Switching from tap to RO water

[ross]

I'm finally going to be switching from using tap water to using RO water. I know RO water is supposed to be way better but I'm kind of nervous about the switch because I've grown with tap for many years with good results and it's just uncharted territory. One thing I've noticed about RO water in the past is it takes way less PH down to bring the PH down I guess cause there's no contaminants. Is there anything in particular I should know about switching or is it pretty straight forward? As long as ph reads good I can use same amount of nutes etc?

 

[Auburn1985]

I've used both. I currently use tap water bubbled for 24 hours to somewhat dissipate chlorine. Still not perfect, but somewhat easier than using RO water...

Using RO water can cause calcium/magnesium deficiencies (they are filtered out in the RO filtering process).

I'm an organic grower, and the water in my area is not extremely high in chlorine, but I bubble it for 24 hours anyway...seems to work fine.

Since I use Super Soil, I never PH-balance my water...the microbes in Super Soil keep the PH balanced...or so it's advertised...

 

[Growdude]

Yep use some Cal/Mag now.

If my tap was growing plants fine I would love it.

 

[ross]

Auburn what do you mean by bubble?

 

[ozzydiodude]

fish tank air pump with a air stone in the bottom of bucket for 24 hrs

 

[dirtyolsouth]

I also use tap water but my water dept and many municipal water departments nowdays use a form of chlorine called chloromine/chloromides and no amount of 'bubbling' with airstones will dissipate or evaporate this form of chlorine. The best way to determine what your water department is using is to call them and ask. Tell them you just moved into the area and that you're setting up fish aquariums and need to know if they use regular chlorine to treat their water or if they use chloromine/chloromides.

If your local water supply uses chloromine/chloromides to treat the water you'll need to get a de-chlorinator product for treating water for aquarium use from a pet supply store or pet dept. at Walmart, etc. The rate is usually very low, ie 1 ml per 10 gals of water so I use an eyedropper to put 10 drops in a 5 gal bucket and then stir it up. The chlorine bonds to the active ingredient in the de-chlorinator immediately and then you can bubble the water for a few hours and this will evaporate any of the bi products of the dechlorination process.

Bill at Blue Mountain Organics gave me all this info a few years ago when I asked if my water would be compatible to use with his organic line of nutes. He told me the de chlorinators work great for treating water for gardening applications.


Peace~!:bong:

 

[bigjb]

I started using aquarium de-chlorinator a couple of years ago when my town went to chloramine in the water. It works well, just watch the PH. The de-chlorinator I use jumps my PH up a whole point or more.

 

[The Hemp Goddess]

An RO is about far more than just chlorine or chloramine, which isn't too bad to get rid of. ROs are meant to remove the dissolved solids that you cannot remove any other way than treating.

Ross, if you have good water quality, there is really no reason to use RO water. Where I live now, we have a small community water system that has very good water--ppm are about 50 out of the tap. So, I don't use an RO. The last place I lived I had a private well--ppms about 350 out of the ground--so I used an RO.

Be aware that an RO wastes a lot of water--it can bypass as much as 4-5 gallons to get 1 gallon of RO water.

If your water was high in undissolved solids before the RO, you will have a lower ppm if you do not up your nutes. You will probably find that you need to add Cal-Mag and you may need to up your nutes. Do you know what the ppms of your untreated water was?

 

[ross]

Thanks for all the responses guys. I live in colorado and as many probably know we've had what some have called 500 and 1000 year floods and I think the water just might be contaminated somehow now or have higher amounts of chlorine to treat the extra contaminants. I've started seeing weird burn-like marks most on the serated edges but not the tips like nute burn or look like any nute burn I've ever seen in my garden. It's not light burn or bleach either. I know it can't be nute burn cause these 4 young plants exhibiting it the worst haven't even been fed. I'm using the same soil mix I've used so the only thing I can pin it out is something about the water. I recently got 2 new clones that looked amazing at first and haven't been affected much perhaps because they haven't been in their long but it looks like they're starting to exhibit it a little. I think I'm going to find out about the chlorine and either start bubbling or dechlorinating before making the rush decision to use RO water.

 

[ifsixwasnin9]

Why not distilled water? No minerals or trace elements and pH of 7.0. Why use RO?

 

[pcduck]

Why not distilled water? No minerals or trace elements and pH of 7.0. Why use RO?

Cheaper

Make your own, unless you have a distillery

 

[ozzydiodude]

Can you catch your rain water? if you see rain all the time/weekly, it is one of the best waters around

 

[ross]

it is usually dry around here just not lately