100% Organic:Getting Chlorine out of tap water.

[farel2]

Hey I know this has probably been talked about but I can not find the thread so here we go.

I am trying one plant with 100% organics soil and everything. The only part I am worried about is the water from my tap.

I filled up a 18 gallon rubbermaid with tap water and put a air stone in the water and it has sat for over 24 hrs. I have a TDS meter that reads the tap water at 250 TDS, when I checked the bubbling water 24 hrs later it was still at 240 tds.

Does Total Dissolved Salts mean the same as Parts Per Million?

Will I be able to use this water that I have been bubbling for over 24 hrs without my plants gettting hurt from eating tap water chlorine?

If nothing else I will get an RO system but the cost and having to replace everything so often (every 6 months or so) has me questioning them?

Is a RO system the only answer to pure water??


Thanks in advance Everyone!!!
Gotta love this site

 

[necrobot]

An easy/good way to see if your tap water has chorline in it is to either call your local water supply place at your city and ask. If they use chorlamine then you can't use it because it doesnt evaporate, so you will either have to get distilled water or RO. Another easy way to find out is to fill a 5 gallon white bucket with your tap water. If the water has a blueish tint to it, then it has chorline in it, or it is pure water. So just let it sit for 24 hours and bubble. If it has a green tint to it then it has chorlamine in it, and you can't use it.

 

[Green Cross]

An easy/good way to see if your tap water has chorline in it is to either call your local water supply place at your city and ask. If they use chorlamine then you can't use it because it doesnt evaporate, so you will either have to get distilled water or RO. Another easy way to find out is to fill a 5 gallon white bucket with your tap water. If the water has a blueish tint to it, then it has chorline in it, or it is pure water. So just let it sit for 24 hours and bubble. If it has a green tint to it then it has chorlamine in it, and you can't use it.

That must explains why my water looks blue in a white 5 gal bucket - was wondering about that.

I let it sit out for at least 24 hrs - with a air stone bubbler circulating it (to keep it oxygenated)

 

[The Warlord]

Theres a product called Prime sold for aquariums that will remove both chlorine and chloramine. Get it at any petsmart etc.

 

[farel2]

awsome thanks everyone!!!


The warlord: have you tried prime before? is it plant friendly?

 

[The Warlord]

Ya, it wont hurt fish or plants. I used to be into planted aquariums.

 

[Green Cross]

Ya, it wont hurt fish or plants. I used to be into planted aquariums.

Great advice Warlord thanks

 

[farel2]

ya i am def gonna try that out it will say me having to buy Ro for 250 + Thanks a lot Warlord!!

 

[necrobot]

I would be very careful with using products like that to "remove" cholormine from your water. Those products use chelated salt to remove the chemicals from your water. Salt is very bad for your microbeasties and can do a lot more harm to your teas then you would expect. There isn't any real safe way (for your microbeasties) to remove chloramine from your tap water. If this is the case I would highly recommend either a) collect rainwater b) RO system c) distilled water. I just can't recommend scrubbing products for your water. You are trying to get away from using altering chemicals when doing 100% organics. These products will kill your soil food web.

 

[smppro]

if you are only growing 1 plant why dont you buy gallons on distilled water from the store? They are like 80cent a gallon, have you planned for the lack of mag.cal you will have from not using tap? Either mix enough garden lime or buy an organic calmag.

 

[MrBaker]

I would be very careful with using products like that to "remove" cholormine from your water. Those products use chelated salt to remove the chemicals from your water. Salt is very bad for your microbeasties and can do a lot more harm to your teas then you would expect. There isn't any real safe way (for your microbeasties) to remove chloramine from your tap water. If this is the case I would highly recommend either a) collect rainwater b) RO system c) distilled water. I just can't recommend scrubbing products for your water. You are trying to get away from using altering chemicals when doing 100% organics. These products will kill your soil food web.

Although I concur with your main point, "there isn't any real safe way..."

I feel that using DeChlor (or similar product from pet stores) works pretty well. I've used it in fish tanks for years and so far using it on tap water for tea has worked well, too. Although I do let the 2-3 gallons sit a day AND I add Dechlor.

Again, that's my "non-organic" way to remove chlorine. It certainly does not fit the philosophy that some people are tryin' to run with when growing "organic".

To me, if my fish can live in it and be healthy then that's close enough.

I can totally see where other people are coming from...other people meaning people that don't want to use man-made salts and chemicals to garden with.

 

[necrobot]

Hey bro, do what works best for you. But just because your fish may be able to live in it, doesn't make it safe. Humans can live off of McDonalds and TV Dinners for a while too, doesn't make them healthy and safe for you in the long run. Thats just my 2 cents.

