OSMOSIS or NOT?!? Anybody with input????

Okay... I hear the pro's/con's about osmosis... My water is at about 300-300ppm... So I'm thinking: why not a 70/30 mix of osmosis to tap water? Get the PPI down but still get some trace minerals... Or is it better to go all or nothing? Also, what about just a sediment/charcoal filter? What does that do for the ppm?

I'd like to get it installed today so any help would be appreciated

not possitive i use tap water before and the crap in it raise the ph all the damn time then you get nute lock out what a nghtmare i would r/o all the way and add your micro nutes hell try it and find out .one way to be 100% best of luck

bseeds said:

not possitive i use tap water before and the crap in it raise the ph all the damn time then you get nute lock out what a nghtmare i would r/o all the way and add your micro nutes hell try it and find out .one way to be 100% best of luck

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Thanks bro... I see you in the northeast - hope u didn't get hammered too hard.

RO/DI system. RO gets you down to 0-1 ppm, the DI strips the ions from the water molecule. No ions in the water molecules means that you don't make the ionic bonds that cause your Ph to fluctuate.

topfuel29 said:

RO/DI system. RO gets you down to 0-1 ppm, the DI strips the ions from the water molecule. No ions in the water molecules means that you don't make the ionic bonds that cause your Ph to fluctuate.

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Thanks... So what do you recommend? Wouldn't adding nutes reinstate the ions? Sorry if I am obtuse on this subject.

I was thinking of adding a small bit of regular charcoal filtered tap to get the PPM just under 100... Will this do the trick? I'd like to get this right the first time. I'm also not feeling good about the amount of water a RO system wastes... I'm not some enviro/green hippie but why waste water is you don't got to? But ALL r/o systems waste water right? Are there better ones that waste less than others or are they pretty much the same?

gagekko said:

Thanks... So what do you recommend? Wouldn't adding nutes reinstate the ions? Sorry if I am obtuse on this subject.

I was thinking of adding a small bit of regular charcoal filtered tap to get the PPM just under 100... Will this do the trick? I'd like to get this right the first time. I'm also not feeling good about the amount of water a RO system wastes... I'm not some enviro/green hippie but why waste water is you don't got to? But ALL r/o systems waste water right? Are there better ones that waste less than others or are they pretty much the same?

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Yes over time ions will reattach to the water molecules over the course of a week or so, but by that time your plant will have taken up that water.
yes there are more efficient system that waste less. System that will vary with the gallon per day out put. Your gonna waste some water, and yes your water usage will go up, it's a small price if you consider how valuable your crop is.

if not a big system buy a zero filter at wall mart takes water to zero or use rain water that works for me also i have used spring water the ppms low in thoughs i used

Tap water that is simply carbon filtered only removes some of the impurities that will kill your soil life, it still leaves behind quite a few compounds like flouride and chloramine that municipalities add which will adversely affect your microbial activity even in the smallest amounts, so I wouldn't recomend mixing. As topfuel said, if your plants are valuable to you, make the switch completely. I did, and mine couldn't be happier I did! Probably the single biggest improvement I've made since starting out.

It took me a couple of grows to figure out what was going on with my tap water. I was adding up and down and then up again lol. Finally figured out what was needed to get it down and what nutes to add at each refill. Im sure that RO is a good thing as then you have a clear starting point. But in my case that ws a logistical nightmare with the plumbing so I get by and the plants are quite happy. My base is close to yours and I add 75ml of down (25%) to 100L and it stays pretty stable for 7 days until change. that gets the water down to 5.6ish and then its 50ml to get it to 5.9ish for the 12/12. And BTW my first grow was the largest and I was all over the map with PH with lows around th 4.5 range!!! and EC in the 2000 range, I know go figure, shit shoulda died and I got 410 grams of some really nice White Russian. A charcoal filter will not remove any of the elements that I am aware of but may be wrong.

r/o is great if you are in total controll of your feeding because r/o removes the cal mag that tap water comes with. if you r/o and do not add back the cal mag you will notice defencies in the leaves post seedling phase. i recommend keeping your tap water below 150ppm most soil growers find the tap water is great for feeding plants with out nutes. also an air stone in your water 24hrs prior feeding removes the chroline in the water.

hope that helps!