Maybe I missed something along the way, but why would anything in the 100 - 200 range be too high? What’s in your water that you’re so worried about? Mine comes out of the tap around 50 but a friend of mine who operates a greenhouse told me he doesn’t worry about it as long as it’s under 200, or at least I think that’s what he told me.
Haha! Tough crowdI suppose I may as well bring up the water itself. Here goes. I bought a water filtration kit and hung it on my back porch. I’ll see if I can find a picture, but anyway, it filters sediments and chlorine/chloramine. Shed and I were talking about PPM a couple days ago and he asked what the PPM is out of the faucet but my TDS meter was acting up. It really frustrated me & I just said the hell with worrying about it. Two days later occurred to me that the battery might need to be replaced.
So now I’m more confused than ever. The PPM out of the tap is actually lower than the filtered water. I changed the filter and still got the same reading. Operator error is usually my first suspicion, but using a TDS meter isn’t exactly rocket science. I wonder if I have the right sediment filter? Also, would a reverse osmosis system require being hardwired or could I plug it into a surge protector?
I’m starting a pot of coffee now in case @Gee64 chimes in…
. Well you get pictures instead of words this time Bucko!
Nice set up! Especially for the price.Haha! Tough crowd
I bought an RO system like this one. It doesn't have a holding tank and it hangs from the wall on 2 screws.
I bought it from these guys in Texas. Excellent service on the phone, they know their stuff and are very helpful. I told him what I wanted to do and he suggested one of these....
A garden hose intake attachment, so it's plug and play as the faucet was already there, then a couple connection fittings for this...
Way too much line to run from the filter, through a couple walls, and into my grow room. Once in the grow room it empties into a 100 litre tote that has a float valve inlet that they also suggested and sold me.
I can't remember the price but I think it was about US$175 before shipping and dollar difference to Canada. They sell replacement filters as well. It was 5 or 6 years ago, so the price may be higher now.
If I recall my filter is actually called a 3 stage countertop filter, or something close to that.
It comes out at near-zero ppm.
I need words, man! I made a whole pot of coffee! I do have a question about RO water. Is it necessary? Due to my laziness & desire to follow the path of least resistance, I prefer to find a proper sediment filter that will fit my canisters. Those look like they may fit! I'm calling them tomorrow!Haha! Tough crowd
I bought an RO system like this one. It doesn't have a holding tank and it hangs from the wall on 2 screws.
I bought it from these guys in Texas. Excellent service on the phone, they know their stuff and are very helpful. I told him what I wanted to do and he suggested one of these....
A garden hose intake attachment, so it's plug and play as the faucet was already there, then a couple connection fittings for this...
Way too much line to run from the filter, through a couple walls, and into my grow room. Once in the grow room it empties into a 100 litre tote that has a float valve inlet that they also suggested and sold me.
I can't remember the price but I think it was about US$175 before shipping and dollar difference to Canada. They sell replacement filters as well. It was 5 or 6 years ago, so the price may be higher now.
If I recall my filter is actually called a 3 stage countertop filter, or something close to that.
It comes out at near-zero ppm.
I can't answer that question with a lot of confidence but I know some guys who can. I think it has to do with the amendments I've added to the soil & keeping those ratios in balance. @Gee64 @StoneOtter @Azimuth @Keffka What say you? (Gee may need a break)...
I would guess that if capilliary action brings up water that it will bring up calcium with it.
It does have to do with your ammendments but if you never rebuild your soil it's far less detrimental, but if it's too heavy in one mineral, such as magnesium or chloramine, it could lead to problems.
. What the hell does it take to squeeze out a drop?
roll a leaf or 2 into a nice tight ball, placed it between 2 nickels, and squish it with vice grips. You will get juice.I'm recycling my first batch of soil & The Rev's instructions include a sidebar on adjusting certain components if ppm is above a certain number in the water you'll be using which is the one & only reason I had any semblance of a clue.
The one in the 5 gal was fairly dry on the very top - crusty then dusty (like talc) after I scratched it up. The 10 gal was a little wetter, but neither of them felt too wet.
As a temporary measure until I (we) get this figured out I might just go back to buying my water for a week or so.
I tried to use my refractometer several days ago without success. I might need to re-caibrate it, but I also have trouble collecting "juice" to refractometerate
I'll try recalibrating it tomorrow & if I can find a starting point I'll go back & look at your post about how to read it correctly, but I need to know how to get that drop of canna juice too...
Brix is 11 in the second pic?roll a leaf or 2 into a nice tight ball, placed it between 2 nickels, and squish it with vice grips. You will get juice.
Here are 2 images I downloaded from google. The top one has a very crisp defined line. Calcium is really low.
The bottom one is very fuzzy, calcium is perfect.
Thanks Azi! Everyone else too! I appreciate you guys sharing this stuff with me.
I would say roughly 10. They are just random pics, I wanted to show you how the lines differ.
I did the same. May be the soil makeup itself, how it wicks maybe, or if you top watered at all. Very interesting and cool! I wish my top roots looked like that!
is that his soil is race car rich and I have to keep additional minerals down for balance. Most or all others don't need to run it as far as I know.
Nice size i look forwardto the fliptoday is day 51 above ground. Yesterday I removed the scrog - it was in the way & not tall enough anyway. After that I defoliated but not as heavy handed as I usually do. I was relieved to get that done as I was worried about WPM. I was finding big drops of water on the leaves almost daily, but only on the Double Chocolate. The AG never showed that although they’re quite bushy as well. I’m still (obviously) not good at troubleshooting, but I’ve learned a good bit in the last couple days. I hope I can retain it.
Here they are today. I really have my heart set on flipping soon, so hopefully the spotting issue is resolved. I’ve been scrutinizing the leaves daily, & I didn’t notice any new spotting today. I am however, willing to wait & be sure I’m sending healthy plants into flower.
The Acapulco Gold are the bigger girls. The Double Chocolate are beautiful ladies, but much smaller.
Even with the stress of figuring out what the hell is going on with the Acapulco Gold, I’m loving this grow. Maybe it’s because of the stress that I’m loving it. It’s providing a better kind of drama…
I’m trying to employ @InTheShed ’s super cropping technique to keep the last one even at the top. I thought I had taken a better canopy shot. You can’t see it in any of these photos but one of the DC has a cola with a strong desire to be apical…
, have you used any CalMag yet? They look as if they need a little the brown patches on the leaves is usually a sign of it 
Thanks, I’m pretty happy with it myself, spotting notwithstanding.Nice size i look forwardto the flip
I love your grow so far
I need clarification - does reverse osmosis affect ppm?Here's my understanding of why I need to use ro water.
I run Rev TLO LOS soil and after reading the book my conclusion today
What Shed said about ro being wasteful is true and I bucked it for a while but since it's our medicine I went for it. If you see a cord, it's the wrong one like mine with a light for killing bacteria that we want. Could be a pump. Also mine has a calcium source that makes 25 ppm output. So 2 things wrong with my choice. I just don't plug in and 25 ppm is not the end of the world. I should reconfig the unit but the list is long and it's low on it.
Tbh I really don’t know , however it is a form of filtration so I would guess it does. CL
