R/o Systems

[Z71_420]

hey everyone, im getting tired of buying r/o drinkin water even though its 78cents a gallon its a hassel buying a dozen jugs at a time. so here is a system i was looking at:

http://cgi.ebay.com/5-Stage-REEF-AQUARIUM-Reverse-Osmosis-System-100GPD-DI-/230430821752?pt=Small_Kitchen_Appliances_US&hash=item35a6bf4d78

i dont want a 50gpd but i definatly will never need more than 100gpd but im just wondering whether this is a decent system or not.

i plan to run this inline to a 55gal plastic drum which i'll aereate/cirulate the water. to be stored for use

 

and for the guy's who already own a system, if my ppm levels are 400ish how quickly will the filters plug? my buddy is tellin me i gotta get a water softner to have an r/o filter. im not willing to dump 500-1000 into that then have a monthly bill to boot.

 

(forgot the most important part)

thanks in advance guys!!

[MORE COWBELL]

get the 100GPD heck the 200 GPD works great for home drinking water too-buy a couple of reservoirs fill those and use the water out of them fill slowly(YOU HAVE NO SAY IN THAT MATTER) and patiently-put a spigot on one or both of your 50 gallon RES use from there enjoy you delicious RO water

[shishka]

I use a Spectra Pure 100gpd. At normal well pressure(no booster pump) I get about a gallon an hour. Been using it for a year now and still use the original filters. Takes my water from an E.C. of 1.00 to 0.04, or, from 700ppm to 28ppm.

[impatient]

Check with your local food co-op if you have one. Ours has r/o for .25 a gal. if you bring your own jugs. Handling is easier if you plan ahead and buy a few of those plastic milk crates at thrift stores or yard sales. Each crate holds 4 jugs. They stack and also protect the jugs from punctures, getting squashed, etc. A good quality folding hand-cart is a nice extra too and will handle 3 or 4 full crates at a time.

[Honeyoil]

I bought this one, about the same price, but also included 2 carbon filters.

http://www.purewaterclub.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=88_61_28&products_id=154

 

I got a 25 Gal expansion tank. The tank pushes R/O water to my sink and to my reservoirs and gives me extra reserve when I want to refill a reservoir.

 

PurewaterClub also has the sink faucet for a great price. I bought my tubing from them as well.

 

It works great.

[MasterKush]

Whoever gave you the info that you needed a water softener is wrong. Definitly disregard that advice...

I live out in the country and my main source is well water. The water is quite hard and the average ppm was 350-400 before my water softener. The average ppm after the water softener is about 450. So you would be increasing the amount of solids in your water by running it through the water softener first defeating the purpose of why you got the RO system in the first place. Not to mention it will clog up and ruin your filters a lot faster. Dont hook up your system after your water softener. My RO system gets the ppm down to about 6-8 ppm straight from the well. If you have well water your filters will get rusty after a couple of fills, so it is best to periodically clean out your prefilters to extend the life of your RO membrane. I get about 3-6 months out of prefilters with regular cleaning. I use a Growonix GX 150.

[Catfinger]

http://www.hydrofarm.com/pb_detail.php?itemid=7728

 

I picked up this one and it works great. Takes water from 120ppm down to zero AND removes chlorine (not all do).

They make a model larger but this one will fill 1gal/hr off standard tap pressure, no booster pump.

I just ziptied it to the back of a chair, slide it off to the side when not in use, and just slide it up to the sink when I want to filter the tap water. Also, it has an 'easy connect' that screws directly onto the threads on your sinks tap without having to splice into any lines. Easy as 1, 2, 3 right out of the box!

Oh, and, your local grow store will have the filters in stock so you dont have to special order for some product that no one has ever heard of.

[Z71_420]

Whoever gave you the info that you needed a water softener is wrong. Definitly disregard that advice...

