# To RO or not RO



## sopappy (Jan 15, 2017)

city water is 70 - 90ppm   pH 7.8 - 9

I like the idea of not needing so much pH down but I read two disturbing things:

RO water is bad for a pH probe so how do I measure ppm (one probe for both)?

_also read t_o add back tap water (can't find it now)
***? my water is 70, I reduce to 0 and add back in 50 of the **** I just filtered out? I'm buying RO to get rid of 20ppm?


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## Grower13 (Jan 15, 2017)

70-90 is pretty low......... why the big range for ph?..... with ppm that low I'd upgrade elsewhere


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## Lesso (Jan 15, 2017)

Grower13 said:


> 70-90 is pretty low......... why the big range for ph?


Some areas have older iron based water pipes. The ph is raised as to not have acidic corrosive reactions happen and degrade the pipes. Typically it wont range that much, however if you are measuring it at different temps then you will get different readings. 
I use ro but my ppms are 220 coming in with a ph of 8.5. I dont ever add back the tap water either. I dont know why you would. Ph is the biggest challenge in hydro. Ph is also the most common cause of problems in hydro. I couldnt get it under control until i switched to ro water. So i say yes ro


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## Kraven (Jan 15, 2017)

I have found my drift from 5.7 to 6.2 will be more steady and take about a week using R/O...only bad side is that I have to add back the Ca/Mg so using R/O basically costs me $1 a day. Before R/O I was 302ppm @ 7.2 pH now with R/O I'm 0ppm @ 6.4, sometimes I have to add SiO2 or pH up to raise the pH after adding nutes.


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## Growdude (Jan 15, 2017)

Lesso said:


> I dont ever add back the tap water either. I dont know why you would.


 
They say to do this so there is no cal/mag issue, most recommend using a cal/mag supplement when using RO water.


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## sopappy (Jan 15, 2017)

Grower13 said:


> 70-90 is pretty low......... why the big range for ph?..... with ppm that low I'd upgrade elsewhere



damn, yup, better lights, I was thinking that too but 70-90 is not that low when I'm limited to 500pm max with my shitty lights right now. 
In early veg, I'm what? 200 and half of that is 90ppm tap water.... I can see where 200 all nutes would be better. Damn yellowing, they scream for calmag and that's 50ppm right there, only room for 110 nutes.
Also, if the RO doesn't have much to do with only 90ppm, I'm thinking the cartridges will last much longer. 
City publishes 8.4 - 8.8 ... I often see 9.0 (winter???)
Can't be good pH downing that to 5.7 every time....
Waste water is not a concern so I'm going for it

aside...  without the bubblers, my pH has been steady but I broke down and added ONE stone to each rez....
if my pH is nutty tonight ... out they come


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## sopappy (Jan 15, 2017)

Lesso said:


> Some areas have older iron based water pipes. The ph is raised as to not have acidic corrosive reactions happen and degrade the pipes. Typically it wont range that much, however if you are measuring it at different temps then you will get different readings.
> I use ro but my ppms are 220 coming in with a ph of 8.5. I dont ever add back the tap water either. I dont know why you would. Ph is the biggest challenge in hydro. Ph is also the most common cause of problems in hydro. I couldnt get it under control until i switched to ro water. So i say yes ro



What do you add if you don't add (5.7ph'd) tap water? If you don't add anything, your solution will become more concentrated with nutes. I check my levels every day... the 4 rezs usually drop about 1 - 4 litres a day....  I add that back in from the original 5.7 water I used to mix the nutes and THEN I check the ppms.

yup, I ordered the RO, a hundred bucks doesn't get me much more light :-(


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## sopappy (Jan 15, 2017)

Kraven said:


> I have found my drift from 5.7 to 6.2 will be more steady and take about a week using R/O...only bad side is that I have to add back the Ca/Mg so using R/O basically costs me $1 a day. Before R/O I was 302ppm @ 7.2 pH now with R/O I'm 0ppm @ 6.4, sometimes I have to add SiO2 or pH up to raise the pH after adding nutes.



hey Kraven! thanks for popping by, 
I've finally twigged to the cal/mag thing and understand it. (ha!)
but what I'm not getting is why some (RO) growers add tap water
I hate to plug this guy (but there is plenty of good stuff):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fb3RBNuVJlk&t=80s
1:50 what the **** is he on about? I don't want to RAISE my pH but I do want to stabilize it.
Sounds like you say it will happen but if it does, I can use pH up instead of tap water which I feel better about.


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## sopappy (Jan 15, 2017)

Growdude said:


> They say to do this so there is no cal/mag issue, most recommend using a cal/mag supplement when using RO water.



I haven't got my RO yet but I'm already using cal/mag and was using epsom salts before this, seems it's a given in hydro, makes me wonder why it's not in the nutes already?


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## Lesso (Jan 15, 2017)

Growdude said:


> They say to do this so there is no cal/mag issue, most recommend using a cal/mag supplement when using RO water.



