RO Water vs Tap Water

tweedreid

Active Member
Which is better to use?

I recently got a ppm pen and a pH pen and noticed that the water out of my tap comes out at a perfect 6.2 through 6.5. It has a PPM of around 65.

The jugs of RO filtered water I use come out at a pH of 5.5 and require altering. Also the PPM of the RO water is extremely low less than 10.

I am using the general organics go box, which water will be better for me ? Which nutes does RO water lack that higher ppm water has?

Thanks for looking and sharing.

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Both your types of water will be roughly equivalent- so just use whichever one is more convenient (presumably the tap water). You can disregard the ph of such a low ppm solution- it's basically an empty value. They're both effectively neutral.
 
Yeah , thanks so much guys. I didn't realize that I was supposed to be maintaining correct Ph after mixing nutes with the water. My GH test solution didn't work very well with nutes due to the colors being hard to read.

Ive since got a Ph pen and a Ppm pen as well. Not so sure how to translate the ppm readings to being useful for my plants however. Any thoughts?

Yeah I just wasnt sure with RO water if I needed to be giving more Nutes to make up for the lack of minerals found in most tap water.

Thanks again guys, have a good one . . .


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It looks like you're growing in soil. Should be fine. If it's soilless you need to add calmag whichever water you use. Tap water often contains enough but judging by the low ppm of yours- it doesn't.
 
As for the ppm- that's a harder question to answer- other than very roughly. Lots of variables. It would help to know what medium you're growing in and the strain.
 
I got lucky with my water comes out almost 8 here but when I put nutes it goes to 6.5 ish only ever borrowed a ph pen once to check really want to try one of them ppm meters now


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Yeah I need a ppm pen too
Not sure if just lowering my pH in water is going to do the trick if my ppm is high

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I Have Purple Express, AK-48, and Aurora Indica. They are all started in a Root Riot Peat Pod and are planted in FF Ocean Forest Soil.

Yeah we are actually on a Well system here and it comes out of the tap around 6.5. Ive still been buying RO water and raising using GH Ph Up. The empty gallon jugs are starting to add up and I think I might just start filling them with my Tap water.

The pens I have are nice. I just got all the reference solutions today, so I should be a little more accurate on my levels in the future.


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RO water needs no adjustment as it doesn't have any pH of it's own. Just add all your nutes then check the pH and adjust it if needed. If it's not on target then it's the nutes setting the pH.
 
Finally Had time to get the Growspace Organized. Makes Life a Little easier and less hectic.

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So RO water is fine, regardless of Ph? I was not aware of this. Also General Organics says that Ph adjustment is not necessary.

I am a little confused to say the least.


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Yes you need to adjust your ph to the correct range. Unless you were growing in well buffered soil. And I briefly covered the question about the RO ph in post #4. It's a fairly simple concept but I'm outside and my hands are so bloody cold I can't type right now. (I live in Antarctica)
 
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Here is a plant I started before I started testing my water
Was wondering why my pH was always low 8
My soil is happy frog and not knowing I didn't add perlite But the plant is still doing good

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Hey Zapped, so how is the plant doing? It looks really good in the pic. Have you had any luck lowering the ph?

Weasel how is the weather? I hear the Spring is nice in Antartica! So I have to ask, are you doing scientific studies in Anartica or did you move to get away from the Trump Admin? Ha, thank you guys for the help so far.

So if the runoff water ph is high or low , do I water plants with water that will lower or raise that ph level of the soil? If so how much of a difference in ph do I use? Is this easily controlled with one heavy ph balanced feeding or slowly changed by smaller controlled increments?
 
I have actually been using hydro pH kit with pH down
My pH according to pH meter is still running like 7.5
Scared to soak the pot down with pH water since I didn't add perlite to my mix
Don't want to drown my auto

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It's got the curly leaf sydrome and dark green colour that I get once ph creeps too high. Growth also starts to slow. It tends to get worse and worse if the ph doesn't come into the correct range.
I can't speak for what happens in soil grows but in my grow style (hydro/soilless) when ph is a little too high several nutrients get locked out while the N is still fully available, leading to symptoms like yours.
 
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