Ro water

[Bio boy]

I’m told to use ro water with my filthy tap water but I found dudes saying it will strip minerals in organic but how will it if there isn’t a runoff ? It reads 009ppm 6ph just like rain water ?
I can’t see it u less I’m watering to runoff every time but we don’t do that in organic beds eh

surely it’s good guy on another forums tellin a guy he killed his organic grow with ro water but looks more like he burnt the shot outa it with N and P amendments, guy says all leaf burns and curling on entire plant goin go crispy is from ro water ??

I feed ro and I only had problems when I fed tap water ? He then says that the chloramines in the tap at 400ppm are fine in organic grows even 800was advised as fine ? Surely if you add all ya mineral and shut to ya soil ro water is fine ?

 

[exploziv]

I think they say it will steal minerals from plant cells, not from the soil. It's something about osmotic pressure or something similar, membranes regulate the minerals, but when exposed to pure water, it tends to regulate itself till there is as much mineralisation in the water solution as there is in the cells. I heard it about distilled water, but never about R/O as that is usually not as pure as distilled.

 

[chilliwilli]

Not sure if ro water can do something osmotic when it's in contact with soil first. As soon as the ro hits the soil it will suck up minerals and is no longer ro. Imo @Bio boy is right with the no run off there should be no mineral loss.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

R/o makes amazingly clean and healthy plants possible. You'll also be able to accurately use info from other r/o users.

 

[Dr.Mantis]

Just like others have said, RO will not kill your plants by itself. Your living soil is chocked full of minerals and microbes, so as soon as your low ppm RO water hits it, it will solublize into the water. If you washed with gallons and gallons of water, sure that could strip it, but regular watering won’t. Like you said RO water is very close to rai water which all plants absolutely love! If you really want, you could add a few ppm of K or Mg to your water, but that’s not needed if you have a nice organic soil.

 

[Cactus Squatter]

I run RO in organic soil. Zero problems.
Running tap water = problems.

 

[Bio boy]

Glad I'm not going nuts I started to doubt myself the guy seems to have an answer for everything

Even the human stripping minerals was debunked based on poor diets they said if your diet is balanced the ro doesn't Rob anything that study was based on a poor carby diet.


I keep me to and flick some alfalfa in or whatever I have at the time so minerals are there

But ye weather you do that or add to the soil its there so I don't see the fuss haha

Ro water saved me so il keep at it hehe thanks guys

 

[RedeyeSamurai]

Can RO be detrimental to seeds when germinating in soil? Don’t always know the quality of beans, but I’ve definitely had mixed success. For this years veggie / ornamental garden seeds, we had a bunch of bottled spring water we were not going to drink, so we’ve been using that, and germination rates have been incredible.

The logic would be that RO could strip good stuff from the seed itself that would be needed to grow to first set of true leaves, but again could all be antidotal.

 

[Cactus Squatter]

Can RO be detrimental to seeds when germinating in soil? Don’t always know the quality of beans, but I’ve definitely had mixed success. For this years veggie / ornamental garden seeds, we had a bunch of bottled spring water we were not going to drink, so we’ve been using that, and germination rates have been incredible.

The logic would be that RO could strip good stuff from the seed itself that would be needed to grow to first set of true leaves, but again could all be antidotal.

I have had 100% success in germination using RO water in soil the last year. The only seedlings that haven’t made it were due to me dropping a tray on some.

I do the paper towel method with RO water to germinate and then into soil as soon as I see a tail.

 

[Creeperpark]

Tap water is modified with a treatment to cancel the Cation Exchange Capacity in the water. The reason is to keep heavy metals from leaching into the drinking water from plumbing pipes, fixtures, and solder, used in plumbing that causes metal poisoning. The treated water will run thru the metal pipes very alkaline. Alkalinity always takes president over-acidity. That's why when you add acid to tap water after a while it always goes back to where it was "alkalinity".

Lastly, anyone that recommends to "everyone" to use tap water to germinate seeds, I would call a seed killer!

What is a seed killer? Seed killers make more money coaching people into killing seeds rather than growing them slowly and the long way. I have seen a couple of them on the other forums as coaches.

 

[Charles Dankens]

Tap water is modified with a treatment to cancel the Cation Exchange Capacity in the water. The reason is to keep heavy metals from leaching into the drinking water from plumbing pipes, fixtures, and solder, used in plumbing that causes metal poisoning. The treated water will run thru the metal pipes very alkaline. Alkalinity always takes president over-acidity. That's why when you add acid to tap water after a while it always goes back to where it was "alkalinity".

Lastly, anyone that recommends to "everyone" to use tap water to germinate seeds, I would call a seed killer!

What is a seed killer? Seed killers make more money coaching people into killing seeds rather than growing them slowly and the long way. I have seen a couple of them on the other forums as coaches.

*Precedent

"Tap water is modified with a treatment to cancel the Cation Exchange Capacity". This is a mistaken baseless generalization.

Please provide a citation that shows municipalities that soften water.

"Seed killer" this hysterical claim is absurd. Tap water has successfully been used to germinate many millions of seeds for at least a century.

