confused because I know minerals are necessary for plants...? But maybe too much is too much? Or what? FWIW, Ive changed from Botanicare nutes to Canna Substra....and they come in your choice of "hard" or "soft", to match your water. Im pretty condused on the whole issue of minerals in your water. Dixie
