Do i need RO filter?

mrmaddu

mrmaddu

Well-Known Member
So i am making the change from soil to coco and i know it is important in soil also just never was a problem for me....but water from my tap comes out around 38ppm and ph around 7.....so i mixed up 4 gallons of solution last night just to see how it acted......i added silica first, then some cal mag, then orca, and my floraflex v1 and v2 (8 grams of each for 4 gallons) and was super suprised that my ph sat at 5.9 and was alittle under 1200 ppms....so my question is do i really need an ro filter with 38 ppm from the tap? i know that it could always help but is it really needed is my question.
 
TacoMac

TacoMac

Well-Known Member
I've always used RO-DI and never had a problem. It's always perfect.

I highly recommend it.
 
A

Aqua Man

Well-Known Member
No you don't. At 38ppm there is nothing significant in that water and it's not uncommon to get to get 40ppm in purchased RO water from the store depending on the state of the filter. 38ppm is very low for tap are you sure your meter is accurate?

1200ppm will be way to much feed for clones or seedlings. That's probably a good feed for stretch or late veg depending how long you veg
 
mrmaddu

mrmaddu

Well-Known Member
Aqua Man said:
No you don't. At 38ppm there is nothing significant in that water and it's not uncommon to get to get 40ppm in purchased RO water from the store depending on the state of the filter. 38ppm is very low for tap are you sure your meter is accurate?

1200ppm will be way to much feed for clones or seedlings. That's probably a good feed for stretch or late veg depending how long you veg
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i actually thought the same thing and pulled out the calibration solutions and made sure it was calibrated and sure enough it was right....tested lower than some distilled water i use to fill my rigs so i was super stoked......the solution i made wasnt for small plants some big moms i have and honestly just playing with the nutes to see how the ph swings.......didnt expect it to mix in that high but with 8 grams of floraflex thats what i got.....i think this is going to be a very cheap grow for me considering a lb of those nutes were $37
 
mrmaddu

mrmaddu

Well-Known Member
DaFreak said:
Your water is awesome, you don't need an RO filter. Majority of people using RO actually don't need it but somebody convinced them they did, and then they spent all their time trying to fix mg def.
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Thanks from what i have read thats sorta what i thought...but just wanted to get community input....trying to start on the right foot not 3 steps back
 
mrmaddu

mrmaddu

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
with 38 ppm you don't need an RO filter unless you have some crazy pH swings caused by that 38 ppm. Thats some awesome fucking water.
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Yeah thats why i mixed that up....what would you consider crazy swings 0.1 drift in 24 hrs?
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
mrmaddu said:
Yeah thats why i mixed that up....what would you consider crazy swings 0.1 drift in 24 hrs?
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For me if it was trying to swing .5 or more in 24 hours then I would be wondering whats in there making that happen, a 0.1 drift is tolerable IMO. Keep in mind I am not talking about air stone pH swings, just mix a bucket and let it sit kinda swings. I run RO and I can mix up my nutes and let them just sit and they stay the same for a couple days. If I run air stones then all bets are off lol they made my pH drop.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
mrmaddu said:
Yeah this is in bucket no stones....lids not sealed either just keeping the dust out
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Well it sounds to me like you are good to go. In coco you want 5.8 - 6.0 IMO so you are sitting right in the middle at 5.9. 1200 PPM is a good full strength feed, maybe dial it back a little if you see any tip burn.
 
mrmaddu

mrmaddu

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
Distilled water should be 0 to 1 PPM. Perhaps your meter isn't reading it correctly?
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Its wally world distilled water....but i have never heard that distilled water will be 0 ppm only ro water from what i have read maybe i need to do more research....
 
mrmaddu

mrmaddu

Well-Known Member
can i ask about my meter....it came with 2 different ph calibration solutions and 2 for ec.....that should calibrate my tds also correct? Or do i need to purchase some specifically for tdc i was lead to believe ec and tds are basically the same with a mathematical formula......before i never used ec only tds
 
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