 

[Creeperpark]

*Precedent

"Tap water is modified with a treatment to cancel the Cation Exchange Capacity". This is a mistaken baseless generalization.

Please provide a citation that shows municipalities that soften water.

"Seed killer" this hysterical claim is absurd. Tap water has successfully been used to germinate many millions of seeds for at least a century.

I'm talking about the USA, I don't know about Canada. Friend, do your research because I won't argue with anyone over water. Maybe at your house, your tap is good but not at mine. At my house, the ppm is 500 and the pH is 9. I know the past failures trying to use it in the past.

I highly recommend you take a local tour of city municipal water treatment plant and ask why they send out water with a pH of 8 or 9. before you criticize me. Also, friend the treatment doesn't make the water soft it makes it hard to keep from releasing heavy metal molecules into the drinking water.

 

[Creeperpark]

Lastly, friend give RO or Rainwater a try and you will see what we are talking about. Your plants will look a lot better and your seeds will grow like crazy. Just like they do in Mother Nature.

 

[Creeperpark]

I know its hard to understand what I'm talking about. Here's another source of information.

Will acidic water leach metals from water pipes?
Acidic water can leach metals from pipes and fixtures, such as copper, lead and zinc. It can also damage metal pipes and cause aesthetic problems, such as a metallic or sour taste, laundry staining or blue green stains. Google

Does acidic water corrode metal pipes?
Corrosion—High acidity causes corrosion in metal pipes that can lead to leaks and leaching of metals into your water. Depending on the amount of metal in your water, this can cause harmful health effects. Staining—Acidic water can cause staining on sinks and plumbing fixtures.Jul 30, 2019 Google

Can acidic water damage pipes?

Damage: When your home's water has a low pH, this can cause damage to your plumbing and water-using appliances. Typically, acidic water damage first shows up as a blue-green build-up around pipe fittings. These eventually lead to pinhole leaks in piping, which can cause water damage within your walls. Google.

What are the dangers of acidic water?
The danger of more acidic water – when the pH is less than 6.5 – is that it can leach metals from the well and from the pipes that bring you water. These metals include lead, manganese, copper and iron, and they can be toxic in large amounts. So acidic water obviously poses a health risk. Aug 31, 2018 Google.

 

[Creeperpark]

What is a cation? Is iron a cation or an anion? Iron is a transition metal; thus, it is a type II cation.

Is copper a cation or an anion? Copper is a type II cation

What is zinc? Zinc(2+) is a divalent metal cation, a zinc cation and a monoatomic dication.

What is lead cation or anion? Lead(2+) is a lead cation, a divalent metal cation and a monoatomic dication.

Water treatment systems prevent these metals from leaching into the drinking water by adding chemicals to raise the pH, thus canceling the cation exchange capacity.

 

[Charles Dankens]

You are misinformed and confused. I'm not arguing. I'm letting you know that what you stated is false.

Your generalizations are silly:

"I'm talking about the USA" Water is different from location to location.
"they send out water with a pH of 8 or 9." No. NYC 7.2 Los Angeles 7.5
"Tap water is modified with a treatment to cancel the Cation Exchange Capacity in the water". Cite an example
"Alkalinity always takes president over-acidity.". It doesn't, research buffering

These are careless and misleading generalizations. They ignore logic, basic scientific principles, and respect for the intelligence of the audience.



R/O water is not like "mother nature".

Ive grown thousands of plants before r/o was ever on the scene. Since the improved availability of mini ro systems I've grown many crops on ro and rain.

I use ro all the time. My beef is with misinformation and false expertise.

Lastly friend, ro is not friendly to the environment.

 

[Creeperpark]

You are misinformed and confused. I'm not arguing. I'm letting you know that what you stated is false.

Your generalizations are silly:

"I'm talking about the USA" Water is different from location to location.
"they send out water with a pH of 8 or 9." No. NYC 7.2 Los Angeles 7.5
"Tap water is modified with a treatment to cancel the Cation Exchange Capacity in the water". Cite an example
"Alkalinity always takes president over-acidity.". It doesn't, research buffering

These are careless and misleading generalizations. They ignore logic, basic scientific principles, and respect for the intelligence of the audience.



R/O water is not like "mother nature".

Ive grown thousands of plants before r/o was ever on the scene. Since the improved availability of mini ro systems I've grown many crops on ro and rain.

I use ro all the time. My beef is with misinformation and false expertise.

Lastly friend, ro is not friendly to the environment.

I put it in writing in the above posts from easy research friend. 7.2 or 7.5 pH is not acidic and is what I'm' talking about as a modified pH. You need to look at a couple of posts above and see what google said because I not going to a University to get you information. If you don't like this thread or don't believe anything then don't post. Do you know what a cation is?

 

[Creeperpark]

I make seed killers mad as hell and I don't care.

 

[Douglas.Curtis]

R/O is bad if you 'waste' your waste water instead of washing clothes or watering a garden. Great for veggies and flowers

p.s. I too have garbage 'tap' water I would not give to dog or cannabis.