Wha do you guys add to R/O water?

Woah, went to bed and wake up to see three full pages of responses. Fantastic guys, thanks a lot, it was great reading these three pages, lots of opinion on the matter.

I do understand that RO water is not needed and sometimes over hyped, but I was just thinking that it would be better for me to get some.

Great to see so many opinions, now it just comes down to my choice... but since I tried everything with my tap water, maybe RO is the only way to go now?

As for the pH fluctuations in RO water, wouldn't that be fixed with some flora micro for softwater? if I recall correctly it has buffers that help with the pH.

since1991 said:

Personally i think r.o. water is way overused. People with really nice tap at say 250 or lower feel the need for an r.o. and run into all kinds of problems. Namely ph. It can swing all over the place without that buffer in there. Even at higher ec i would use a hard water nitrient before r.o. My tap is at 110 ppm or 0.2 and i add about 50 ppm of calmag with certain varieties of mine that need it. Carbonates do get aborbed obviously but not very well at all. Especially coco coir growers....leave that tap water alone unless its completely crazy high.

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Hey since good point. From what I have understood by looking at other peoples grow logs is that for instance someone with a ppm of 150 can actually have it worse than someone with a ppm of lets say 250. It all depends what's actually in the water, some have a small amount of calcium while others have a shit ton of it like me. (or correct me if I'm wrong)

I'm not saying tap water is the devils piss and that it's bad, but it looks like the ratios of the minerals inside the water are the most important aspect.

I use dynagro inside with RO. It's complete. No need for anything else.

You dont add extra calcium or mangnesium to your ro water with dyna? What medium do you grow in?

since1991 said:

You dont add extra calcium or mangnesium to your ro water with dyna? What medium do you grow in?

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No, it has plenty. I grow aero, and was using it in my vegetable garden. So soil too.

(Full disclosure: I use Jack's in the veggie garden now, simply because the extact mix hose end sprayer makes it stupid easy.)

since1991 said:

You dont add extra calcium or mangnesium to your ro water with dyna? What medium do you grow in?

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I never needed to either,unless it was coco.

The main problem is not to use r/o alone,always have some nutrients in it.

If you grow in coco you are going to need more cal/mag.But any other medium the cal/mag in dynagro is plenty.The same with most nutrient lines meant as complete.The problem mainly comes from p/k loading which I think is a dumb practice.Specially in coco.High levels of K for example will lockout mag pickup.Coco releases alot of k so not overloading K is very important,to prevent the dreaded mag deficiencies seen in coco.People use a coco specific nutrient line with high cal/mag and lower K....and then dump P/K boosters on the plant and wonder why they have intervein chlorosis.

Stop using high K Boosters in coco and we wont see as many damn mag issues...lol.Then this is compounded further by people over reacting and dumping 5ml of calcium nitrate on their plants...along with the needed mag..just a shot of extra P at transition is all you need.Then go back to normal feeds.

Feed a basic 3-1-2 all the way through...raising and lowering ec as needed.

People always remember coco needs cal/mag.But they seem to conveniently forget about the K warning associated with it.I like coco I just think its overly problematic if you arent prepared correctly.This is why I think most new growers should just start in soil to learn the ropes.But thats just my opinion.

since1991 said:

I live in Mt Morris twp. Thank God we never switched and stayed with Detroit water. Consistent 110 ppm (0.2ec) at 7.5 pH. Perfect for whatever i add. My calmag hungry Chem4 og i keep on its own 25 gallon trash can res and drip manifold. I bump this up to about 180ppm total using 70 ppm of calmag before adding Ionic Bloom 3-2-6 at about 700- 750 more ppm. The other 3 tanks are for the other strains and they rock without extra calmag. I drop all pH down to 5.7 and let it drift up on its own....it seems to top out at 6.1 - 6.2 just before tank change out refill and reset. Its all about the varieties in my experience. They truly are unique in what they like and dont like....and they will tell you loud and clear.

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Up by Flint? That's cool man if you got you're card maybe one day we can trade some strains! Love finding MI growers

Coco coir by its nature holds onto cal and releases k. A low potassium fert is the ticket

My tap is 250 ppm and the city uses chloramine. Ph around 7.8 to 8. I quit using the mycorra..whatever and started to use General Hydroponics Alaskan Humus with ascorbic acid. I found the cheapest to be on Amazon 1000mg at $15 that includes shipping. Also started using ph down by GH. All super cheap and I have more break down of the FF Ocean Forest than ever before. Some of that FFOF looks like the mulch that is suppose to be put on top of the garden. I made the mistake at first of using the ascorbic acid to bring down my ph but using around 2 teaspoons for every 5 gallons caused my plants to go to shit in a hurry. 1/4 gram will treat 5 gallons in the winter.

