RO water?

[Billybob88]

Hey guys is ro water good or should i just use declorinated tap water ? My filter can produce either which would be best? Im growing in dr greenthumbs turbo dirt ..

 

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[midlifegardner]

Ro seems the obvious answer. Use tap water myself and do ok. Out of the tap I'm about 120ppm.

Hey guys is ro water good or should i just use declorinated tap water ? My filter can produce either which would be best? Im growing in dr greenthumbs turbo dirt ..

 

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[Billybob88]

Ro seems the obvious answer. Use tap water myself and do ok. Out of the tap I'm about 120ppm.

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Hmm i wonder if it will be to pure tho? Like if people drink ro it strips calcium from your bones teeth ect, if i use ro im thinking is there a calcium/magnesium additive i should be adding??

Billybob

 

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[midlifegardner]

Yeah ro is pure water I guess it'll only release what's in that dirt. If you need to feed with ferty later there's no guessing what you're feeding with as it won't be jaded by what you're thinking is in the tap water. Go to your states gov Water website, punch in your tap growing address and read the analysis if you want to be more accurate.

If the ppms are low, I wouldn't bother with the ro if you're in dirt. If in dwc then I'm guessing it's more important.

Hmm i wonder if it will be to pure tho? Like if people drink ro it strips calcium from your bones teeth ect, if i use ro im thinking is there a calcium/magnesium additive i should be adding??

Billybob

 

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[Billybob88]

Yeah ro is pure water I guess it'll only release what's in that dirt. If you need to feed with ferty later there's no guessing what you're feeding with as it won't be jaded by what you're thinking is in the tap water. Go to your states gov Water website, punch in your tap growing address and read the analysis if you want to be more accurate.

If the ppms are low, I wouldn't bother with the ro if you're in dirt. If in dwc then I'm guessing it's more important.

 

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Ok thanks mate helpful advice

 

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[pug1010]

MLGs suggestion on the state govt water site is a good one and should provide a fair bit of info ... just being a cautious grower ... maybe type in an address that is on the same street or close to your growing address (rather than the exact address) - probably makes zero difference, but can't hurt either. there are going to be a fair few law enforcement employees working from home soon with fuck all to do ... who knows what they might get interested in ... water analysis would not be a red flag, but cross correlated with a hydro store purchase ... that could be a different matter ...

 

as to RO ...

 

i look at RO water as basically dead water ... the life has been stripped out of it. this is quite handy in a hydro setup or in situations where there are a lot of undesirables in the water - these days that includes quite a few, including 'cides' to hormones to prescription medicine by-products.

 

for me and using a no-till setup (basically ... whatever goes in the soil will stay in the soil) ... getting rid of heavy metals like fluoride, was the the main reason that i used to use RO. i considered fluoride (and other toxins) to be more of a problem then using ro water devoid of minerals and life.

 

if using to drink, it gets a bit trickier as the body does not seem to like ro water that much - as you've mentioned. some kind of mineral additive is usually used to make the water more tolerable to the body ... the trouble here is that most mineral additives come from iffy sources that themselves could be quite toxic - one of the dearest RO systems in oz, advertises using minerals from mt fuji area - that is definitely not a good idea. most other sellers, if you can get the information from them, are sourced from China ... but it is near impossible to find out which region.

 

if using with a good soil mix that has a fair bit of mineral amendment (basalt dust, granite dust, calcium carbonate and other goodies) ... i reckon you'd be okay for a few grows without too much hassle using RO. if planning to grow longer in a no-till situation, i reckon you could still be okay, but just make sure sure to use some good compost and remineralise every now and then. perhaps watering with some fulvic acid would also be handy.

 

another and less used alternative is to fold or structure the water to oxygenate it ... biodynamic growers do this by using a vortex method (be aware, you will get very big muscles in your arms as it is usually 60 minutes of stirring) or sometimes by the the use of flowforms (these are quite cool and beautiful ... but not cheap). another way is to use a crystalline structure (like the flasko) or look into Dr Masaru Emoto's research ... be careful the last one is eye opening.

 

another alternative and (strangely) probably just as environmentally friendly (considering efficient ro systems use double or triple the amount of water) and also compartively priced, would be to get some very water-efficient pots (or use an efficient watering method) and look at some reasonably priced local spring water. i know that sounds weird ... and it really depends on how many plants you intend to grow.

 

one plant in a water efficient 20gal pot with lots of mulch, requires very little water. some growers have also had very good results from sips and other water efficient systems.

[Billybob88]

Thanks pug, definitely got me thinking more now .. gunna look into it theres alot to consider i like the idea of getting bigger muscles while mixing up a brew of water [emoji23] although only early into my grow seem to be getting good results when i do water with ro.. trying not to overwater has been touch n go but since ive had to make the water i tend to use less and atm im on the ball with it

 

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[pug1010]

hiya billybob

 

watering is a whole other challenge mate and one i'm still working at ... hehehe. there are much better growers on the forum for that thorny issue than me.

 

i thought i had a good handle on it, but since buying a blumat digital moisture reader, realised that i was a fair bit off.

 

i pretty much went back to basics and am in the process of trying to work out a good watering technique that doesn't require huge amounts of effort and avoids fungus gnats, but keeps the soil moisture at a nice level to encourage all the crawling goodies.

 

definitely a work in progress, but enjoyable in it's own way.