Living Organic Soil, RO water, and pH: what's the deal here?

[NOOOBIENOT]

i believe it is called a catalytic carbon filter , not a carbon block or activated carbon , but there is no real answer out there that i have been able to find yet ,but i am thinking MAYBE a water softener will do the trick to remove chloramine .i run my water from the softener to my r.o. 4 stage filter and the best i have every been able to get is 8 ppm on my water and my city water does have chloramine in it .does any body know the truth on this one ? i know water with a 8 ppm number is still plenty good enough for my plants but how do you ever actually get to 0 ppm

 

[Old Salt]

i believe it is called a catalytic carbon filter , not a carbon block or activated carbon , but there is no real answer out there that i have been able to find yet ,but i am thinking MAYBE a water softener will do the trick to remove chloramine .i run my water from the softener to my r.o. 4 stage filter and the best i have every been able to get is 8 ppm on my water and my city water does have chloramine in it .does any body know the truth on this one ? i know water with a 8 ppm number is still plenty good enough for my plants but how do you ever actually get to 0 ppm

A post RO de-ionizing filter will do that for you.

 

[bobrown14]

Activated charcoal will get rid of chloramine.

When using the term "regular activated charcoal filter" I'm not sure what that means exactly. I guess what you are saying is not all filters are made the same so do you homework larry. lol

Here's the science behind the design. Choose your filter wisely.

Chlorine and Chloramine Removal With Activated Carbon - WCP Online


I live in the county so there are different things that I want to filter out than I did in the city.

The RO buddie filter I mention in a lot of my posts on this subject work great and its cheap enough. Get a filter working and then fine tune it to your liking. I run a dedicated filter just for my plants. It's "good enough" @ >10ppms. I have a more elaborate filter for drinking and cooking. They test VERY close with a TDS meter. I test regularly (1x monthly) and have 2 meters to test.

 

[skunkcn]

I'm very familiar with that soil mix. Its very close to what I use and I know a few growers in Ontario GTA that use it with GREAT success.

You should have no problems growing organically in that soil mix. Nothing but RO water all the way you will be fine.

You need to introduce Mycorrhizae to the roots when you plant your seedlings and I always add more at up pot. Also to get the soil going you need to introduce bacteria as well. A good way to do that is take some EWC (earth worm castings) and kelp meal and make a tea.

ACT - Aerated compost tea with an air pump and air stone the bigger the better in a 5 gal bucket of RO water.

1 cup EWC + 1/2 cup kelp meal + RO water - aerate for 24 hours water in dont save any extra.

Can try some Bokashi to get the bacteria party started as well.

For larger plants in organic soil. Bigger roots bigger shoots so a larger container will get you larger yields.

I love bokashi

 

[NOOOBIENOT]

Hello , i have since put my 4 stage r.o. system after the water softener and i have 0 ppm water , i am in cambridge and we use chloramine here too .i use the same soil as you in my pots also , growing tlo style .25 % kiss soil , 25 % earth worm casting , 25 % perlite , a small amount of coco coir , then i add all my organic stuff , i like the gia green line of products ( these are true organic additives ), kelp meal, alfalfa meal , insect frass, blood meal bone meal ,dolomite lime oyster shell flour , rock phosphate , green sand , gypsum , azomite , these i add at 1 table spoon per pot ( i use 10 gallon cloth pots )i then add a layer of spruce shaving (pet store , these are hamster bedding shavings )on the top of my pots , i then throw a small handful of white clover seeds on top of that and work it in a tiny bit as a cover crop also , i water the pot just till i see a tiny bit of water run off , i then let it sit for 30 -40 days before i put my 2 inch seedlings in to it , i just use my r.o. water only , don't worry about ph at all , the only thing you have to worry about is to continuously add a all purpose organic dry nutrient ( veg 4-4-4) to the top of the pots every 14 days and water it in, if you are making tea just be care of the ppm of your tea , not over 200 ppm on your tea ever and that is for larger sized plant , less for smaller plants, i then switch to a dry organic bloom nutrient (2-8-4-)1 week before i flip to flower .then i stop adding any thing other than water 10-12 days before chop , it is really that simple , i also apply a tea twice in flower only , molasses, bloom nutes and i cup of worm castings ,let it bubble for 24 hrs , then i dilute it with r.o. water till i get to about 120-150 ppm and then give this to my plants as considered as 1 of my watering's , don't re water after applying the tea let it soak in .( molasses and dry nutes are at 1 table spoon each per batch of tea ) Keep your soil moist not dry and not soaking i water every 2-3 days only depending on how big my plants are and i give them 1- 1/2 gallons per pot .