Thinking of R.O. water? You may want to think again.

Japanfreak

New Member
For almost a decade now people on pot boards and in hydro stores have been trying to convince people that they need R.O. water to grow and that they will have a superior product if they do.

First thing that people need to know is that the nutes you buy have been formulated to work with tap water, not R.O. This means that you will have to put back a lot of what you take out, which is one of the reason the people in the hydro store highly recommend R.O. because they have an app for that. :mrgreen:

This doesn't mean that some people don't truly need an R.O. filter, just that the majority of people don't, and a lot of people who don't need it use it.

Personally I wouldn't ever buy a R.O. filter for any tap water under 300ppm and up to 500ppm I would at least try a grow before spending big bucks on an R.O. filter and the cost associated with it (cal-mag, wasted water down the drain).

I often hear people who come out in support of R.O. filters say stuff like "god knows what's in there." Actually there's this thing called the net, took me about 10 seconds to find last months water analysis for Boston tap. Took a look through and it looks pretty good to me, even has Silica in there which is cool because people spend big bucks on Silica.

So my advice to new grower thinking about R.O. is don't let people convince you need it, or even that you don't need it. Find out for yourself, get your water report, find out your ppm and even try a grow. Remember there are far more growers making more weed with tap than there will ever be with R.O.
 

supaleeb

Active Member
Totally agree, man. People hype it hardcore but only a few people out there really benefit from it. +rep
 

tip top toker

Well-Known Member
I'm probably tempting fate but a heck of a lot of the hydro stuff that is widely spread around, well i follow little of it and seem to do just great while breaking apparent key principals.
 

karr

Well-Known Member
If you really want to convince and help us could you list some of the bad things our water report might have in it and what levels are safe for each? I know most people are worried about chlorine but I have never heard of a figure(ppm or however the reports are run) as to how much is too much. Also the different forms which chlorine comes, some of which are not removed by evaporation.

I'm really interested in switching to tap, but at the same time it is nice to start at 14 ppm in a dirty glass. My tap runs about 200 ppm.

Would there be any advantage to using water on thehot side? It has been boiled but there is no vent in the boiler so nothing can really escape.

Thnks
 

Japanfreak

New Member
If you really want to convince and help us could you list some of the bad things our water report might have in it and what levels are safe for each?
I don't want to convince anybody, I want to just let new growers know that people grow grass fine without R.O.

As far as safe levels, part of me laughs at the thought that what is safe for us to drink is somehow not safe to grow a plant with but at the same time I'm aware of studies that claim to show a link to an increase of disease and fluoride in our tap water. Even so, whatever the risks are they would have to be a lot less than those of drinking the same water that is considered safe.

It would be interesting to see at what point people would recommend R.O., I'm on record for the above though.
 

Tee Five

Active Member
When I got into growing hydroponically about 9 months ago.

I decided to skip the RO thing. And yes I was told to feel bad about it.

But im fortunate enough to live in a "Great Lake" region. That's where my tap water comes from. Which is some of the cleanest tap water in the world. (about 160ppm out of the tap).

But I was told that it isn't that we RO to make dirty water clean, necessarily; but rather to get it to zero ppm so that more nutes can be introduced (in my case an extra 160 ppm of nutes).

But i never had a problem with my city tap water.

If i had to get my water from a well, or had poor water quality....that would probably be a different story.
 

Dropastone

Well-Known Member
My tap water is near 500 ppm.... I don't even drink it. RO it is for me...
Same here, my tap is around 950 PPM and I won't even let my dog drink it. The only thing I use it for is laundry and dishes. So I make distilled water instead.
 