I live out in the country and my main source is well water. The water is quite hard and the average ppm was 350-400 before my water softener. The average ppm after the water softener is about 450. So you would be increasing the amount of solids in your water by running it through the water softener first defeating the purpose of why you got the RO system in the first place. Not to mention it will clog up and ruin your filters a lot faster. Dont hook up your system after your water softener. My RO system gets the ppm down to about 6-8 ppm straight from the well. If you have well water your filters will get rusty after a couple of fills, so it is best to periodically clean out your prefilters to extend the life of your RO membrane. I get about 3-6 months out of prefilters with regular cleaning. I use a Growonix GX 150.

 

 

thanks a ton for the info! it didnt seem logical when he told me that, i priced a 5stage filter replacement kit for 50 bucks, and figure to have clean water at hand if i have to change the filters every 6-12 months so be it.

 

 

wclark--- that system looks a little bit nicer than the one i was looking at, ILL TAKE IT lol. do you have any tips or advice on installation?

 

thanks for everyones advice.

[1337Gr33n]

hey everyone, im getting tired of buying r/o drinkin water even though its 78cents a gallon its a hassel buying a dozen jugs at a time. so here is a system i was looking at:

 

Hey Z71_420

 

i am thinking you are shopping at the wrong spot. you can get RO water refills around here for 29 or 39 cents per gallon at every store that has them! Also, you should look into making a one time purchase of those 2.5 gallon water jugs that can be used to dispense water right from your refrigerator. Four of those is ten gallons. That will make your life a lot easier, unless you are a patient that cannot lift about 10 pounds at once. They look like this:

[Green-Nubie]

My question is why use the r.o bladder at all?? all the bladder does is remove the elements your plants want. all you really need is the cotton filter and the charcoal filter.. the bladder strips all cal/ mag along with allot of other trace minerals that are very help full .

 

 

 

I have city water coming out of the tap at 340 ppm.. after cotton filter and charcoal filter its only 60ppm.

 

when i was using the bladder i had bad problems with deficiency and was a nightmare to keep up with.

then i switched to using only the filters (a friend in the saltwater fish world told me) and all my problems cleared up.

 

 

just my 2 cents..

[MasterKush]

My question is why use the r.o bladder at all?? all the bladder does is remove the elements your plants want. all you really need is the cotton filter and the charcoal filter.. the bladder strips all cal/ mag along with allot of other trace minerals that are very help full .

 

 

 

I have city water coming out of the tap at 340 ppm.. after cotton filter and charcoal filter its only 60ppm.

 

when i was using the bladder i had bad problems with deficiency and was a nightmare to keep up with.

then i switched to using only the filters (a friend in the saltwater fish world told me) and all my problems cleared up.

 

 

just my 2 cents..

 

Green-Nubie-

You make an excellent point...It took me about 2-3 months to get my plants completely dialed back in after I made the switch to r.o. I successfully grew both hydro and soil (soiless, actually) for 6 years with no problems whatsoever. I made the switch to full time R.O. and my plants hated me for it.

It can be tough trying to get your calmag dialed in perfectly, but once you get the hang of it,life goes back to being good again. I never thought to remove the RO membrane, to me it would be kinda defeating the purpose of getting the RO system in the first place. However, it does sound like that would work well. It would essentially be like using a Tallboy filter. 60 ppm is nothing...hell, I never had any problems growing with well water at 350 ppm. On most strains...the ppm needs to be raised back to 100-125 ppms with calmag anyways. My main thing was that I didnt like not being in control of every element my plants were getting so I made the switch. Good thinking though on that one...I have never tried it personally, but it does make sense.

Another thing someone could do if they are having trouble with Calamag Def. related to RO water is to use 50% RO/50% city-well and it would alleviate any calmag problems...but again this defeats the purpose of getting the RO in the first place.

[Green-Nubie]

Green-Nubie-

You make an excellent point...It took me about 2-3 months to get my plants completely dialed back in after I made the switch to r.o. I successfully grew both hydro and soil (soiless, actually) for 6 years with no problems whatsoever. I made the switch to full time R.O. and my plants hated me for it.

