Water filtration methods

[agent 420]

hello ICer's

I'm about to setup a fairly simple DWC system in my closet. I'll probably use a 5 gallon rubbermaid tote with 4 or 5 plant sites for veg, then transport the ladies to individual buckets for flower.

As you have probably guessed, I need to know some water filtration methods.
My source is the bathroom sink right now. I'm sure straight tap water isn't a great idea for my plants. I just need to know some simple, effective, and economical ways to clean my H2O.

thanks.

 

[HappyHemphog]

The first thing you want to do with tap water is to let it sit for 24 hours. All the chlorine gas that's added to tap water will evaporate and form bubbles on sides and bottom. Give it a good thump the next day and watch the chlorine bubbles come up. Make sure ya ventilate well after that. Depending how much your local water authority add and how big a storage container, you can get a fairly nasty experience inhaling chlorine.

I would seriously consider an RO system down the road. Sell a bag or two to fund it if you must. It makes controlling your nutes and pH much easier.

Cheers!

 

[Guest]

I found that using PUR or Britta filters helped with keeping pH levels stable. They don't filter out anywhere near as much as RO will, but they do help.

Tap water can be fine depending on the quality of your water. Unfortunately, my tap water is awful - 420-450ppm and pH of 8.8-9.0. I tried using Pur filters, but the ones rated for 100 gallons only lasted for about 33 gallons with this awful water.

Here is a suggestion from BigToke:

Well as everyone knows I am a big advocate of tap-water so this is my advice ~ go to Wal-Mart and buy a bag of petmoss and a piece of cheese cloth ~ put your petmoss in the meddle of the cheese cloth and then fold it up around the top of your gallon jug and pour your tap-water through the petmoss and into your system ~ the petmoss will lower the burn level {pH} in your tap-water ~ this will neutralize the chlorine and chloramines and thus eliminating having all those jugs of water setting around for family and friends to look at.

 

[Sinfuldreams]

Got a Dehumidifier?
Sin

 

[agent 420]

thanks for the quick feedback everyone.

-Happyhemphog: I'm sorry i'm not familiar with R/O systems. Can you elaborate on them a little(how they work, how much they cost).

-Ambre: These filters you mentioned, are they faucet attachments, how do they work?

-Sin: I don't have a dehumidifyer yet but figured i would most likely need one with all that water in a small space.

thanks.

 

[HappyHemphog]

-Happyhemphog: I'm sorry i'm not familiar with R/O systems. Can you elaborate on them a little(how they work, how much they cost).

Sure thing..

RO = Reverse Osmosis is a way of getting clean water by using osmosis to pass water molecules through a membrane while leaving behind the impurities.

Here's a photo of mine...


As you can see, I've got really bad water hence the brown filter on the left. Better there than in my grow I say. I replace every few months.

They basicly need a supply of water (Most kits come with an attachment to get water from somewhere), a place to store the clean water and a place to drain off the waste water.

Mine is installed next to my washing machine so I put a hose Y with valves on the faucet and reconnected the washer on one and the RO system on the other. The waste water tube is placed in the drain for the washing machine.

I have the clean water piped over to an extra WaterFarm Controller activated by a float valve. Since the photo was taken I've added a 3/4 drain hose with valve for transfering to reservoirs.


I've spent about a total of $250 on the system and am damn glad I did. Using my tap water straight was out of the question and it was getting a little crazy buying 15-20 gallon jugs of distilled water at the store and lugging them into the house was just not cool.

I don't have any pH issues, I add my GH nutes and let sit for a few hours and it's always 5.3-5.5.

In the end, it's all about your comfort zone, if you feel uncomfortable spending that kind of money for water (Hey, people buy $3 bottles of "Fiji" water), the more homegrown methods are just as acceptable.

Cheers!
Hempy

 

[Sinfuldreams]

Look on Ebay

Look on Ebay

If you can off Ebay RO Filters are cheap.
69 as compared to 250 you pay at Home Depot.
You'll need a Reservoir for the clean water and a drain for the waste water.
Clean water is about 20% by Volume, waste water is the rest.
Takes a long time about 1 1/2 gallons an hour. I use a 55 Gallon Drum and Pump to fill my Reservoirs.