Japanfreak

New Member
But you have to wonder how much of what you are taking out is cal-mag that you put back. I don't know how to convert the numbers on the tap water test I found from boston but the majority of the stuff in the tap was cal-mag. I was actually surprised because I was expecting to see a lot of shit they way people go on about it but there really wasn't much else in there.

this is what it says

Alkalinity 39.8
Aluminum ND
Ammonia-N, 0.420
Antimony ND
Arsenic ND
Barium 8.6
Beryllium ND
Bromate ND
Bromide 11.3
Cadmium (1) ND
Calcium 3730
Chloride 18.9
Chlorine, Free 0.81
Chlorine, Total 2.6
Chromium ND
Copper ** ND
Cyanide ND
Fluoride 0.94
Hardness 12.4
Iron ** 21.9
Lead ND
Magnesium 756
Manganese 10.90
Mercury (1) ND
Nickel 0.3
Nitrate-N ND
Nitrite ND
Orthophosphate 0.006
pH 9.4
Potassium 836
Selenium ND
Silica (SiO2) 2920
Silver ND
Sodium 28.9
Specific Conductance 169
Standard Plate Count, 1
Sulfate (SO4) 5.8
Thallium ND
Total Dissolved Solids 97.0
Total Organic Carbon 1.9
Total Phosphorus 0.006
UV-254 0.032
Zinc ND
 

FropHead

Active Member
Yeah they aren't really prohibitively expensive anymore. 85-100 bucks is about what I've seen them for. But I would also agree that anything under a couple hundred PPM would be fine to grow with. I tested mine yesterday and I was pleased to see it comes out 77 ppm from my well. Gotta love old volcanic areas. :)
 

BeaverHuntr

Well-Known Member
When I got into growing hydroponically about 9 months ago.

I decided to skip the RO thing. And yes I was told to feel bad about it.

But im fortunate enough to live in a "Great Lake" region. That's where my tap water comes from. Which is some of the cleanest tap water in the world. (about 160ppm out of the tap).

But I was told that it isn't that we RO to make dirty water clean, necessarily; but rather to get it to zero ppm so that more nutes can be introduced (in my case an extra 160 ppm of nutes).

But i never had a problem with my city tap water.

If i had to get my water from a well, or had poor water quality....that would probably be a different story.
Some of us really have no choice but to use R/O water depending on which part of the country you live in.. I live in the desert tap water here sucks no one drinks it its R/O water at home and in my garden. Good rule of thumb though if you arent drinking it then dont let your plants drink it...
 

dart420

New Member
But you have to wonder how much of what you are taking out is cal-mag that you put back. I don't know how to convert the numbers on the tap water test I found from boston but the majority of the stuff in the tap was cal-mag. I was actually surprised because I was expecting to see a lot of shit they way people go on about it but there really wasn't much else in there.

this is what it says

Alkalinity 39.8
Aluminum ND
Ammonia-N, 0.420
Antimony ND
Arsenic ND
Barium 8.6
Beryllium ND
Bromate ND
Bromide 11.3
Cadmium (1) ND
Calcium 3730
Chloride 18.9
Chlorine, Free 0.81
Chlorine, Total 2.6
Chromium ND
Copper ** ND
Cyanide ND
Fluoride 0.94
Hardness 12.4
Iron ** 21.9
Lead ND
Magnesium 756
Manganese 10.90
Mercury (1) ND
Nickel 0.3
Nitrate-N ND
Nitrite ND
Orthophosphate 0.006
pH 9.4
Potassium 836
Selenium ND
Silica (SiO2) 2920
Silver ND
Sodium 28.9
Specific Conductance 169
Standard Plate Count, 1
Sulfate (SO4) 5.8
Thallium ND
Total Dissolved Solids 97.0
Total Organic Carbon 1.9
Total Phosphorus 0.006
UV-254 0.032
Zinc ND

where i live they drill for natural gas in our water shed area, so ill take everything out and put exact amount of what i want in there. there has even been people who can light their water on fire out of the sink. i certainly drink, and feed my ladies ro. to each their own.
 
haaa stop bein cheap an by an ro pump!! aleast u kno what ur adding to ur water!! who kno whats in tap to begin with depending on ur area it could be real bad!!!!
 

muddbutt

Well-Known Member
who are these people? cuz im highly doubting that claim:hump:
[video=youtube;XMS8VsG2LSY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMS8VsG2LSY[/video]

It happens, pretty common in areas where they drill for natural gas. A lot of communities in my area are getting fed up with what we're finding in our water.
 
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