Cal mag suppliment is a more quantifiable way of adding back cal mag.


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## Lesso (Jan 15, 2017)

sopappy said:


> What do you add if you don't add (5.7ph'd) tap water? If you don't add anything, your solution will become more concentrated with nutes. I check my levels every day... the 4 rezs usually drop about 1 - 4 litres a day....  I add that back in from the original 5.7 water I used to mix the nutes and THEN I check the ppms.
> 
> yup, I ordered the RO, a hundred bucks doesn't get me much more light :-(


I add back nutrient solution or plain ro water with a little ph down. My ro water is 6.8 ph. 8 ppm


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## sopappy (Jan 16, 2017)

Lesso said:


> I add back nutrient solution or plain ro water with a little ph down. My ro water is 6.8 ph. 8 ppm



after all my reading, 6.8 seems high
good and bad with RO, I'm tempted to get a re-mineralize cartridge so I can drink it..... pharma in tap water, that explains Trudeau anyways

some notes I took:

removes contaminants arsenic, nitrates, sodium, copper and lead, some organic chemicals, and the municipal additive fluoride.

and the bummers
however also removes most mineral particles (including sodium, calcium, magnesium and iron
does NOT remove volatile organic chemical (VOCs), chlorine and  chloramines, pharmaceuticals, and a host of other synthetic chemicals  found in municipal water


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## pcduck (Jan 17, 2017)

Mine removes chlorines. Don't you have a carbon filter attached to your ro filter?


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## sopappy (Jan 17, 2017)

pcduck said:


> Mine removes chlorines. Don't you have a carbon filter attached to your ro filter?



http://www.waterbenefitshealth.com/reverse-osmosis-water.html

I should have kept reading, they were talking about the RO membrane.
I have the charcoal cartridge but I have chloramine here, is it a concern? jeeze, another cartridge?


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## sopappy (Jan 18, 2017)

forgot to ask about my RO mod, pretty ripped, it was fun, all hooked up
I wanted to add a bypass to the flow restrictor thingie a la youtube but don't have the parts.
I did have some air stuff, so that brass T takes membrane output to restrictor and to a 2nd waste tube with a tap on the end, seems like the same thing to me

jeeze, that picture looks scary with the duplex right below, I must be violating some code there, 

View attachment ro.JPG


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## trillions of atoms (Jan 19, 2017)

Your ppm is low for tap.

Have you mixed up nutes and checked if it has buffered ok and holds?

That needs to be your biggest concern.


You should be fine.

I run r/o at 0ppm so I know EXACTLY what is in my water and what my feed ppm is to the T.


You should have 0 issues.


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## sopappy (Jan 19, 2017)

the water is good but I like that T part myself and it sure is pure
I have a detector I sit in the bins so they don't overflow, level just quietly sails over it.

On that, I knew there was waste but man, it's hard to watch. I use it to fill washer and jugs, I'm also doing that flush thing for 2 minutes before using the filtered water.
I know not to drink after the de-ion as it sucks the calcium out of your bones,
but I'm thinking this water that passes sediment/carbon and flows over the membrane is fine, gold even.


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## sopappy (Jan 19, 2017)

trillions of atoms said:


> Your ppm is low for tap.
> 
> Have you mixed up nutes and checked if it has buffered ok and holds?
> 
> ...



I've seen it as low as 50ppm. 
I don't really understand buffering but I read that adding 10% tap back in is supposed to steady the pH
That's probably close to 50ppm haha, I'd rather not do that


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## pcduck (Jan 19, 2017)

Not sure how or what brand of nutes you use, but most bottled nutes have buffers in them to place the pH at the proper level.


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## trillions of atoms (Jan 20, 2017)

^^^^   this.


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## sopappy (Jan 20, 2017)

readin' how to make my cartridges last longer.... dudes are telling me there can be lots of CO2 in water and it's hard on the DI cartridge. 
I'm thinking it's going to be hard on roots too, but I've never heard of this in mj growing.

oh, cartridge life fix is to install a tub and bubbler after the membrane and let gravity feed the DI cartridge below it.


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## sopappy (Aug 24, 2018)

Thanks duck, saves me having to read up and mess with buffers.

Guess I better think about replacing filtres and cleaning the rig. I've since discovered my city water uses Chhorlamine instead of Chlorine. I read it's the carbon filtre that takes out the chlorine. If I use a chloromine filtre, do I still have to use the carbon one as well or can I just replace it w/ the chloromine one?


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## The Hemp Goddess (Aug 25, 2018)

Is your water high enough in ppms to justify an RO or are you just dong this because of the chloramine?