It can be tough trying to get your calmag dialed in perfectly, but once you get the hang of it,life goes back to being good again. I never thought to remove the RO membrane, to me it would be kinda defeating the purpose of getting the RO system in the first place. However, it does sound like that would work well. It would essentially be like using a Tallboy filter. 60 ppm is nothing...hell, I never had any problems growing with well water at 350 ppm. On most strains...the ppm needs to be raised back to 100-125 ppms with calmag anyways. My main thing was that I didnt like not being in control of every element my plants were getting so I made the switch. Good thinking though on that one...I have never tried it personally, but it does make sense.

Another thing someone could do if they are having trouble with Calamag Def. related to RO water is to use 50% RO/50% city-well and it would alleviate any calmag problems...but again this defeats the purpose of getting the RO in the first place.

 

Just buy the filters and skip the r.o. system, its cheaper for starters.. and u dont have to buy the supplements...

[Z71_420]

masterkush- i already have a calmag supp but havent figure out how often to feed them and how much? im using the humboldt line

it suggests 1-5ml per week. just wondering what you've come up with as far as how often.

[MasterKush]

masterkush- i already have a calmag supp but havent figure out how often to feed them and how much? im using the humboldt line

it suggests 1-5ml per week. just wondering what you've come up with as far as how often.

 

Currently im using Fox Farm nutrients and Promix Soil. I have found that most of the strains im running stay happy and healthy if I add 2.5ml of CalMag+ for every gallon of water I use. My feed schedule goes feed, water, feed, water etc. and I give them the 1/2 tsp per gallon for both the feed and the water cycles. This almost always does this trick. If I encounter a strain that is still lacking calmag with this ratio I give them a foliar feed w/ 5ml per gallon of Calmag+. No matter what nutrients you are using this should give you a good starting point if not dial you in completly...but then again I have never used Humboldt Nutrients so what the hell do i know? lol

[Honeyoil]

thanks a ton for the info! it didnt seem logical when he told me that, i priced a 5stage filter replacement kit for 50 bucks, and figure to have clean water at hand if i have to change the filters every 6-12 months so be it.

 

 

wclark--- that system looks a little bit nicer than the one i was looking at, ILL TAKE IT lol. do you have any tips or advice on installation?

 

thanks for everyones advice.

Yeah, I looked all around. All the systems seem to use mostly the same parts. These guys had the best bang for the buck when I ordered 6 months ago. They have replacement filter kits for it that are also reasonably priced.

 

Install recommendations:

 

Buy the water faucet and tubing from them. Install it in your kitchen sink. Why should only the plants drink great water? It's good for the whole household. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get the Quick Push To Connect fittings. The R/O unit comes with some, but you will probably need more. I needed several T's and some 1/4 to 3/8 converters. Also get some shutoff valves, one for each end of your R/O unit, and at least one at the other end, depending on number of reservoirs and if you want a faucet in the grow room.

 

Don't buy their pressure gauge. I did and it filled with water in a week and stopped working.

 

I put an expansion tank on mine. You will have fun in the plumbing dept buying fittings to reduce the tank connection to the quick connect fitting.

 

My input pressure is at 65psi, which is ideal for the R/O system. Much higher or lower, and you will need to boost or reduce the pressure.

 

I mounted the unit level on the wall in a convenient place to reach cold water in and a drain out, plus be able to see it. No electrical is mounted around it, or under it.

 

The R/O unit uses 1/4" tubing in and out. I ran the out to a shutoff, then a T connector. One part runs to the expansion tank, and the other ran to another T. That T splits off to the kitchen and the grow room. I used 3/8" on the runs to the kitchen and the grow room. That's where the 1/4 to 3/8 converters came in. The 3/8" runs right into the kitchen faucet, and also right into 3/8" shutoff valves and then the float valves.

