RO Water

Marlo95

Marlo95

Active Member
I've been growing in DWC for a while now and this is my second time around. I of course grow with reverse osmosis water and it usually comes out at about 7.0 in ph. Recently it's been coming out at 8.0 and a little higher! There hasn't been any change in my ppms at all so it's not a filter but what trips me out is that after only a day of my plants being in a fresh res that's been ph to 5.6 it goes back up to 7.0 and higher and these plants aren't that big yet. I know my ph meter is right but is this normal?
 

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Cannabadass

Cannabadass

Member
PPM's might not change if your RO filter is only getting out particles that a PPM meter can read. Chlorine and other chemicals might not show up drastically on your PPM meter, but might be coming through. RO water does not buffer at all. Therefore any tiny amount of hydrogen or hydroxide ions will change it drastically. I would still change the filter. One thing to note is that my colleagues and I went through hell when we switched to RO water after everything being legit for a long time. We found out that you must "remineralize" your RO water with Cal Mag to 200ppm, no more no less. This is because tap water already has Cal Mag in it. Cal Mag is a buffer and stabilizer among other things and when you take this out it must be put back in. If your recipe call for Cal mag do you add more on top of the 200PPM? Yes. When you "remineralize" think of it as reseting the playing field to zero. Now you are at normal range and add your nutrient recipe as you normally would with just filtered water or tap. Hope you figure this out and I hope I was helpful.
 
Cannabadass

Cannabadass

Member
I've just started using Hydro Guard in my DWC. It makes my roots look like Peruvian Flake. :peace: Pearly white. I used to use Aqua Shield but I guess Hydro Guard is it's replacement. It's more expensive for the bottle but you use less. I like it so that I don't have to kill off my beneficials with H2O2. What do you use?
 
Marlo95

Marlo95

Active Member
Thank you so much. I actually check my red water yeaterday and it was at 17 ppm and I didn't notice it went up I have to buy a new filter now. Not a membrane though cause I just replaced that
 
Flash63

Flash63

Well-Known Member
Cannabadass said:
PPM's might not change if your RO filter is only getting out particles that a PPM meter can read. Chlorine and other chemicals might not show up drastically on your PPM meter, but might be coming through. RO water does not buffer at all. Therefore any tiny amount of hydrogen or hydroxide ions will change it drastically. I would still change the filter. One thing to note is that my colleagues and I went through hell when we switched to RO water after everything being legit for a long time. We found out that you must "remineralize" your RO water with Cal Mag to 200ppm, no more no less. This is because tap water already has Cal Mag in it. Cal Mag is a buffer and stabilizer among other things and when you take this out it must be put back in. If your recipe call for Cal mag do you add more on top of the 200PPM? Yes. When you "remineralize" think of it as reseting the playing field to zero. Now you are at normal range and add your nutrient recipe as you normally would with just filtered water or tap. Hope you figure this out and I hope I was helpful.
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Excellent post.....i do the same with great results
 
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