Does this waterfilter improve my aeroponic-water?

[KarlSnyder]

Hi,
I would like to reduce the ppm and ph of my tapwater for an aeroponic grow.
I've read that reverse osmosis filters work best on that but they are pretty expensive..
Thats why I was thinking about using a standart waterfilter like thisone

the manufacturer says it that the filter reduces chlorine, aluminum, lead, zinc, copper, cadmium, persticides, herbicides and other impurities.

sounds good, but i still dont know if its "similar" to a RO-filtration or at least likewise or if it would harm my plants instead of helping.

btw, i dont want to use that water only but with fertilizers!
would be brilliant if someone could give me an answer/some help on that!

 

[Jimmycricket]

RO and filtered water brings the PH to 7 (or close to it). Hydro wants like 5.5ish

They both will remove some impurities and reduce PPM but dont expect it to lower the PH it wont.

 

[KarlSnyder]

thanks for your help!

a lowered ppm is good in order to provide the right nutrients for the plant for sure but a ph of 7 isnt... Hmmmm..

but if i would use Advanced Nutrients-fertilizer with ph-perfect-tecnology it should fix the ph-problem, right? any clue with that?

 

[Jimmycricket]

If you want to do hydro you MUST have a PH meter, as well as ph up and ph down. a PPM meter is highly recommended too.

Advanced nutes with their "ph perfect tech" might work. But it sounds more like selling gimmicks to me.

TBH with aspect to that specific nute. You are better off googling for journals where people used it.

 

[KarlSnyder]

dooh! i thought i could keep the costs lower by using AdvNut ph-perfect instead of buying a ph-meter.. (i know a ph-meter is necessary but my whole setup took that much money already that i was thinking about that compromise)

well, i should really google for some Journals where they've used AN to see if it works or not..

thanks so long!

 

[KarlSnyder]

hey i think i got it !
I found some interesting discussions about how good or no AN is and if pH-perfect works.. and at least those who really had used it said that its ok some of them had to adjust their pH because of other nutes or something, some didn't had to fix the pH and 2 or 3 didn't even care about their pH and the plants were fine. (but no pics)
And i found a nice vid which finally convinced me to give it a try without a pH-meter.

[video=youtube;sgVDJb0ouLo]

[/video]

i even found out the pH of my tapwater.. it's 8.4 so i think using the filter would even help to pre-adjust the waters (dont want to say it anymore) pH.

 

[Jimmycricket]

Woah. You are definitely going to need PH down.

Here is why I have doubts about the nutes being able to bring any water to the 5.7ish range.

It would only work if it had tons of active microbes that where the type of microbes which try to put the ph between 5-6ph. Kind of like most good soils have little microbes in it that like to bring the soils ph to 6-7.

But since hydro water is always changed it starts a entirely new ecosystem. getting rid of any little microbes that may have started to live and breed, making you start from scratch.

Just adding acid to make your water ph go down does not hold forever. The water will typically try and get back to its default state. Plus even if you could create a ph mix that was somehow stable (never heard of a stable ph changer). It would not be like adding it to any water will automatically make the water ph 5.5 or something like that. It would change dependent on what the waters PH was beforehand. Like adding acid to a water with PH of 3 is still going to drop the PH even further, just like adding it to ph 8 water.

I just can not see a way that a mix could truly adjust any water to the proper ph, baring the microbe thing I discussed above.

Keep in mind most hydro shops will taste the ph of your water for free. So you may want to ultalize that.

 

[KarlSnyder]

Hehe, you are really diminishing my optimism.


in the vid they even get the 8.7-water to 5.8.. !? dont know how long this effect really lasts but i've read a week or so.
But if you say that you have never seen a stable pH-changer + the video doesn't proof if it keeps like that... i need a pH-meter.
Would temporary a drugstore-pH-test (0,5 graduation) work?

 

[Jimmycricket]

Those little ph strips you can find at home depot are accurate. So are those soil probes.

They got the akaline water to 5.8 yeah. Just got to make sure itll stay that way.

 

[KarlSnyder]

ah ok! i think ill go and get some of those strips and give the whole filtered-water+pH-Perfect-thing a monitored try.
it will take me a few more weeks until i got everything going but i'll report on that in here..

nevertheless thank you for your constant help so far Mr. Jimmycricket ! you gave me a lot of food for thoughts and helped me clearing most of my precariousnesses.

 

[Jimmycricket]

No problem Karl. Advanced nutrients is from many side by side tests I have seen the best nutes available. You can find professional companies who tested many of the big name nute companies in side by side comparisons. General hydroponics, Advanced nutes, Fox Farms, Earth juice and a few others.

After they were done they sent the buds off for chemical analysis as well as posted the yields. In every category advanced nutes won, Fox farms was basically 2nd then the rest were scattered.

So using them for your grow (although pricey) is definitely a good choice.

Just keep your eye on the ph. Who knows maybe that "ph perfect" stuff really dos work. Maybe it dont. I guess you shall see. keep me posted .