I have a soil gro that I will need up to 50 gallons of water at one time. Can some of you that use RO give me a clue what size system I need and how many stages I need? My tap supply is city water. Thanx all. 
What size RO system do I need?
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OldMedUser
Formerly Known as LabRat
I have a soil gro that I will need up to 50 gallons of water at one time. Can some of you that use RO give me a clue what size system I need and how many stages I need? My tap supply is city water. Thanx all.
It would depend on how often you need the 50 gallons and if you have the storage. A 5gal/day unit would do if you can wait 10 days between waterings but conversely a 50G/day unit will last much longer between filter changes as it will be running way below capacity. someting in between maybe.
I've been looking into systems as I want to sell my Polar Bear distiller and get a RO unit. The distiller makes 10 gal/day but uses 1500 watts for 20 hours to do it. Kinda impacts my electric bill in a way I'd rather it not. I plan on building my own system as I can get a lot more bang for the buck that way. At $3.49 for a 5 gallon jug a RO filter would supply our drinking water a lot cheaper too. Our house water comes in from a dug-out and just gets filtered down to 5 microns with no sterilization so is not potable.
Hope that helped Hogdady.
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It would depend on how often you need the 50 gallons and if you have the storage. A 5gal/day unit would do if you can wait 10 days between waterings but conversely a 50G/day unit will last much longer between filter changes as it will be running way below capacity. someting in between maybe.
I've been looking into systems as I want to sell my Polar Bear distiller and get a RO unit. The distiller makes 10 gal/day but uses 1500 watts for 20 hours to do it. Kinda impacts my electric bill in a way I'd rather it not. I plan on building my own system as I can get a lot more bang for the buck that way. At $3.49 for a 5 gallon jug a RO filter would supply our drinking water a lot cheaper too. Our house water comes in from a dug-out and just gets filtered down to 5 microns with no sterilization so is not potable.
Hope that helped Hogdady.
I have a 45 gallon tub that I sometimes use the whole thing at a feeding. So I'm guessing that a 50 gpd unit is what I am looking at. Not sure how many stages I need though. Thx for your input.
Screwnuts33
Member of the Month 3rd Place Winner (Dec 09')
HD,
Buy as big of unit as you can afford. Keep in mind when they rate one at 50gpd that is a 24hr day. They are very slow.
Buy as big of unit as you can afford. Keep in mind when they rate one at 50gpd that is a 24hr day. They are very slow.
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I use the GE merlin RO filter and it takes me about 17 minutes per 5 gallons.
I need this much or more as I manage about 135 gallons of reservoir solution between my 2 55 gal cap ebb and grows and 25 gal veg reservoir.
Most filters work great its just the flow rate. Unless you have a lot of patience I would look at larger filters. Mine is msrp at 550-600 usd but I found a new one for 300 online a while back. Look around hard enough.
I need this much or more as I manage about 135 gallons of reservoir solution between my 2 55 gal cap ebb and grows and 25 gal veg reservoir.
Most filters work great its just the flow rate. Unless you have a lot of patience I would look at larger filters. Mine is msrp at 550-600 usd but I found a new one for 300 online a while back. Look around hard enough.
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do you know what the gallon-per-day rating for your system is?
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thx DroJo...already been lookin at it on da web..nice
I should also note output depends on input pressure. My water pressure from the line is about 40psi. Operational input of the merlin is 40-80. With higher pressure I could see better throughput. They do make a pump for the merlin but I'm happy enough with my output.
Dont look at this as a unneeded expense. If your water is crap this can be one of the very best investments to your grow.
I saw night and day difference between using my tap and using ro
Dont look at this as a unneeded expense. If your water is crap this can be one of the very best investments to your grow.
I saw night and day difference between using my tap and using ro
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ultrasonic
Well-Known Member
I purchased an RO system a couple years back, and use it for drinking water (with the intentions to use it for my grow as soon as it was started)
In that time I learned quite a bit. 100 gallons per day is slow. I know the merlin does 700gpd, which is .5gallons per minute, so comparatively, it's rather slow.
You'll want a system that has 3 prefilters before the membrane. My uses prefilter-carbonfilter-then anotherprefilter-then membrane-then carbon finishing. This is, to me, the most basic of setups. It's a 5 stage.
The other "stages" are UV and DI. UV will remove bacteria, but aparently also Iron. DI is de-ionization. It's tube of anionic and nonionic resin that grabs on to every last little thing in the water that is not... water. They are used to 'Polish" the RO to make sure it's 0PPM (people with fish tanks use them)
Aside from them being slow, if you set up a float valve in a res. bin, you can just fill it slowly. I fill mine in about 6 hours, and leave it on overnight.
If, however, you have the money, i would suggest the merlin. If you have a SMALL grow, a merlin would not be good because of something called TDS creep- where osmoiss doesn't happen in reverse (happens water water is just sitting in the system) which can kill the filter prematurely. I would highly recommend learning the functions of an ro system for maintainance purposes.
good luck!
In that time I learned quite a bit. 100 gallons per day is slow. I know the merlin does 700gpd, which is .5gallons per minute, so comparatively, it's rather slow.
You'll want a system that has 3 prefilters before the membrane. My uses prefilter-carbonfilter-then anotherprefilter-then membrane-then carbon finishing. This is, to me, the most basic of setups. It's a 5 stage.
The other "stages" are UV and DI. UV will remove bacteria, but aparently also Iron. DI is de-ionization. It's tube of anionic and nonionic resin that grabs on to every last little thing in the water that is not... water. They are used to 'Polish" the RO to make sure it's 0PPM (people with fish tanks use them)
Aside from them being slow, if you set up a float valve in a res. bin, you can just fill it slowly. I fill mine in about 6 hours, and leave it on overnight.
If, however, you have the money, i would suggest the merlin. If you have a SMALL grow, a merlin would not be good because of something called TDS creep- where osmoiss doesn't happen in reverse (happens water water is just sitting in the system) which can kill the filter prematurely. I would highly recommend learning the functions of an ro system for maintainance purposes.
good luck!
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