R/O water

[Floridian]

Why would my R/O water be at 5 PH?Its good at 12 PPM when my tap is 250 PPM

 

[atticflowers]

Huh?

 

[dubberz]

Reverse osmosis removes a lot of salts and minerals - among them calcium.
When you remove calcium (-ions), the PH is lowered - this is very normal.

I you boil the water, or maybe bubble atmospheric air through it, the PH will rise a bit again. This is because the carbonic acid (dissolved in the water) is expelled by boiling, or by replacing it with atmospheric air.

 

[Floridian]

Thanks my friend this sounds like the case,especially since I live in Fla where the water is highly calcified.

 

[atticflowers]

Reverse osmosis removes a lot of salts and minerals - among them calcium.
When you remove calcium (-ions), the PH is lowered - this is very normal.

I you boil the water, or maybe bubble atmospheric air through it, the PH will rise a bit again. This is because the carbonic acid (dissolved in the water) is expelled by boiling, or by replacing it with atmospheric air.

Your good! Cuz i had no idea what he was talkin about LOL

 

[MammothRoots]

Why would my R/O water be at 5 PH?Its good at 12 PPM when my tap is 250 PPM

add cal-mag to your RO water, until the water is around 130-150 ppm

 

[Floridian]

You do this in a soil grow?

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

add cal-mag to your RO water, until the water is around 130-150 ppm

Or some tap water, which has the cal mag and buffers the solution, many RO growers have crazy swinging pH problems with this, pure RO is much harder to control than a blend.

 

[Dirty Harry]

Or some tap water, which has the cal mag and buffers the solution, many RO growers have crazy swinging pH problems with this, pure RO is much harder to control than a blend.

I agree with this, and do it myself. RO removes most of the bad stuff, but it also removes most of the good also...the trace minerals that Cal-mag puts back in. My RO is around 35-50PPM and I just mix in tap water to increase my PPM by 100-150 points. Then nutes and then adjust for PH. Tap water is WAY CHEAPER than cal-mag.

 

[amanda88]

For this reason.. stay sharp later in veg or early bud, be ready to apply some Calmag or Epsom salts ...know the signs ...good luck

 

[Floridian]

Thanks a lot folks I've always used calmag a teaspoon per gallon every other watering.Some good info but I wouldn't want to use my Fla. tapwater theres just too much calcium in it.You know what happens to magnesium when there is too much calcium

 

[ChaosCatalunya]

I have run here on pure well water chock a block full of Calcium with no problems for years, with no RO at all. A blend is going to work fine and not mess up your Magnesium at all.

This is with Canna Coco a&b and also GHE flora micro,bloom in the head 69 mix. Rarely use any other additives, 1gpw is perfectly achievable with just a &b