 

I have ebb/flow setups, so the shutoff valve is necessary to prevent overflowing your rez. It would overfill if it filled during a cycle, so you have to keep it shut off after it is full, and manually monitor top-offs. This is where the expansion tank comes in handy. I have a 42 Gal expansion tank. I can top off my rez's quickly when the expansion tank is full. The R/O unit fills reservoirs sloooowly without a reserve.

[Z71_420]

Currently im using Fox Farm nutrients and Promix Soil. I have found that most of the strains im running stay happy and healthy if I add 2.5ml of CalMag+ for every gallon of water I use. My feed schedule goes feed, water, feed, water etc. and I give them the 1/2 tsp per gallon for both the feed and the water cycles. This almost always does this trick. If I encounter a strain that is still lacking calmag with this ratio I give them a foliar feed w/ 5ml per gallon of Calmag+. No matter what nutrients you are using this should give you a good starting point if not dial you in completly...but then again I have never used Humboldt Nutrients so what the hell do i know? lol

 

thanks for the tips there masterkush, im running happy frog in my plants right now when i first got the supp. i tried 2.5, for 2 feedings and 1ml for the last feeding, and im pretty sure they were not happy after that, they just look locked out, but the buds keep growing, i just been waterin and 1 0-10-10 feeding but that was only 5-600ppms roughly 1wk ago.

 

 

 

Yeah, I looked all around. All the systems seem to use mostly the same parts. These guys had the best bang for the buck when I ordered 6 months ago. They have replacement filter kits for it that are also reasonably priced.

 

Install recommendations:

 

Buy the water faucet and tubing from them. Install it in your kitchen sink. Why should only the plants drink great water? It's good for the whole household. Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get the Quick Push To Connect fittings. The R/O unit comes with some, but you will probably need more. I needed several T's and some 1/4 to 3/8 converters. Also get some shutoff valves, one for each end of your R/O unit, and at least one at the other end, depending on number of reservoirs and if you want a faucet in the grow room.

 

Don't buy their pressure gauge. I did and it filled with water in a week and stopped working.

 

I put an expansion tank on mine. You will have fun in the plumbing dept buying fittings to reduce the tank connection to the quick connect fitting.

 

My input pressure is at 65psi, which is ideal for the R/O system. Much higher or lower, and you will need to boost or reduce the pressure.

 

I mounted the unit level on the wall in a convenient place to reach cold water in and a drain out, plus be able to see it. No electrical is mounted around it, or under it.

 

The R/O unit uses 1/4" tubing in and out. I ran the out to a shutoff, then a T connector. One part runs to the expansion tank, and the other ran to another T. That T splits off to the kitchen and the grow room. I used 3/8" on the runs to the kitchen and the grow room. That's where the 1/4 to 3/8 converters came in. The 3/8" runs right into the kitchen faucet, and also right into 3/8" shutoff valves and then the float valves.

 

I have ebb/flow setups, so the shutoff valve is necessary to prevent overflowing your rez. It would overfill if it filled during a cycle, so you have to keep it shut off after it is full, and manually monitor top-offs. This is where the expansion tank comes in handy. I have a 42 Gal expansion tank. I can top off my rez's quickly when the expansion tank is full. The R/O unit fills reservoirs sloooowly without a reserve.

 

darn, i bought the guage too,does there shutoff float valve work fine, i got that also. i have a mobile home so i was just going to run the system out in my room out of the house, if i was to put the r/o system into the house i'd either be hauling water outside again or installing 40-50ft of waterline under the house which will have to be heated in the winter. which really is the direction i want to go in the future but with my main water line splitting off into the garage. With there free shipping my total purchase price was 119 bucks small price to pay for clean water IMO i dont think i could thank any of you guys enough for the advice.

[Honeyoil]

...does there shutoff float valve work fine, i got that also...

Yes, the shutoff should be fine. Same as what you will find at lowes or home depot.