Do i need RO filter?

mrmaddu said:

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

Click to expand...

Tds solution will be different.

Distilled water will have 0 ppm because the process used to make it is evaporating water and then condensing it. The re condensed water will have not contaminants. This is why it's recommended to use for mixing your ph powders in.

RO water has a membrane that needs some pressure to force the water through and mechanically remove contaminants. Depending on the state of the filter ppm usually range from 10-50 ppm.

Hi Maddu,
My tap comes out under 100 and does great on plants.

One comment though. If you plan on using beneficial micro-organisms in your grow...the chlorine or cloramine needs to be removed. I use a charcoal filter for that.
JD

JohnDee said:

Hi Maddu,
My tap comes out under 100 and does great on plants.

One comment though. If you plan on using benneficial micro-organisms in your grow...the chlorine or cloramine needs to be removed. I use a charcoal filter for that.
JD

Click to expand...

This ^^^ but the longer the dwell time the better which is why they work well on an RO unit. Without it an RO unit will not remove chlorine/chloramine.

I find the easiest way is run an aquarium filter with activated carbon on a holding tank for a few hrs to allow the activated carbon to fully do its job.

Can also use vitamin c or a water conditioner to break down the chloramine

mrmaddu said:

but water from my tap comes out around 38ppm and ph around 7.....

Click to expand...

I wish I had water like that.

mrmaddu said:

ec and tds are basically the same with a mathematical formula

Click to expand...

correct

EC is measured in microsiemens, and converted to ppm by a conversion factor, 0.5 is most common, 0.7 is also kinda common, I have also seen 0.64. So 2000us X 0.5 = 1000 PPM.

JohnDee said:

Hi Maddu,
My tap comes out under 100 and does great on plants.

One comment though. If you plan on using beneficial micro-organisms in your grow...the chlorine or cloramine needs to be removed. I use a charcoal filter for that.
JD

Click to expand...

i been letting mine sit out without a lid for a couple days to evaporate out.....seems to be doing ok

Renfro said:

correct

EC is measured in microsiemens, and converted to ppm by a conversion factor, 0.5 is most common, 0.7 is also kinda common, I have also seen 0.64. So 2000us X 0.5 = 1000 PPM.

Click to expand...

so if i calibrated my ec to the 2 solutions that came with meter my tds should be calibrated also thats what your saying right?

mrmaddu said:

i been letting mine sit out without a lid for a couple days to evaporate out.....seems to be doing ok

Click to expand...

That's good for chlorine...but many municipalities use chloramines which don't evaporate. Check the local water district online report to see what they use. Again...only an issue if you are using benificial bacteria and such.
JD

mrmaddu said:

so if i calibrated my ec to the 2 solutions that came with meter my tds should be calibrated also thats what your saying right?

Click to expand...

Well seeing as how they came with your meter, probably yes??? I would read the instructions regarding calibration to be sure you are doing it correctly.

mrmaddu said:

so if i calibrated my ec to the 2 solutions that came with meter my tds should be calibrated also thats what your saying right?

Click to expand...

Calibrate your meter to the solution you have. If its labeled 1000ppm using 500 scale then calibrate it on that setting of your ppm meter. if its listed in EC then calibrate it on that scale. Once you calibrate it to the corresponding scale it will be accurate on all if you did it right.

Renfro said:

Well seeing as how they came with your meter, probably yes??? I would read the instructions regarding calibration to be sure you are doing it correctly.

Click to expand...

This ^^

Renfro said:

Well seeing as how they came with your meter, probably yes??? I would read the instructions regarding calibration to be sure you are doing it correctly.

Click to expand...

I double checked and even recalibrated.....i hope its right seems to be only thing off was the distilled water maybe the wife put tap in that jug

Aqua Man said:

This ^^

Click to expand...

Thanks that was my thoughts also

Distilled water has that "metallic" taste. Maybe simply taste the water. lol

Renfro said:

Distilled water has that "metallic" taste. Maybe simply taste the water. lol

Click to expand...

All the O2 is cooked out of distilled water so running an airstone in it for a while is a good idea so you recharge the O2 in it before use. O2 passes thru an RO filter so as long as it was loaded with O2 when it started it should be OK but I like to aerate mine before use.

Any organics in water being distilled will go over with the steam as well. Water I used to make with my distiller has a real 'dirt' taste to it so we ran it thru a charcoal filter before drinking. Our dugout water is only filtered down to 5 micron so there are very fine particulates in the water and they cause the dirty taste. Doesn't hurt anything really but I prefer RO water with added minerals for drinking. Pure RO for my BUNN coffee maker tho. A sprinkle of pink Himalayan sea salt on top of the coffee in the filter adds minerals without plugging up the machine.

mrmaddu said:

I double checked and even recalibrated.....i hope its right seems to be only thing off was the distilled water maybe the wife put tap in that jug

Click to expand...

You must have a combo pH/EC meter then. The two calibration packs are for the pH and should be 4 and 7. The EC one is to do that with so should be mixed up with pure distilled water to make sure it is the right EC to check calibration with. I'm assuming they came as dry minerals you mix up at home and not pre-mixed like the ones I buy.

You can get distilled water from a drug store just make sure you don't get the one that has fluoride added like they make for mixing up baby food. Why they want to poison babies is beyond me but they do it. Try to get steam distilled, de-ionized water. That's what I get for making colloidal silver with and it's less than $1/L or around $3.50/4L jug.

Sure wish I had water as good as yours. Mine is pH 8+ and around 400ppm.

Forgot to add this. Can be printed out for reference.

OldMedUser said:

You must have a combo pH/EC meter then. The two calibration packs are for the pH and should be 4 and 7. The EC one is to do that with so should be mixed up with pure distilled water to make sure it is the right EC to check calibration with. I'm assuming they came as dry minerals you mix up at home and not pre-mixed like the ones I buy.

You can get distilled water from a drug store just make sure you don't get the one that has fluoride added like they make for mixing up baby food. Why they want to poison babies is beyond me but they do it. Try to get steam distilled, de-ionized water. That's what I get for making colloidal silver with and it's less than $1/L or around $3.50/4L jug.

Sure wish I had water as good as yours. Mine is pH 8+ and around 400ppm.

Click to expand...

No my solutions came in little bottles wet...people were saying that my meter was off because my distilled read out about 78 ppm....i think my water is gonna be fine.....not gonna bother with ro for this run atleast if insee the need in future that may change....for now though think i am good....

Renfro said:

Distilled water should be 0 to 1 PPM. Perhaps your meter isn't reading it correctly?

Click to expand...

Yeah, distilled should be ZERO. My COM-80 shows 1ppm. My RO is 20.

38 ppm ... damn! You don't need an RO filter, but you do need to tell me where you live so that I can move there, my water is 258ppm