Need H2O advice

[Ezra354]

I have a few questions regarding water supply for the garden. To be clear my garden is in detached garage with underground line coming from house. I have Well Water, got by a few years with straight well water but ran into root rot issues. I installed a R/O system in May (still putting out 0 ppm). My Water line is straight from the well to RO unit-garden. I have some nasty well water its full of iron and appears to be bacteria reddish in color looks like RO unit shouldnt even be letting any water through. I might have a contaminated well or corroding pipes as the main line from well is iron. I will be having that inspected asap. I have read also that some people run there water through water softner then to RO unit or just a sediment filter. Is this safe to do with the salt ? People claim the RO unit will take care of salts ? With the possibility of redoing the well and i have pvc/cpvc nightmare in my basement. I am looking to get the best water possible to the garden and will probably re-plumbing the basement I want to do it right. Any input is greatly appreciated. Ive done alot of research already and can not make up my mind.

 

[Snoop429]

I think I remember reading that you don't want to use water that's been through a water softener. I just buy Ro water as I only have a couple plants.

 

[ninjaezgrower]

Or get a compact 3 stage RO system, they remove all salts, and sediments, best part is, it hooks straight up onto any sink. does 100gallons per day. mine cost me 89.99 and replacement filter set for the whole system is 22 bucks. just put the waste water hose in the sink and the RO water hose in whatever you want to fill, been using it since may, and water still comes out 0 PPM

 

[wootin]

I have a few questions regarding water supply for the garden. To be clear my garden is in detached garage with underground line coming from house. I have Well Water, got by a few years with straight well water but ran into root rot issues. I installed a R/O system in May (still putting out 0 ppm). My Water line is straight from the well to RO unit-garden. I have some nasty well water its full of iron and appears to be bacteria reddish in color looks like RO unit shouldnt even be letting any water through. I might have a contaminated well or corroding pipes as the main line from well is iron. I will be having that inspected asap. I have read also that some people run there water through water softner then to RO unit or just a sediment filter. Is this safe to do with the salt ? People claim the RO unit will take care of salts ? With the possibility of redoing the well and i have pvc/cpvc nightmare in my basement. I am looking to get the best water possible to the garden and will probably re-plumbing the basement I want to do it right. Any input is greatly appreciated. Ive done alot of research already and can not make up my mind.

I would run the sediment filter first then into an RO unit, You can get small RO units for aquatic uses for around $50 that'll hook into your garden hose.

Usually well water filtration system has an Iron filter of some sort. What my buddy used for his well water filtration is

Sediment filter > Iron Filter > Water softener (iron removal salt pellets) > RO.

The amount of salt in softened water is very low, nothing to worry about.

 

[DRM Ranch]

Prior to moving we ran a whole house filter then a 5 stage RO/DI setup for drinking and watering.

I'm including a similar setup here for my own grow, our local water sucks.

DRM Ranch

 

[Fuzzy Duck]

Root rot is mainly a temperature issue of nutrient solution of the res tank & may suggest you are using some form of DWC ?

But could be contaminated well water, i'm not sure if the root rot stuff is a water bound problem ? & may be more likely a temp issue creating ideal grounds for it to thrive.


I might ask on how you dispose of waste nutrient solution if ya running DWC ?

As it may leach seep back into the water table & source of well water !


You could use products to help keep these problems at bay with in the res tank etc H202 rings a bell i'm reasonable sure their are others to help prevent root rot.


Mmm red rust coloured water ah, more likely the old iron pipe being fecked, could be cracked 'n' leaking ?




BTW don't use water softens if it is a granule salt based system... just bad.

 

[OldMedUser]

Big no to the water softener Ezra.

If you're still getting zero ppm on your RO water then it's doing it's job. The best improvement you could do is use a sediment filter with a smaller pore size. Filters for most systems can be had that are as small as 0.5 micron that will block particles 10x smaller than the standard 5 micron pre-filters that come with almost all the systems I've looked at over the years. Also UV sterilization if you want to be sure of germ free water for your own drinking use. We get our house water from a dugout and only filter it down to 5 microns. There is visible sediment if the water is left standing for a few hours. We don't drink it but buy RO water for drinking or my plants.

L8r