Most popular base fert brands will work all by themselves. In coco coir if its not a coco specific formula you MAY need a calcium or magnesium supplement. High k (potassium) feeds in coco can lock out cal and or mag with coir in some strains. My chem4 og and glue rite now as a matter of fact. With ionic 3-1-5 in veg they showed very high anthocyanin blood purple stems and intervein chlorosis which told me magnesium lockout. I foliar sprayed some epsom. Cleared up somewhat. Now on the upper leaves iam getting copper brown rust spots on the leaf edges which tell me calcium problems. I have many other strains that rock with just Ionic Grow and Fossil Fuel Humic and a tiny amount of Greenfuse root stim and silica at 800 ppm (1.6 EC) total pH 5.8. Some varieties in coir need that extra calcium and/or magnesium to look sweet just before the flip to 12-12. I like my plants to look PERFECT in veg before going in th3 flower rooms.

According to some stuff i read about cannbis plant tissue analysis...what often comes up low or deficient in numbers (even if the plant looks fine) is stubborn as hell IRON. Like sulphur...iron gets overlooked often. Use eddha chelated iron if you can. Dtpa is in most brands....it works but its not the best. Its more expensive but eddha is the most absorbable in the widest of pH ranges. EDTA chelated iron works too but is in the cheaper brands and not nearly as readily available. House & Garden base ferts is one of the only popular brands i know that uses eddha chelation for iron. Iam sure thier are others.

Last post....sorry iam stoned. A VERY HIGH QUALITY...but hard to get here in America base nute for coco is Nutrifield from Australia. It is way cheaper than h&g and canna too. It has ascphylum nodosum (seaweed) and silica already in the base. Ive used it awhile back because a local store had it on sale trying to clear the shelves. No one bought it for some reason. I didnt feel the need to use silica additives or seaweed (for roots) with it. And calmag either. Saved me some cash until i ran out of it. Good stuff. If u can find it try it out.

Did anyone try the aquarium additive to eliminate the chloramine? My tap is decent...300ppm with a 7.0 pH. Lake Michigan's finest that passes through 3 towns to get to me

since1991 said:

Its relatively new stuff. Hes promoting RAW solubles but the stuff he talks about is pretty neato.

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That's exactly where I got the idea to use it. I have experience mag issues and heavy blotching of the leaves. Foiler spraying helped with the mag issue but couldn't stop the blotching. My plants are now green and healthy right till chop so I can only assume it was that. I am using vitanimo but will order from raw once the jug is gone. It's a bit cheaper lol. I also added a chiller and am using hydroguard in my Res , could be all the changes have made the difference but finally getting the system to produce very happy plants .

Add nutrients to RO water....

2ANONYMOUS said:

Seriously if a person is getting 300 - 500 ppm of tap water woo hoo no need to buy plant food right llol
i mean give it a try for those with high ppm in tap water just feed it water and see for your self how fast plants will deteriorate or starve from lack of plant food or actual nutrients i guarntee you within 2 - 3 weeks from rooted clone only feeding it high ppm tap water she will be def as fuck

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I have 400-500ppm tap. You can use it by replacing some of your calcium nitrate with nitric acid. This makes the calcium soluble and the carbonate becomes CO2 and leaves. This is what I do instead of using RO. It's a pain dealing with high ppm tap. It's either do this or use RO.

churchhaze said:

I have 400-500ppm tap. You can use it by replacing some of your calcium nitrate with nitric acid. This makes the calcium soluble and the carbonate becomes CO2 and leaves. This is what I do instead of using RO. It's a pain dealing with high ppm tap. It's either do this or use RO.

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how do you replace? Do you also let the tap sit out for a while?

ThaMagnificent said:

how do you replace? Do you also let the tap sit out for a while?

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No I don't let it sit out. I don't care about the chloramine. i just want to get rid of the carbonates.

churchhaze said:

No I don't let it sit out. I don't care about the chloramine. i just want to get rid of the carbonates.

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I assume this is only possible if your mixing your own nutrients correct?