Dehumdifiers condense very clean water many people just run a hose from the Dehumidifier to a Rez. Besides keeping humidity in check.

Don't get the Under Sink RO Filters!
They type HappyHemphog has, use a normal Hose connect to a Black PEX tube to supply water to the filter.
A Yellow Pex Tube runs to a Drain thats the wate water.... about 80% of the water is waste!
A Blue PEX Tube runs to a reservoir for later use.
Take me 20 hours or so to filter 55 gallons of water.
It's worth the money and time..... No Lime Build up so easy to keep things CLEAN.
Sin

 

[Sleepy]

good advice so far!!

get a PPM and a pH meter...

hard to know where to go when you don't know where you started...

 

[Guest]

The Pur & Brita filters are available in a couple of different setups. The easiest is the filter unit that attaches to the faucet, but you can also pick up a pitcher that has an insert to hold the filter; the tap water is put into the upper compartment and passes through the filter to the lower compartment.

My RO unit is a "portable" that doesn't require any plumbing or messing around. I screw the input into my faucet. The waste water comes out a small spigot attached to the faucet connection. The good water comes out a tube I place in a Rubbermaid container.

The throughput of an RO unit depends on several things - the water pressure you receive (the higher the water pressure, the faster it will run), the temperature of the water (the warmer the water, the faster it will run), and to some extent the amount of crud in the water to start with. Mine is rated for 90 gallons a day under ideal conditions; I estimate that I get 3+ gallons an hour, though this will probably decrease as winter moves in and the tap water gets colder.

The only comment I would make on using water from a dehumidifier is to keep the unit very clean and disinfect the chamber every so often; mildew & mold are not uncommon in those units, and either one will ruin your crop. Otherwise, dehumidifier water is pretty much distilled water and very good.

 

[Guest]

I use both an inline carbon filter (a fancier version of what Ambre is suggesting) and then an RO.

The Carbon filter (on the right) takes some of the burden off of the RO (triple filter on the left,) and allows me fast chlorine-free water via a spigot (center.) The RO is very slow and wastes a lot of water...about three hours to make 2 gallons under pressure wasting almost 15 gallons of water! I also have a method for collecting the "waste" water...it is cleaner than most tap water and chlorine free. Good for house plants, animals, fish tanks etc. I also have a hose connected to the RO that reaches throughout my room so I can hand fill/water as needed. It's the black coiled line with the grey "handle." The green hose hooks to the carbon filter.

If you use an RO for DWC, you will need a way to collect and store extra water. Most ROs only hold 2 to 3 gallons with out some modification. Most Home Centers have RO systems for sale and are set-up so you can see how they work. If you have the choice, get one with the biggest pressure tank you can.

I just took these readings:
ph from tap: 7.3 ppm 560-700
ph after carbon filter: 7.3 ppm 560
ph after RO: 5.9 ppm: near zero

I still have difficulty keeping ph down in my DWC even with the RO water, but I seem to have atypical ph problems for some unknown reason. The high ph of the carbon water makes it a good ph up, though I rarely need it.

For some reason too, it seems to me most hydro people here recommend a lower ph than other resources I've seen. 5.8-6.0 is my ideal mark. I have problems under 5.5 and over 6.1.

Sleepy has it right...the most important thing is a good ph and ppm meter. Otherwise you are working blind. If I could have only one, I would rather have the meters than the filters.


Hope this helps.

Be Safe...
DKF

 

[agent 420]

thanks happy, sin, sleepy, ambre, and dan K.

with all those options, I'll have to decide which method is best for my set up.

can't wait to get bubblin'

 

[BigToke]

I have an option for yea; save yourself a whole lot of money on buying filtration systems and build yourself a Bio-Bucket System and if that’s not an option then take the plants/buckets that you’ve got and make sure that the O2 levels are between 6.5 to 7.5 and you will need no filtration at all, at those levels of 02 there is hardly any bad bacteria that can grow and I suppose your going to do regular rez change-outs that would most defiantly knock every thing out ~ well whatever you do agent good luck to ya……

 

[Guest]

Hey TOKE,

How do you measure the amount of oxy in your water?

