RO water no good for soil

chooselove

chooselove

Active Member
Kerovan said:
Flouride is a trace element also, no problems. I use hard alkaline tap water with chloramine and flouride and the plants absolutely love it. They grow like gangbusters.
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hahah nice! what's your pH? and what kind of medium are you growing in? feel free to share specifics
 
Kerovan

Kerovan

Well-Known Member
GrowGorilla said:
It isn’t good for your soil though. It kills off the beneficial microorganisms
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Roger A. Shrubber said:
it does kill any organisms in your soil, so what you have to decide is, do you want the convenience of watering with straight tap and not using benes, or do you want to use ro water and get the benefits, but have to add cal-mag through out your grow
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Not any amount that matters. I have a 5 stage Reverse Osmosis unit that does about 200 gallons a day for my Discus and and other tropical fish. I've done side by side comparisons with chlorinated and flouridated water and there is no problem. If anything the tap water actually did a little better, but definitely did not harm at all. The amount of chlorine/chloramine they put in water is not enough to harm anything in the soil.
 
smokebros

smokebros

Well-Known Member
chooselove said:
I heard this because it's too clean, causing an imbalance in the soil. Though I'm torn between using filtered glacier ice water from the dispenser at the supermarket and the tap water:

my tap water:
170 ppm which is just fine and not too high though it probably has chlorine, chloramine and flouride in it (LA city water)
pH is about 7.1 (too high)

glacier rise RO water from supermarket water dispenser:
006 ppm (maybe too low?)
though pH seems to be around 6.4 - 6.8 which is perfect


i plan to use fox farms or roots soil for my indoor grow. Flouride, chloramine and chlorine don't exactly sound too great , though does super clean water indeed "leach" beneficial minerals or nutrients from soil...
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One thing I do since I have access to reverse osmosis water is mix it with my tap water. My tap water comes out at about 200PPM and my RO water comes out under 10.

Mixing them at 75% RO to 25% tap get my water around 50PPM. This is an ideal balance and my preference because there are still enough dissolved solids in the water to buffer the PH and keep it in line.

If you are worried about the chlorine & chloramine even with it mixed at 25/75, then pour the water into a bucket with an airstone for a couple days. I don't know what to say about the fluoride... you may need Alex Jones for that one. :bigjoint:
 
Moldy

Moldy

Well-Known Member
chooselove said:
I heard this because it's too clean, causing an imbalance in the soil. Though I'm torn between using filtered glacier ice water from the dispenser at the supermarket and the tap water:

my tap water:
170 ppm which is just fine and not too high though it probably has chlorine, chloramine and flouride in it (LA city water)
pH is about 7.1 (too high)

glacier rise RO water from supermarket water dispenser:
006 ppm (maybe too low?)
though pH seems to be around 6.4 - 6.8 which is perfect


i plan to use fox farms or roots soil for my indoor grow. Flouride, chloramine and chlorine don't exactly sound too great , though does super clean water indeed "leach" beneficial minerals or nutrients from soil...
Click to expand...
I use about 50/50 RO and tap water but my tap is 380-430 ppm. I think your tap would be fine, I'd use it if I had those ppm's. I also use a cal/mag supplement before I see an issue.
 
Jypsy Dog

Jypsy Dog

Well-Known Member
Moldy said:
I use about 50/50 RO and tap water but my tap is 380-430 ppm. I think your tap would be fine, I'd use it if I had those ppm's. I also use a cal/mag supplement before I see an issue.
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I got you beat! I check my Tap water first of every month. PHX AZ = 585 10/1/17 Even my dogs get bottled water. When they clean the Canales and pump up ground water from the Aquifers, seen it hit low to mid 6's.
 
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