Question on hydro water

William1976

William1976

Well-Known Member
If my water is borderline high (TDS) coming out of tap would it be ok to add a gallon of distilled water to, I guess you would say, to "dilute" the ppm down? Like for my DWC put in 2 gallons of tap water and one gallon of distilled?
I only have 4 plants and if I changed water every 10-14 days at .88 cents a gallon that's only about $3.50 a change which would be fine with me. As opposed to buying a RO machine. I want a RO filter but heard you need a high water pressure which I don't have.
 
Last edited:
skunkd0c

skunkd0c

Well-Known Member
you would be better off using ph down (phosphoric acid as you will only need something like 2ml per 10 liters of water
to drop the ph down from 1 point, nutes are acidic and will reduce this further
also hard water nutes will have reduced calcium

i cant imagine that if your tap water is drinkable that it will be harmful to your plants
or that the EC could be that high ?

the ph of my tap water is 7.4 the EC is .2

peace
 
William1976

William1976

Well-Known Member
The PH is ok. I am just wanting to lower my TDS. I guess its kind of a dumb question. Just wondering if waters can be mixed, distilled mixed with tap. Say my TDS tested on one gallon is 300 and I add a gallon of distilled, It should then be 150 right?
 
hbbum

hbbum

Well-Known Member
I am in the same boat here, tap comes out just over 300. I found a place down the street that will let me fill my own 5 gallon carboys for $0.25/gallon for R/O water. I am switching over to just straight R/O and will be adding cal/mag to it.

Keep in mind if you use distilled, it is much more acidic than your tap so you may need to adjust accordingly.
 
Smoken-n-Token

Smoken-n-Token

Member
There once was a filter I bought from Walmart it advertised az 0 ppm after filtering . Trying to look it up on the internet but I cant seem to find it. But I remember that's what i use to use to filter my water. After testing it was indeed zero ppm from a 200 ppm reading. Think it's called something along the lines of absolute zero or something like that. The only downside is that it doesn't maintain 0 ppm For very long .

If I remember correctly I believe I was able to get something like a hundred gallons or so before the PPM went above 50 but even then it was still useful as my tap water with 200 ppm I believe the filter cost around $15 or something . It didn't come with a dispenser or housing for it was just a filter itself which I modified to connect to a 1 gallon jug.

But hopefully this will give you an idea to solve that problem. Because if it does cost $15 for the filter and last over 100 gallons that saves you like $85 in purchasing distilled water. Not to mention the convenience of not having to run to the store and hual all that water to your house. :)

Keep Smoken-n-Token
 
William1976

William1976

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info, I will look tomorrow. I found that at my moms house the ppm is 200 compared to 600 at my house so I will use that. I found a garden hose filter I'm going to try out and see what happens. Use it as a pre filter.My brother uses it and grows some fat buds.
 
ThermalRider

ThermalRider

Well-Known Member
I use about a sixty $ RO that comes with a connector for the hose. Just fill up 5 gal buckets at the basement door. I can turn it on low pressure and it works fine. PPM @ 007.. Aquatic Life RO Buddie amazon
 
Last edited:
ElfoodStampo

ElfoodStampo

Well-Known Member
William1976 said:
If my water is borderline high (TDS) coming out of tap would it be ok to add a gallon of distilled water to, I guess you would say, to "dilute" the ppm down? Like for my DWC put in 2 gallons of tap water and one gallon of distilled?
I only have 4 plants and if I changed water every 10-14 days at .88 cents a gallon that's only about $3.50 a change which would be fine with me. As opposed to buying a RO machine. I want a RO filter but heard you need a high water pressure which I don't have.
Click to expand...
For the filters to work efficiently your supposed to have 60 psi. But it will work at lower pressure kind of..
 
bradburry

bradburry

Well-Known Member
dont know much about water but i do know the colder the water is the more DO it holds .....not to cold to shock though.

water temps closer to freezing hold the most DO ...



just some water info for those who didnt know.......if its true..lol
 
Clown Baby

Clown Baby

Well-Known Member
that doesn't sound too bad. If you're on municipal water, just let it rip. Shouldn't be a problem 95% of the time
 
J.Mike

J.Mike

Member
Smoken-n-Token said:
Any reverse osmosis system I've ever ordered brought my ppm down to 0

Save yourself some money by purchasing it from eBay

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181363417240
Click to expand...
My error, what I get for typing with no glasses. ph >6.0 ppm 006, there are cheaper systems, Considering I would rather drink water from the river, then the tap. And I was paying for R/O water anyway, I say the cheaper the better, you will certainly get what you pay for...Made in the U.S.A.
 
jijiandfarmgang

jijiandfarmgang

Well-Known Member
William1976 said:
I want a RO filter but heard you need a high water pressure which I don't have.
Click to expand...
You need a decent amount of water pressure. I would guess most have enough. Do you know your own actual water pressure? Do you have city water or a well? If well do you know what your pressure switch is set at?

Cold temps and low pressure effect RO output. If you have 40 psi you should be good. And if not you can get a booster pump, they are a little pricey though.

- Jiji
 
J.Mike

J.Mike

Member
J.Mike said:
My error, what I get for typing with no glasses. ph >6.0 ppm 060, there are cheaper systems, Considering I would rather drink water from the river, then the tap. And I was paying for R/O water anyway, I say the cheaper the better, you will certainly get what you pay for...Made in the U.S.A.
Click to expand...
PPM .060
bradburry said:
you americans have some water issues ........my tap water is 063 ppm 7 ph all year.

god bless uk
Click to expand...
Its the desert, piped out of colorado river. Last well they dug for the school contained untolerable levels of arsenic and other contaminants, they had to ship as hazardous materials. , so we are reduced to filtration sponsered by the U.S. Gov. . So the overkill on filtration I figure was necc. It is what it is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top