Fudo Myoo's Organic, LED Homegrown Journal

Fudo Myoo said:
I’m starting to use RO water for the Sativas. My tap water has no chloride and is ph 7 but undoubtedly loaded with dissolved solids. I’m ordering all the gadgets so I know for sure. I need more control over the soil. They can’t handle it in flower. Hybrids could care less but I’m sure they’ll improve too.
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@Keffka is pretty nifty when it comes to science type horticultural things-including soil and especially gadgets...maybe he has some input?
 
Fudo Myoo said:
I’m starting to use RO water for the Sativas. My tap water has no chloride and is ph 7 but undoubtedly loaded with dissolved solids. I’m ordering all the gadgets so I know for sure. I need more control over the soil. They can’t handle it in flower. Hybrids could care less but I’m sure they’ll improve too.
Click to expand...

I chose RO for that reason originally but then found a whole host of benefits for it in regular life so I was very pleased. It lets you remove the variability of water in your grow and gives you a very high level of control.

I don’t like that public water can vary. Yes my TDS meter says 140, but what is included in that 140? There’s no way to know without a water test which you usually have to pay for because that’s not important to the water company. Water content also ebbs and flows. What’s in the water in August may not be the same as May. There’s also the fact that 45% of American tap water contains PFAS aka forever chemicals. Don’t get me started on disgruntled water managers forging water reports after having messed with the water for revenge or ideology.

When it comes to using RO, you’ll need a TDS meter and a way to provide calcium and magnesium in your water (for your plants). This can be calmag, aerating good ratio dolomite lime, or a few other methods. If you’re growing organic your water ppms wont go high enough to require a ph meter but you could get one just to be safe. If you’re using organic nutrient lines then you may want to invest in one. I haven’t measured my water ph in a long time since I rarely use anything higher than 65 ppms.

I went with the APEC ES-50. It let me hook right under my sink and has a 4 gallon container that holds the RO water. I have a tap next to my sink tap that I dispense the cleaned water from and use it for everything from my plants to drinking to cooking. I use tap water for cleaning since it contains chlorine in some form, which you will begin smelling it coming out of the tap once you switch to RO. It’s a decent 5 stage system that brings my water from 140 to 0. It could do the same with higher ppm water, I would just need to replace the filters more often. As it is I spend 25$ every 6 months to change the filter, so after a year or so it already pays for itself
 
Keffka said:
I chose RO for that reason originally but then found a whole host of benefits for it in regular life so I was very pleased. It lets you remove the variability of water in your grow and gives you a very high level of control.

I don’t like that public water can vary. Yes my TDS meter says 140, but what is included in that 140? There’s no way to know without a water test which you usually have to pay for because that’s not important to the water company. Water content also ebbs and flows. What’s in the water in August may not be the same as May. There’s also the fact that 45% of American tap water contains PFAS aka forever chemicals. Don’t get me started on disgruntled water managers forging water reports after having messed with the water for revenge or ideology.

When it comes to using RO, you’ll need a TDS meter and a way to provide calcium and magnesium in your water (for your plants). This can be calmag, aerating good ratio dolomite lime, or a few other methods. If you’re growing organic your water ppms wont go high enough to require a ph meter but you could get one just to be safe. If you’re using organic nutrient lines then you may want to invest in one. I haven’t measured my water ph in a long time since I rarely use anything higher than 65 ppms.

I went with the APEC ES-50. It let me hook right under my sink and has a 4 gallon container that holds the RO water. I have a tap next to my sink tap that I dispense the cleaned water from and use it for everything from my plants to drinking to cooking. I use tap water for cleaning since it contains chlorine in some form, which you will begin smelling it coming out of the tap once you switch to RO. It’s a decent 5 stage system that brings my water from 140 to 0. It could do the same with higher ppm water, I would just need to replace the filters more often. As it is I spend 25$ every 6 months to change the filter, so after a year or so it already pays for itself
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info Keffka, I appreciate it!
So this is the Ro system I just bought, hope it’s a good one, reviews were ok I guess. I also got a liquid tds meter. I have a liquid ph pen I could use for slurry and a prob soil ph meter that appears to work. Also need some kind of reservoir other than 5 gallon buckets.
Quick question, I’d like to keep the water in the basement, but that would require the use of a floor drain for waste water. I’ve read this is acceptable but I’m skeptical. What do you think?

IMG_8423.png


IMG_8422.png
 
Fudo Myoo said:
Thanks for the info Keffka, I appreciate it!
So this is the Ro system I just bought, hope it’s a good one, reviews were ok I guess. I also got a liquid tds meter. I have a liquid ph pen I could use for slurry and a prob soil ph meter that appears to work. Also need some kind of reservoir other than 5 gallon buckets.
Quick question, I’d like to keep the water in the basement, but that would require the use of a floor drain for waste water. I’ve read this is acceptable but I’m skeptical. What do you think?

IMG_8423.png


IMG_8422.png
Click to expand...



Shouldn’t be an issue at all. The filtration process takes time so you won’t be dealing with a flood of water nor will your hoses jump around. I believe your unit says .5 gpm which is very manageable. You could also run it to a bucket and use the waste water for stuff like toilets, cleaning, or watering the grass if it becomes a concern of yours.

What is your main concern with running to the floor drain?
 
Keffka said:
Shouldn’t be an issue at all. The filtration process takes time so you won’t be dealing with a flood of water nor will your hoses jump around. I believe your unit says .5 gpm which is very manageable. You could also run it to a bucket and use the waste water for stuff like toilets, cleaning, or watering the grass if it becomes a concern of yours.

What is your main concern with running to the floor drain?
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None really, was just making sure there was no surprises.
 
