Do I need an RO filter?

So I have searched and I cant find an answer, at what ppm does tap water require an RO to be efficient.

anything that can burn your pants, small plants lower ppm for bigger it takes more. it is not as important in soil as it is in soiless or hydro runs. ive never used one for my soil plants and never had any burning problems but it is also based on where you live, certain cities have worse water than others

RO won't remove Chlorine, if that's the goal. You'll need a specific Chlorine / Chloramine filter.

I use an RO on well water to reduce the hard water buildup in the no-till (recycled) soil.

Straight RO water = rain water for the most part

Well this is for a hydro setup. I have my pH and TDS meters coming today so I'll at least know where I stand. Basicly what I need to know is how big of problems could be ceated by skipping water fill.

Rrog said:

RO won't remove Chlorine, if that's the goal. You'll need a specific Chlorine / Chloramine filter.

I use an RO on well water to reduce the hard water buildup in the no-till (recycled) soil.

Straight RO water = rain water for the most part

Click to expand...

RO water is void of all chemicals, it is in definition pure H2O. RO units are minimum 3 stage filtration, the first being a charcoal scrubber which removes any and all Chloromines (including Chlorine). It is the purest water available, and a must for my marine reef tank, if it had chlorine still in it, then all my corals would perish

Rrog said:

RO won't remove Chlorine, if that's the goal. You'll need a specific Chlorine / Chloramine filter.

I use an RO on well water to reduce the hard water buildup in the no-till (recycled) soil.

Straight RO water = rain water for the most part

Click to expand...

I thought carbon filters pulled out chlorine?

I'm looking at a multi stage filler, sediment, pre and post carbon, and RO

FiddlersGreen you all good with that filter, some have a De-ionizer as well, which is a bit overkill...though I use de-ionizer on my marine aquarium. But you are correct, carbon does polish chlorine from water and is usually the first stage of the whole RO unit

If you have some good well water just use that. Plants don't want pure filtered water. There's a lot of micro minerals that plants require in the correct amounts and in their natural state in unfiltered water. If you can drink it then your plants most likely can. Good Luck

I agree for the most part, but I have seen some videos of people reporting that their tap water is already creeping up to 500ppm, and in a soil application such as plants in nature the residual products in tap or well water are able to disapate via the loamy soil. But on the other hand in most Hydro systems that water is circulating around the roots constantly with no place to run off to (unless doing drain to waste). Well water is hit and miss just as tap water. If one should live near industrial, chemical or manufacturing plants then the pollution resides within the rain and needs some sort of filtering. But as you said if you can drink it, then most likely will be ok. So it really boils down to how your roots are going to be able to handle the extras while being constantly flooded by these extras

Ya...Plants hate all that clean low tds rain water .....yuck

You guys should do yourself a favor and look this up. Chlorine isn't common in water these days, Chloramine is. Chloramine needs a lot of time in contact with standard activated carbon to remove by pure carbon filtration.

This is why a specialized Chloramine filter is used.

ok so i gt my TDS my tap water is 183ppm so not to shaby. so should i be able to get away without the RO then? I should still go with a chloramine filter though, huh? thats a GAC carbon filter right? any suggestions on a good filter that relatively cheap?

That's pretty hard water my friend. Might want to consider that RO. Gonna lead to some mad ph swings in hydro.

See if you can get a water analysis. It will tell u everything you need to know about your water.

Carolina Dream'n said:

That's pretty hard water my friend. Might want to consider that RO. Gonna lead to some mad ph swings in hydro.

See if you can get a water analysis. It will tell u everything you need to know about your water.

Click to expand...

Really? ive seen people who were using way worse, of course that doesnt really mean anything. how much of a ph management issue would it be? if i can avoid the $250 for the RO it would really help.

Just depends what your going for. Less work for more start up money. Or more work for less startup money. Also depends if your looking for perfection or just tryin to get some nugs. Perfection=ro.

My ppm is 100. If it gets above that my ph will drift daily.

yeah im a perfectionist, im just a broke one, lol. since im starting from seed im a few months from flower or even taking clones so i guess there are a few things i can push out the loosen my budget.

now you said you ppm is 100? is that your water right out of the RO or nute solution using RO water? i was under the impression the the Ro system will bring your pmm very close to 0.

FiddlersGreen said:

yeah im a perfectionist, im just a broke one, lol. since im starting from seed im a few months from flower or even taking clones so i guess there are a few things i can push out the loosen my budget.

now you said you ppm is 100? is that your water right out of the RO or nute solution using RO water? i was under the impression the the Ro system will bring your pmm very close to 0.

Click to expand...

Not sure where your located, but on Australian eBay I found this RO unit that is made for Caravans, over here costing about $98aud....they are only rated at about 50 gallon per day, which is a bit slow compared to the under bench models

That's 100 ppm right out of my tap. Well water. I do not use a RO but change my whole home filter constantly. (Every 2 to 3 weeks)

Trust me, you do not want 50 gallons a day. Get atleast a 100, preferably the 200 hydrologic makes good ones.

Carolina Dream'n said:

That's 100 ppm right out of my tap. Well water. I do not use a RO but change my whole home filter constantly. (Every 2 to 3 weeks)

Trust me, you do not want 50 gallons a day. Get atleast a 100, preferably the 200 hydrologic makes good ones.

Click to expand...

Agree, I was just throwing a cheaper budget option on the table....the 50gpd is a pain in the arse