Ro water to tap

Budbreath

Budbreath

Well-Known Member
Been running ro water in my single tote dwc. So now with the Corona virus All the ro water is hard to find. So I checked our tap water and its 130ppm. Do you dwc growers think that it will be ok to use. If so how long do I need to leave 3 gallons with a bubble stone bubbling in it before I use it. Is it going to be ok for bennies. And also what about nutes and ppms. Do I use less calmag and keep the same ppms or use same nutes and go a little higher on ppms. It's at 800ppms now.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
are you sure your tap has chlorine and not chloramine? it makes a huge difference. get a water analysis (free) from your source first and post the results.
 
Budbreath

Budbreath

Well-Known Member
Well they called me back. The lady at the water department told me to call the water treatment plant. The guy said that he uses it in his grows! Also said that it is chlorinated by chlorine gas injection. But he said that that does cause some chloramine byproducts and chlorine. Going to work on trying to get a water analysis report tomorrow.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Order an RO filter and be done with it.

The big issue with unfiltered water in DWC is bacteria. People running tap water seem more prone to root rot. Using pool shock could prevent this.

Another issue is what makes up the 130 PPM. One could send the water out for testing. If it's high in calcium then you want to feed less calcium. Same with magnesium. If it's high in iron you will need to filter it.

pH stability can be an issue as well when using tap water it tends to drift more.
 
Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
What about those water machines in front of markets , score some 5 gallon bottles , fill for you and plants.
or order RO filter system online as stated .

Most are very simple to install.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Budzbuddha said:
Most are very simple to install.
Click to expand...
Definitely easy to install. Especially easy if you have a hose bib handy, like for a washing machine. You can install a splitter on that so the washing machine stays fed with cold water and use the other side for the filter. The stealth RO filters come with a connector that will screw right on where a garden hose would.

Don't let installation scare you, it's pretty straight forward. Just make sure you have a drain handy as well for the waste water. RO filters waste more water than they produce so as to preserve the membrane life.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
If you setup a drum with a float valve you can let that fill and always have water handy. Put the drum up on cinder blocks and have a 3/4" grommet, 3/4" barbed elbow, shutoff valve... Now you can easily fill 5 gallon buckets, or even facilitate a hose connection.
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
All great advice the key to RO is having a 50gal+ reservoir to hold your water in. Like they said, a float valve will stop OT from overflowing. Once it's full, you can go to your RO system and shut it OFF. that way you're not wasting water when it's can't go anywhere anyways.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
Once it's full, you can go to your RO system and shut it OFF
Click to expand...
If your RO filter doesn't have an automatic shutoff valve you can add one. You shouldn't have to turn it off except for when you are changing filters.

Automatic Shut-Off Valve with Quick-Connect Fittings For RO Reverse Osmosis - Undersink Water Filtration Systems - Amazon.com

Automatic Shut-Off Valve with Quick-Connect Fittings For RO Reverse Osmosis - Undersink Water Filtration Systems - Amazon.com
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Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Here is an example of a 30 gallon drum setup for RO water collection. Disregard the two peltier coolers as they aren't required unless you are trying to chill the water.

barrel.jpg
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Airwalker16 said:
So how did that work? What lines go where?
Click to expand...
You put it so it cuts off water from the pre-filters to the membrane housing and the output flow to the float valve. When the float valve closes and pressure builds in the shutoff it will turn off the water going to the membrane housing and thus stop the brine water from going down the drain.

It should come with instructions.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Most RO filters come with it installed already. If it's not working they may have installed it backwards.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
Another tip for those that are using a float valve or pressurized storage tank with an RO filter. When the float valve is partially closed or if filling a pressure tank and the system is fighting some back pressure, your waste water : clean water ratio swings way towards waste water. The fix for this is a permeate booster pump. This will use the waste (brine) water thats going down the drain to up the pressure on the filter output to the float valve. When it's doing this you will see it "spurt" water then wait a few seconds while it builds pressure and then it will spurt again. This prevents excessive waste water when the tank is nearing the full mark. I don't run an RO filter without one.

This one even comes with a shutoff valve (higher pressure shutoff to fill the pressure tanks fuller.

Amazon.com: Permeate pump upgrade kit with 90% auto shut off ASOV tubing and clip kit ERP1000: Home Improvement

Buy Permeate pump upgrade kit with 90% auto shut off ASOV tubing and clip kit ERP1000: Pumps - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
www.amazon.com
 
Airwalker16

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Most RO filters come with it installed already. If it's not working they may have installed it backwards.
Click to expand...
Well I know I have the whirlpool 25gal. Model# is WHER25
So I don't know if it has it already or not. The way it works is it holds the water in the small undersink tank and the line is a 2way flow. When you turn the faucet for the RO on, it goes back through that same line and out the final post filter. It's weird. Not sure if they're all this way.
Any way you can tell me if mine has one already?
 
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