0 PPM water

[ruufuus]

hello again MP. just another hydroponics question from your friendly aspiring botanist =].

Today i am wondering, what ways can you obtain 0PPM water? And what is the most cost efficient way of doing so, and while i have your attention, from personal experience, when is the best time to change out your water in hydroponic grows?

thanks everyone in advance! i look forward to hearing from you!

~ruufuus

 

[Hushpuppy]

That will depend partly on the source of the water. If you are getting water that has been treated by a municipal system then a good 2 stage filter that removes above 90% of chemicals and 100% of particulate should work quite well, but most likely will not give 0ppm. Also a reverse osmosis 3 stage filter will do real good and should give nearly 0ppm.

If you are in a location with very poor quality water with highly disolved chems in the water, or if the treatment plant is using something like chloramine, then it will get increasingly difficult to achieve 0ppm.

The RO systems are the best but are expensive to buy and waste a lot of water in their filtering process.

 

[Lemon Jack]

Well you can buy distilled water or set up a reverse osmosis water filter. They are pretty pricey but in the long run cheaper than buying water. They also waste alot of water.

as for me i change my rez in veg bout every 10 to 12 days
and in flower about every 7 to 10 days

 

[Lemon Jack]

Darn you barely beat me hushpuppy

 

[ruufuus]

thanks for the posts guys, good info! i am still curious though is there a cheaper method than RO filters?

 

[Hushpuppy]

I use a rezevoir and top feed on a constant drip into cococoir medium. I usually have about 8 plants per rez, which is about 10gal. I typically only change my water about every 2 weeks. At the end of the veg stage, just before flipping to flower, I flush out the whole system with fresh water(no nutes or ph) for a day and then clean out the rez. After that I start over with fresh nutes that include my flowering nutes. I still vacuum out the old water and put in new every 2 weeks until harvest when I break down everything, clean thoroughly and start over.

Here is the filtration unit I use on my water system: hxxp://www.discount-hydro.com/products/HydroLogic-Small-Boy-.html
It works quite well for my setup. Initial ppm on my water is around 80ppm, and after the filter it is about 5-8ppm

 

[NorCalHal]

RO is the most efficient and for a 100gpd unit they run about $200, and yes, they waste water at a ratio of 3-1. A good RO will get the parts down to about 10ppm.

One way to get true 0 ppm is to capture your AC or dehumidifier water runoff. It is 0ppm and is a great to use.

 

[ruufuus]

i am going to test my tap water, and depending on the results, i am contemplating a solar still =] just because i enjoy being cheap, and also using nature as best i can ^^

 

[Hushpuppy]

If you can get that to work that would be cool. but it doesn't have to be completely clean so long as the bad stuff isn't in it. I would have it checked if unsure about it.

Hal, I have heard a lot of peeps here say that condenser water has been shown to have some serious bad stuff in it. I think someone said they wouldn't even touch it with a bare hand because of some disease that you can get from the bacteria that can get into it. IDK...

 

[Lemon Jack]

Ya actually I always used distilled water and this last time I used my tap water just to try it out being that it is pretty decent. So far I have had zero problems It did take a couple days to get my ph level steady it kept going up every day for a couple days but now it is stable.

 

[NorCalHal]

Hal, I have heard a lot of peeps here say that condenser water has been shown to have some serious bad stuff in it. I think someone said they wouldn't even touch it with a bare hand because of some disease that you can get from the bacteria that can get into it. IDK...

Thats the first I have heard of it. I have quite a few friends that collect thier Dehumidifier water and use that to feed thier girls, and no ill effects at all. In fact, they grow nothing but bomb. I have also used it. I have a Tri Meter and it allways read 0 ppm, I am not sure how that could be bad.
Personally, I use an RO for the most part cause I use alot of water.
IF my AC/Dehumid produced enough water, I would use that water also.

 

[Hushpuppy]

Yeah I used to reuse my dehumidifier water, thinking that it would be like distilled water but several peeps on here said that it can carry some nasty bacteria. I personally don't see how it could occur like that in a relatively enclosed environment but Hemp Goddess said she doesn't use it for the same reason. I have stopped using it as it isn't a lot of water in my situation to make it worth it anyway. I would like to know for sure if it is good or bad but the danger of the bacteria makes me side on caution

 

[dman1234]

it can contain legioners disease, very nasty stuff.

 

[NorCalHal]

You guys are trippin'

 

[pcduck]

Just something I found.

Legionnaire's disease is an acute respiratory infection caused by Legionella bacteria.
Alternative Names

Legionella pneumonia; Pontiac fever
Causes, incidence, and risk factors

The bacteria that cause Legionnaire's disease have been found in water delivery systems. They can survive in the warm, moist, air conditioning systems of large buildings, including hospitals.

Most cases are caused by Legionella pneumophila. The rest of the cases are caused by other Legionella species.

hXXp://healthtools.aarp.org/adamcontent/legionnaires-disease?CMP=KNC-360I-GOOGLE-HEA&HBX_PK=legionnaire%27s_disease&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=legionnaire%27s%2Bdisease&utm_campaign=G_Diseases%2Band%2BConditions&360cid=SI_148900100_6495451981_1