 

[farel2]

I would be very careful with using products like that to "remove" cholormine from your water. Those products use chelated salt to remove the chemicals from your water. Salt is very bad for your microbeasties and can do a lot more harm to your teas then you would expect. There isn't any real safe way (for your microbeasties) to remove chloramine from your tap water. If this is the case I would highly recommend either a) collect rainwater b) RO system c) distilled water. I just can't recommend scrubbing products for your water. You are trying to get away from using altering chemicals when doing 100% organics. These products will kill your soil food.

Thanks Necrobot, that is true that to solve one problem with organics you shouldn't look anywhere but in organics i guess.
I am going to do a bit more reserach on this product cause ya i might just bite the bullet and get an RO system. I want it for drinking water to.

if you are only growing 1 plant why dont you buy gallons on distilled water from the store? They are like 80cent a gallon, have you planned for the lack of mag.cal you will have from not using tap? Either mix enough garden lime or buy an organic calmag.

Thanks for the advise smppro:I could buy the big culligan bottles but to have to keep refilling those regularly is a bit of a security risk in my eyes. I will have to check what the price is like here. I do not have anything big at all and dont plan to (max 5-7 plants) so not sure what I should do.

Also i am new to organics so I have not learned about pure water having no calcium or magnesium. What do you mean garden lime??? literally just a lime from the garden lol??

Thanks for the help everyone

 

[farel2]

Ok so its more or less 1. Distilled water or 2. RO system.

I have heard that RO systems do not clean it completely? Anyone who has an RO system is this true? what is the ppm when the water goes through the system?

How often do peices need to be removed/changed and is it just as expensive to replace the membrane and filters than it would be to just get another system like some products are meant to work??

Thanks for the replies everyonekiss-ass

 

[Green Cross]

I'm glad I don't have chloramine in my water.

I guess I'll just continue to allow the water to sit out for 24 hrs to remove the chlorine, and run an air stone so the water doesn't become stale. My plants are thriving on the water (tap) I'm using, and If it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[tea tree]

bite the bullet and buy a few 5 gallon jugs of water at home depot. Fill them once a week for a dollar twenty five. Cheap. For only a few plants that is a good deal. I have 8 plants. Four get watered one day and four another. I can go to the machine twice a week. That is normal. Hell at work I drink prob 100 ounces of water a day! So I barely break out my ro machine now a days. It is a pain and when the filters go bad ya just notice some bad plants. I think, first year grower. I am a super soil convert and man i love it. I dont want to damage my web!

 

[farel2]

I wish all i had to do was run an air stone DAMN CHLORAMINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Maybe I will try a couple 5 gallon jugs for now. It will be cheaper than RO thats for sure.

Anyone else have any experience (good or bad) with RO systems>>???

 

[necrobot]

I have to fill my water up at the local supermarket every week too. Cheap as hell, but hey, at least I always know my ph and I know that there is nothing in my water to worry about.

 

[desert fox]

I used to be in water treatment for a living. I ran and maintained a huge semi-trailer sized RO unit that pumped out around 3000 gal an hour. I made drinking water from salt water, groundwater even the Tigris river. Tigris was nasty shit. The ocean was even nastier (thank god it was just training for 2 week). The more TDS in the water the more you have to change out filters and the more rejection rate starts to suck ass. Again this was more of an industrial aplication, but still applys to home sized units. Backflushing is a good way to revive and get more life out of your membrane. It just slightly lowers the PH over time as your membrane get worse. I have never seen any crazy PH numbers mabee 6.4 when they are well beond toast: I ran citrus acid based chemicals to clean the membrane. So mabee thats why I got the lower PH. I dont even think they can get that bad using tapwater as a source. Carbon blocks dont need to be replanced as often as manufacuring recommends as well as your prefilter. They just need to keep makeing money. Carbon main purpouse in RO filters is to removes chlorine. Cuz clorine cooks RO membranes.

I run RO cuz I got nasty hard water. It usually is around 800ppm. After a good rain in monsoon season my TDS was running in the ballpark of 1200ppm to give you a rough idea. 250ppm is pretty damn good for tap water. I dont see much need for you to run an RO unit. I dont think you need to strive for absolute perfect water. I just got the cheepest one off of Ebay. I aint planing to be changing filters EVER cuz I just use it for the plants. I will use it till it start kicking out 200ppm and then just chuck it and buy another. My guess is well beyond 5 years. I dont pay for water though but the back flush can lower your rejection rate if you do pay for water.


I also agree with the fish tank stuff is garbage. Most of the stuff is sodium cloride (salt)

 

[s.c.mtn.hillbilly]

you have the exact setup...put it in the sunshine, and you have an algae bucket....this will produce lake water. the algae seems to lower the p.h., nutrify,and generally balance out the now 'living water'. I feed it to my clones and seedlings...the cat and the blacktails-tubuc and chuck shun the well water for the algae bucket. they LOVE it! you may want to treat city water with the petsmart stuff first, or the algae won't grow as fast. when the algae gets too thick, I hit the whole garden with it, and start over. the plants love algae water. I just wish I had a lot more, to water the garden more often.