Up and running. No leaks and 70psi. It’s not real fast but not exactly slow either. I doubt I’ll ever need the float valve but ya never know.
IMG_8436.jpeg

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So this much water every half hr. 4 gallons? This is a 20 gallon can. I’ll let it go another 15 minutes, dump it, then we’re ready to roll. All I need now are seedlings or clones.

IMG_8438.jpeg
 
Nice work Fudo! I had to run ro too. My well has 5-600 ppm's. The barrell is a nice touch!
 
Fudo Myoo said:
Thanks for the info Keffka, I appreciate it!
So this is the Ro system I just bought, hope it’s a good one, reviews were ok I guess. I also got a liquid tds meter. I have a liquid ph pen I could use for slurry and a prob soil ph meter that appears to work. Also need some kind of reservoir other than 5 gallon buckets.
Quick question, I’d like to keep the water in the basement, but that would require the use of a floor drain for waste water. I’ve read this is acceptable but I’m skeptical. What do you think?

IMG_8423.png


IMG_8422.png
Click to expand...
I use a setup almost identical to this. I have the filter on the wall beside my hot water tank, which has a floor drain, and plumb a line into the grow room to a 100 litre black tote with the yellow lid. A toilet float installed in the tote gives me a constant tub of RO right next to the tents. Then I toss a pond pump into the tote thats on a timer to run my dripper lines, and I have autowatering.
 
For seedlings (I haven’t worked out clones on RO yet, that’s @Gee64 specialty) you’re going to want to use bottled spring water or you’re going to want to build up your water a bit if it’s less than 50 ppms. One way of doing this is aerating dolomite lime like this and cutting it into the RO water

Living Water

Living Water

  • Media owner Keffka
  • Date added
Beginning the living water. 1 gallon RO water mixed with 1/2 tsp fast acting prilled dolomite...

Or using bottled spring water or a decent dechlorinated ground water source and cutting it into the RO. If you use pure water (0-10 ppm) your plants will quickly tell you. My ppm meter was off by 30 points and it only took one watering of the seedlings for them to show me my meter was off, and this was when they were less than 10 days old.

You’ll read a whole lot of stuff that says “don’t feed your plants before 10-14 days” and while that’s trueish, it’s not completely true. When I’m told “don’t feed your plant” that means don’t give it anything. What they actually mean is don’t give it any fertilizers or NPK stuff. You still are going to want at least 50 ppms of calcium and magnesium in there which you can get naturally with fast acting prilled dolomite lime. I would recommend an organic calmag but if you’ve already come this far and are growing organic it’s much more beneficial just to run the dolomite lime water. Seedlings like it right around 65 ppms but 50 will keep them from being pissed off
 
Gee64 said:
I use a setup almost identical to this. I have the filter on the wall beside my hot water tank, which has a floor drain, and plumb a line into the grow room to a 100 litre black tote with the yellow lid. A toilet float installed in the tote gives me a constant tub of RO right next to the tents. Then I toss a pond pump into the tote thats on a timer to run my dripper lines, and I have autowatering.
Click to expand...
Auto water would be cool but I can’t leave it alone that long anyway. A leak of any kind would be a disaster. My basement’s finished so I shut the water off at the copper pipe when I leave the house for to long.
 
Keffka said:
For seedlings (I haven’t worked out clones on RO yet, that’s @Gee64 specialty) you’re going to want to use bottled spring water or you’re going to want to build up your water a bit if it’s less than 50 ppms. One way of doing this is aerating dolomite lime like this and cutting it into the RO water

Living Water

Living Water

  • Media owner Keffka
  • Date added
Beginning the living water. 1 gallon RO water mixed with 1/2 tsp fast acting prilled dolomite...

Or using bottled spring water or a decent dechlorinated ground water source and cutting it into the RO. If you use pure water (0-10 ppm) your plants will quickly tell you. My ppm meter was off by 30 points and it only took one watering of the seedlings for them to show me my meter was off, and this was when they were less than 10 days old.

You’ll read a whole lot of stuff that says “don’t feed your plants before 10-14 days” and while that’s trueish, it’s not completely true. When I’m told “don’t feed your plant” that means don’t give it anything. What they actually mean is don’t give it any fertilizers or NPK stuff. You still are going to want at least 50 ppms of calcium and magnesium in there which you can get naturally with fast acting prilled dolomite lime. I would recommend an organic calmag but if you’ve already come this far and are growing organic it’s much more beneficial just to run the dolomite lime water. Seedlings like it right around 65 ppms but 50 will keep them from being pissed off
Click to expand...
What about starting them with de chlorinated tap water? It’s all I’ve used in the past and most of the plants do great. If that’s no good, I’ll use lime. I use roots organic cal-mag by the gallon. I gave up the fight and started using that a long time ago.
 
StoneOtter said:
Nice work Fudo! I had to run ro too. My well has 5-600 ppm's. The barrell is a nice touch!
Click to expand...
I’m hoping it solves my late flower sativa problem. Everything else is pretty much by the book. My pots get super crusty towards the end. That’s got to be the problem. The hybrids don’t care but the Sativas hate it.
 
Fudo Myoo said:
What about starting them with de chlorinated tap water? It’s all I’ve used in the past and most of the plants do great. If that’s no good, I’ll use lime. I use roots organic cal-mag by the gallon. I gave up the fight and started using that a long time ago.
Click to expand...

Dechlorinated tap water works perfectly as long as your ppms arent ridiculous which can easily be solved by cutting it with RO water if you have to. You’ll likely get better results doing this if you’ve got decent water quality since you’ll get a broad spectrum of stuff instead of just pure calcium and magnesium.
 
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