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wuss912

is RO worth it?

Wuss912
19 years ago

i wanted to know if anyone thought RO was worth the trouble for growing hydroponically?

i know RO would help with having a minimall PPM at the onset. but would it affect PH at all?

thanks

Comments (8)

  • Jungle_Fever
    19 years ago

    well do a test.try your water and if I remember correctly I believe the big blue jugs for water dispensers is ro"ed water.try that,4 or 5 dollars I think.Maybe someone else can get into more depth on this subject though.

  • lifestarter
    19 years ago

    well 30 bottles of RO or Distilled water at 99cents a gallon is just under 30 dollars before taxes. This is good for small amounts. I suggest installing your own. I plan to do so for the entire house what with all the threat of terrorists contaminating drinking water and all. It can be done for around 100 bucks before shipping if you look hard enough. try froogle.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Another cheap alternative (i have no financial interest in any links i post Gardenweb Staffpeople)

  • hank_mili
    19 years ago

    Correct me if I'm wrong but for every 5-15 gal of RO water recovered 100 gal of water is processed. So it's not efficient in that sense.

    Unless there is potentially dangerous contaminates in your source water; I don't see the need for RO water for hydroponics since your are going to add nitrates and calcium to your RO water that RO took out anyway.

  • Wuss912
    Original Author
    19 years ago

    i dont think RO is that wastefull of water...
    i was just wondering if anyone thought it would help with the growing of plants.

  • hydro4me
    19 years ago

    I agree with Hank, you will just be adding it all back in, calcium, iron, etc...Tap water works just fine for small scale hydro gardening. The problem in treated water is the chloromine and chlorine used to treat it at municipal facilities. I just use water from the tub to fill my systems. The pH runs alkaline, so I have to bring it down to 6.0-7.0 with acid or lemon juice. RO systems are a big initial investment, then you have to replace filters and membranes when the PPM's creep up again after filling up with sediments.

  • hank_mili
    19 years ago

    Please don't misunderstand...no criticism is implied with my post. I respect all opinions or queries from our members equally. The use of RO water for hydro is only my limited opinion based on what I think I know of the subject. Thanks...Hank

  • markapp
    18 years ago

    A lot will depend on what the water is like to start with. in my area on wells the biggest impurities are magnesium and calcium which are just nutrients anyway. If you got a lot of plain salt you may need it. I have noticed garden and container plants here like my rain water better but that may be due to more carbon oxygen and nitrogen being in it. If the water is so hard you don't have room for nutrients you may need to treat. sometimes adjusting ph with hcl and filtering can remove some impurities. Boiling briefly and allowing to cool may also sludge out some impurities.RO is overhyped by promoters it does waste tremendous amounts of flush water and in the end is less effective and just as costly as distillation in most situations. here is the rub with ro it works great when filters are new but as filters age it gets less and less effective so you really need to moniter with tds meter and pick a threshold of filth to replace filters at. If you have organic pollutants such as petrochemical or pesticide residues activated charcoal is about the best filter and is included in most ro paks. For drinking water distillation is really best as it delivers clean water every time irregardless of maintenance. If maintenance is neglected it quits working but it is much less likely to deliver partially purified water.If you are on municipal water most systems will give you a free analysis of content, that is as tested at water works prior to exposure to the distribution network. Most chlorine will gas out if you just draw the water a day or 2 before using it and you don't want to use it cold generally anyway so it works out fine.Chlorine by the way is a required trace nutient for plants. Another option much cheaper than ro is to capture rain water it is usually plenty good for plants.

  • markapp
    18 years ago

    forgot to adress ph purifying will bring ph to about 7 both ro and distillation. rain water may vary but due to disolved gases should be slightly acidic as comapred to purified water so again it depends on what you start with if it would change ph.