Cheap RO system

KonopCh

KonopCh

Well-Known Member
Guys, can someone recommend me something similar to RO filters? Something cheap, I want to get rid of Ca/Mg in my water, but I will only using water for 2 plants, so no need for whole house or something big and pricey. Or better saying, just need something to lower my EC/PPM value of tap water. If it removes something else, that would be okay to me. I would like to hear science behind every option.

Maybe something like this?

Please don't comment "get rain water", because I've tried that option and is no go.
 
N

Ninjawitswag

Member
If you have a culligan store in your city they fill bottles with pure ro water for 2 bucks, I'll be trying it for my flush this week.
 
Jypsy Dog

Jypsy Dog

Well-Known Member
I pay .20 a gallon outside the Oriental Market. 17 PPM. You get what you pay for when you buy a cheap RO system. I'm outside of Phoenix. While they clean the canals , they use ground water for or taps. My TDS now is 624. When they switch back, I get excited to see 300. Spend a couple hundred on a good system, or haul water.
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Only 2 plants? lol

I grow with hydro and have an RO, which you should be using for all your personal drinking and cooking water. At the moment I have ONE female in 3rd week of flower, she drinks a gallon of nutes every 2 days

Like most products, RO systems way over sell their capabilities. My RO works great and is reasonably priced $300, plus spare filters. It is said to produce 75 gallons per day, but I can only get about 2 gallons before it drains the tanks. Of course bigger tanks are available, but they don't fit under my kitchen sink

I bypassed the mineral filter, which is questionable even for us. Better to use something like Himalayan Salt for your minerals

Unfortunately, once you go for 100 gpd you must get sterilization (not a bad thing, but replacement bulbs tend to be expensive)

iSpring #RCC1UP 6-Stage 100 GPD Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System with Booster Pump, UV Sterilization Filter and Brushed Nickel Faucet

IMG_3957.JPG
 
J

JDMase

Well-Known Member
PetFlora said:
Only 2 plants? lol

I grow with hydro and have an RO, which you should be using for all your personal drinking and cooking water. At the moment I have ONE female in 3rd week of flower, she drinks a gallon of nutes every 2 days

Like most products, RO systems way over sell their capabilities. My RO works great and is reasonably priced $300, plus spare filters. It is said to produce 75 gallons per day, but I can only get about 2 gallons before it drains the tanks. Of course bigger tanks are available, but they don't fit under my kitchen sink

I bypassed the mineral filter, which is questionable even for us. Better to use something like Himalayan Salt for your minerals

Unfortunately, once you go for 100 gpd you must get sterilization (not a bad thing, but replacement bulbs tend to be expensive)

iSpring #RCC1UP 6-Stage 100 GPD Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System with Booster Pump, UV Sterilization Filter and Brushed Nickel Faucet

View attachment 3998045
Click to expand...
Hey man I didn't think you were supposed to drink RO?

To the OP I use tap water for rockwool, my friend uses it too for his DWC system, but our water is hard but the minerals in it seem to not fuck with the plants.. Not sure what your water quality is where you are though.
 
PetFlora

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
RO becomes your base water, to which you add minerals if drinking it. I recommend sea minerals, which have a full compliment of essential minerals, without the salt
 
FennarioMike

FennarioMike

Well-Known Member
Hydrologic RO's. https://www.hydrologicsystems.com/collections/reverse-osmosis

I have a 150 gal/day system with 2 pre-filters for sediment and chlorine removal. (Chlorine degrades the membranes). This model was about $250.

They have bigger output models too - pretty much they just add more membranes.

They just connect up to any 3/4" hose thread type faucet and go into the unit with a 3/8" polypropylene line. It's totally portable and you can hook it up anywhere.

As to drinking RO water... It's ok to do, but because it has no mineral content - if you were drinking it a lot - could then start to cause some issues. A lot of bottled water companies purify their water 1st by RO, then add back minerals. So even when you're drinking what's called "purified" drinking water - they add back some of the very same minerals that they previously removed.
 
FennarioMike

FennarioMike

Well-Known Member
Here's the other thing about drinking RO water. For almost 15 years I maintained giant RO systems at dialysis clinics and we routinely had to clean and disinfect the membranes because they grow bacteria. Once the chlorine is removed, the bacteria find a nice home in between the layers of the membrane. Especially in small RO's that are used intermittently, bacteria is growing even faster while it's not in use. We had portable, high output RO's for when we had to set up treatments in hospital rooms - because those systems sat dormant until needed, they were stored in disinfectant until needed - then rinsed before use. No, it's probably not going to hurt you to drink that bacteria - but you aren't drinking ONLY water... For the dialysis systems, we also use UV sterilization of the product water. If you had a 5 micron filter after the product water, that would take out the bacteria.
 
J

JDMase

Well-Known Member
FennarioMike said:
Here's the other thing about drinking RO water. For almost 15 years I maintained giant RO systems at dialysis clinics and we routinely had to clean and disinfect the membranes because they grow bacteria. Once the chlorine is removed, the bacteria find a nice home in between the layers of the membrane. Especially in small RO's that are used intermittently, bacteria is growing even faster while it's not in use. We had portable, high output RO's for when we had to set up treatments in hospital rooms - because those systems sat dormant until needed, they were stored in disinfectant until needed - then rinsed before use. No, it's probably not going to hurt you to drink that bacteria - but you aren't drinking ONLY water... For the dialysis systems, we also use UV sterilization of the product water. If you had a 5 micron filter after the product water, that would take out the bacteria.
Click to expand...
Something I don't think many would be aware of.
 
Budley Doright

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
FennarioMike said:
Here's the other thing about drinking RO water. For almost 15 years I maintained giant RO systems at dialysis clinics and we routinely had to clean and disinfect the membranes because they grow bacteria. Once the chlorine is removed, the bacteria find a nice home in between the layers of the membrane. Especially in small RO's that are used intermittently, bacteria is growing even faster while it's not in use. We had portable, high output RO's for when we had to set up treatments in hospital rooms - because those systems sat dormant until needed, they were stored in disinfectant until needed - then rinsed before use. No, it's probably not going to hurt you to drink that bacteria - but you aren't drinking ONLY water... For the dialysis systems, we also use UV sterilization of the product water. If you had a 5 micron filter after the product water, that would take out the bacteria.
Click to expand...
Just a couple of questions. Did you remove the chlorine before the RO. And are you saying a 5 micron filter will remove bacteria?
 
Budley Doright

Budley Doright

Well-Known Member
FennarioMike said:
Correction - .5 micron
Click to expand...
Well that's better lol. Still not sure your right with the .5 though. I always thought the standard size for sterilization was .2 but could be wrong as I just started to do some research on filters for my house. They did use a standard of .45 but found that was not adequate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top