Which type of water to use

[nachoman]

This is a two part queston:

1. Can you use a britta water filter to make R/O water?

2. What type of water is best to use: R/O, Tap, or Filtered?

 

[bucktoothal]

1. No A water filter only filters out the bigger stuff and most of the harmful chems. R/o water is made with a smaller pore filter,and pressure.
2. R/O water is the best, But filtered water will do just fine.

Hope this helps.

 

[StinkFinger]

I use city tap water adjusted with some PH Down.

How much water are you going to need?
What's your tap water like now? (Hard water?)
Hydro or Soil?

SF

 

[BWC BayArea]

Its all a matter of opinion because the quality of municipal water varies from city/county to city/county. I've had my best grow with tap water (in soil). For hydro I'd be willing to say R/O water is best but u better be sure that the filters/mebranes are functioning correctly and aren't to old. If ur on a budget a PUR or Brita filter should be ok, but they mostly remove sediment I think. Removing chlorine is one of the more important and desirable factors concerning filters. If u have money to play with ge an R/O unit. U can buy R/O water from some machines in front of or in grocery stores. I don't know how well these machines are maintained. Distilled water is another good option. Hope this helps shed some light on ur querry.

 

[nachoman]

Thanks guys. I think im going to buy a R/O system for $99. Im going to be using a 5 gallon bucket design that I saw built buy stratlogic. But this isnt for another couple of months. Im going to make sure I have all the best information before I start.

 

[Screwnuts33]

Test your tap water first. You may save yourself some money and time. My tap water here is only 30ppm. Not worth the time or money for an R/O system. Keep in mind that R/O systems are extremely slow. The gallons per day rating is for a 24hr period. So if it is rated at 50gpd it will take one hour to make two gallons of water.

 

[nachoman]

How does one go about testing there water?

 

[fever02]

you need to use a ppm tester to test your water.. google search it. I acutally came across a ZeroWater Z-bottle Filtration System in home depot for 44$ and it comes with a ppm tester (ppm testers are like 30$ alone). Zero water filters are suppose to takes your ppm down to 0 whish i hear is the best starting point for Hydro... Oh home depot and lowes actually sell RO system..

 

[Droopy Dog]

Test your tap water first. You may save yourself some money and time. My tap water here is only 30ppm. Not worth the time or money for an R/O system. Keep in mind that R/O systems are extremely slow. The gallons per day rating is for a 24hr period. So if it is rated at 50gpd it will take one hour to make two gallons of water.

Likewise, my tap water is only 37ppm and all I do is use some de chlorinator from the pet shop (used in aquariums).

You can get a water report simply be googling your city+water system.

DD

 

[BWC BayArea]

TDS Meter to measure PPMs

you need to use a ppm tester to test your water.. google search it. .

Also known a TDS meter. TDS=total disolved solids
TDS meters measure by PPM units. PPM=part per million, a measurement disolved solids like minerals (i.e. calcium, salt, etc). Meters I've seen don't specify the solids the percentages of the different ones just a combined reading of them all.

 

[Noobster]

what does "R/O" water mean?

can i use arrowhead drinking water for irrigation? i got a friend who works for them so i get it cheap/free.

sorry for the Noob questions.

 

[nachoman]

Dont feel bad im a Noob also. R/O means Reverse Osmosis. What it does is filter the water and makes sure theres nothing but High Quality H2O.

I think arrowhead drinking water would be fine. What does everybody else think?

 

[groover]

Re: TDS Meter to measure PPMs

Also known a TDS meter. TDS=total disolved solids
TDS meters measure by PPM units. PPM=part per million, a measurement disolved solids like minerals (i.e. calcium, salt, etc). Meters I've seen don't specify the solids the percentages of the different ones just a combined reading of them all.

E.C and C.F measure the same thing too. E.C is just your ppm divided by 700.
Just wanted to throw a bit of confusion in the mix for you. Jokin. It's always handy to know if you get a brand of nutes that use E.C instead of ppm.

 

[Droopy Dog]

Re: TDS Meter to measure PPMs

E.C and C.F measure the same thing too. E.C is just your ppm divided by 700.
Just wanted to throw a bit of confusion in the mix for you. Jokin. It's always handy to know if you get a brand of nutes that use E.C instead of ppm.

E.C. is always E.C., but some meters convert using the 700 as you mentioned and some convert by 500. That's where the confusion comes in.

DD

 

[groover]

Re: TDS Meter to measure PPMs

E.C. is always E.C., but some meters convert using the 700 as you mentioned and some convert by 500. That's where the confusion comes in.

DD

The one's that use 500 are getting rarer and any nute company feed charts I have ever read use 700. I think the cheaper one's use 500 because it's a multiple of 10 and probably cheaper to make but I don't know for sure.

 

[sat0shi]

Two words: Distilled water

 

[nachoman]

Does distilled water work as good as filtered water?

 

[Setting Sun]

Distilled water is about as pure as you can get, while filtered water purity depends on the quality and condition of the filter, so distilled, if you can get it without spending a lot of money, is excellent.

In the long-run, if you plan on growing for a while, it's usually a lot less expensive to get an RO filter.

 

[420chris69]

If you just need water to get by, any grocery store has distilled water for less than $1 per gallon. For a long term grow def invest in a hydro filter or RO filter

 

[nachoman]

Im really thinking about getting a RO filter