RO vs Tap.. any miracles from changing?

[Tomatoesonly]

Anyone went from normal tap (under .6EC) to RO water and noticed a definite no BS difference in your grow? I know some people have CRAZY tap water, but I'm wondering if investing in RO is worth it or am I just throwing away good calcium water.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

Unless you have some unique water source, you're better off getting r/o filtration equipment. Two main reasons...

1. You'll be able to accurately trade information with other r/o users
2. Your ability to grow cleaner cannabis is greatly increased

Super clean tap water, low in carbonates and other nutrient affecting elements is difficult to find. Make it yourself.

 

[Loc Dog]

I grow in coco using entire GH flora series nutrients. I like having a known starting point, and suck at reading plants. In GH instructions they mention nutrient lockout from excess calcium and silicon mixing with micro nutrients and Nitrogen. Another nice thing about the RO unit I have is UV to kill anything living in the water. I have horrible water. Think they say under 250 PPM is OK. Mine is 1200 PPM. I would imagine soil would be completely different story. Mine is geekpure. Need to check how many gallons per day.

 

[snakedope]

RO is the 2nd best water for you and your plants (1st is distilled) the thing about RO is that they are mostly negative ions, which in turn combine with positive ions (organic matter) so they leach out everything they come in contact with
For humans it is ok, because you know when u are hungry and when to eat and what to replanish in terms of what the water took away from you
In plants it's different because the plant doesn't cook dinner for himself, he only rely on the handler or grower
This is where it's gets tricky, most people (me included) don't know 100% what the plants need in a high production environment.. unless you are a zen master which I doubt most are.
So when u give RO water you must pay attention to the food needs and nutrition value and stability in the water / ground more carefully
When you do it basic everything tends to give you some breathing space, unless your water are extremely hard I would stay with them.

 

[jackspratt61]

You may want to read up on the role carbonate plays in the media and once in the plant. The correct amount is what we want.

 

[YellowCanaryConsulting]

Anyone went from normal tap (under .6EC) to RO water and noticed a definite no BS difference in your grow? I know some people have CRAZY tap water, but I'm wondering if investing in RO is worth it or am I just throwing away good calcium water.

Added bicarbonate outweighs the added calcium. But it gives you a chance to add lots of acids. You could always run RO to save on nutes, and bottle your waste water with nitric acid, introduce a new calmag line to the market.

Do we want plants producing their own acidic substances in the root? That is the question.

 

[chiesesganja]

Unless you have some unique water source, you're better off getting r/o filtration equipment. Two main reasons...

1. You'll be able to accurately trade information with other r/o users
2. Your ability to grow cleaner cannabis is greatly increased

Super clean tap water, low in carbonates and other nutrient affecting elements is difficult to find. Make it yourself.

I always told people, when u have ro water, at least u couldn't blame your water anymore hahaha

 

[Hiddenjems]

I always told people, when u have ro water, at least u couldn't blame your water anymore hahaha

This.

When you have issues, using ro lets you directly compare notes with thousands of people using the exact same water and nutes that you are.

 

[Terppalooza]

I feel I get a bit cleaner burning weed when feeding salts using ro vs tap (ec 0.8)

 

[Desert Dan]

I was chasing my tail, about to switch nutrient brands, because my herb smelled great but was just not burning right. Harsh smoke, muted flavor, black ash.

Tested my RO water and it was coming out at 1.0 EC… Got a new membrane and voila! A unwanted experiment provided by the universe.

A two week fade with hard tap water will provide you smoke, but not the smoke you seek.

-DD

 

[Old Uncle Ben]

My hard well water has a TDS of 800 ppm +, mostly bicarbs of Ca and Mg with some sulfates. Plants love it. I don't supplement with any appreciable amount of gypsum. Might throw in a handful of it I collect off the side of the road at a local gypsum mine company into a huge batch of soil that I blend from time to time.

I also collect rainwater at the greenhouse, 3,000 gal. (11,400 l.) storage capacity. pH is around 5.5, plants like that too.

Color is green, vigor is good, like the last indica I just took a pic of. Food from start to finish - Osmocote Indoor-Outdoor Plus, 5-6 month.

Uncle Ben