I never really considered bacteria as a reason for going with an RO. I had my water tested and there was a very high level of TDS...lots of calcium, magnesium...Not to mention chlorine, flouride, etc. You can see the calcium build-up around my faucets.

I wont drink it, so I figure my plants shouldn't either.

Plus the ph of my tap water always rose to 7.8-8.0 as soon as the water started to circulate...although I still struggle with ph in my veg room, it doesn't get any higher than 7 now that I have the RO.

Maybe none of this matters with your system.. .or mine, for that matter since it is similar to yours in many ways.

An RO really isn't much of an investment IMO. Less than $200 you can set up a decent system.

Not trying to debate you, just trying to learn...you obviously have a much better grip on the hydro thing than I do.

Sorry, agent 420, not trying to hijack your thread!

Be Safe...
DKF

 

[The Dopest]

question, i have an RO filter hooked up and for some strange reason i get a higher ppm after the filter than i do from the tap. seriously i get a 172ppm from tap and a 194ppm from RO. wtf? the instructions said that the last filter #6 is for taste and will give off an elevated ppm so i removed it. this is my setup help im dyin over here!

 

[The Dopest]

anyone?

 

[Chiefsmokingbud]

First and formost is to check the water with the meters than you'll know what you're up against. Some get lucky with good water and others like me that have tap loaded with calcium carbonate are just plain screwed.My tap PPM is over 300. The only and i mean only thing to battle calcium carbonate is RO. A distiller is just too expensive

 

[danofzoo]

An RO filter should remove 90% of tds, so if you have 300ppm out of the tap you should get 30 ppm after RO. It's a good idea to have a carbon filter and a 5 micron sediment filter before the RO, these will extend the life of the more expensive RO filter. They make combo carbon - sediment filters. My system also has a water softener before the RO and a DI fllter after it. My water is terrible 680ppm out of tap. After RO it runs 40 to 60 ppm and the DI brings it down to O to 5 ppm. It's a comercial setup for my cleaning biz. I find starting with pure water makes for a stable environment ph-wise and I know exactly what nutes are in my water since I added them. If you live in an area where your water source is under 100ppm it's economical to just use a di filter to get tds below 5ppm and if your house already has a water softener you won't need another one. Bacteria can grow on the back side of an RO filter, not often enough to sicken people but can kill your pet fish, don't know about plants. Running your water for a half minute or so will greatly reduce bacteria count. If you have water above 500 ppm bigger filters are more economical and your not having to constantly change them.
danofzoo

 

[sproutco]

Too much fuss over water

Too much fuss over water

I don't think there is anything wrong with most tap water from the city. Once you mix your nutrients plus water, you will probably need to adjust the ph. So, initial ph of the tap water doesn't matter. There would only be .5 parts per million chlorine in the water which is very low. If the tap water contained alot of magnesium or calcium, you would just take this into consideration when mixing your nutrients.

 

[clowntown]

question, i have an RO filter hooked up and for some strange reason i get a higher ppm after the filter than i do from the tap. seriously i get a 172ppm from tap and a 194ppm from RO. wtf? the instructions said that the last filter #6 is for taste and will give off an elevated ppm so i removed it. this is my setup help im dyin over here!

Did ya ever figure it out?

sproutco: What do you think about chloramine, though? I've read that it's bad to use humic or fulvic acids in water with chlorine or chloramine...

 

[Guest]

Id say the ph of my tapwater is very important,it determines how much if any ph up or down will be needed.My tapwater is about 7.4PH which I find to be the best ph for tapwater because when my nutes are added,it brings my ph down to a good level.The only time I would need ph up is if I use 2 teaspoons of tiger bloom or 5-1-1 fish emulsion for veg,all other feedings require no adjustment because of my starting tap ph.I grow in soil though