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## sopappy (Aug 25, 2018)

City water is fine at 50-70 but I've been having trouble so I thought it might help. I also use it in my humidifier (instead of rip off filtres) and drink from a tap before the de-min cartridge.
Then I find out we don't use chlorine and I don't like what I read about chloramine and plant life so easiest is to replace the carbon with the chloramine one.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Aug 25, 2018)

If you don't have a lot of dissolved solids in your water, I'd go with a filter that removes chloramine--using an RO is overkill.  I have a filter on my outside hose that removes chlorine, chloramine, heavy metals, and a few other things.  I have well water, so don't need the chlorine/chloramine removal, but I do have arsenic in my water and need to filter that out.


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## sopappy (Aug 27, 2018)

Overkill and pricey. Cartridges don't last more than a year or so and if you don't clean them, you can get some interesting bugs in yer gut, just read it somewhere,  it does save a small fortune in those humidifier filtres though.
And look what I found for the chloramine, internet drives me nuts, popeye

_Reverse osmosis. _Reverse osmosis (RO) units of the type installed in homes usually have one or two activated carbon filters in the path to protect the RO membrane from chlorine and chloramine, which would poison it. RO-processed water is, therefore, chloramine-free,

I'll have to pick up a test kit, why do they have a chloramine filtre if the carbon one does it?

(ha, neighbour's A/C unit's compressor is coming on calling for cool when it's 65 degrees outside, wonder what he's growing in there)


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## pcduck (Aug 27, 2018)

Bulk reef supply runs specials all the time.


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## sopappy (Aug 27, 2018)

pcduck said:


> Bulk reef supply runs specials all the time.


18% surcharge to ship to ca but probably worth it, thanks


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## stinkyattic (Sep 2, 2019)

If you aren't STORING your pH probe in RO water no need to worry about damage. It's only harmful when used as a storage solution  (use buffer 4 instead). And there's really no point in testing the pH of RO/DI/distilled water anyway as the ionic strength is so low as to give long stabilization times and wonky readings. Test /adjust your pH as the last step after you've added all your fertilizers and supplements. 
When using any purified water, including rainwater, the very first step is to add CalMagPlus or comparable mineral replacement. Likewise, if your tap water is very soft to begin with, you are fine using the CalMag to bring up your base EC. Do this before adding other ferts, and simply repeat at every reservoir dump.
An RO or IX system makes sense primarily for hard water over about 125ppm TDS (as a comparison, the city water where I work as a WWTF operator comes in at about 45ppm as NaCl equivalency, this is pretty average) , or water that contains a high level of organic acids such as tannins.
Before investing in a purification system, be sure you can justify buying it!


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## Socrapy (Sep 3, 2019)

Freaky, why does this hit only happen when yer stoned?
I came here after searching RO and find my own thread a few day after stinkyattic responds to a year old post.
I friggin' gave up soon after that post, seed problems, fighting the bugs and the root rot, tried organic and all that "super" soil is in my backyard now, makes for great grass 

I had to get away from it, been buying fromk BC... had some Rockstar one day last week and I dug up my hydro stuff and am starting again, seeds sprouted today, 
so I'm prepping the tank, ebb and flo
but I'm still hung up on the chloramine and I stumbled across something intriguing.
To wit:
Acidification. It is also possible to remove chloramines by lowering the pH of the water. At low pH monochloramine converts to dichloramine, which clears overnight. ) Reducing the pH of the water to near pH 4 will allow the dichloramine to escape; you could then restore the pH to a higher value

What's the harm in dropping the pH to <4 wait a day, bubbling all the while, then add nutes and pH to 6.1


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## stinkyattic (Sep 3, 2019)

Aww shoot, my bad, the thread wasn't very far down and it didn't even occur to me to check the expiration date on the carton lol.
Yes, dropping the pH with just a little phosphoric acid is totally fine, if you do it  and then readjust BEFORE adding ferts. This a common and versatile method in wastewater treatment. Only thing to be aware of is that once ferts are added, pH <5 or >10 may be enough to break chelation in fertilizers and cause the ionic components to recombine into unavailable salts. So yeah, do your magic on the tap water as a first step!


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## Socrapy (Sep 3, 2019)

stinkyattic said:


> Aww shoot, my bad, the thread wasn't very far down and it didn't even occur to me to check the expiration date on the carton lol.
> Yes, dropping the pH with just a little phosphoric acid is totally fine, if you do it  and then readjust BEFORE adding ferts. This a common and versatile method in wastewater treatment. Only thing to be aware of is that once ferts are added, pH <5 or >10 may be enough to break chelation in fertilizers and cause the ionic components to recombine into unavailable salts. So yeah, do your magic on the tap water as a first step!



I've responded to posts way older than a year, and I'm glad you did. Pleased to meet you.
I was going to pH lastly (for the first batch anyways) I'm afraid of over shooting the runway, 60L tub
should I aim for 6.5 ? as the nutes will cause another drop, hopefully get 6.0 

what do you mean <5 or >10? what it looks like? 5.0 and 10.0 ? my metre's never gone higher than tap water 8.5


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## The Hemp Goddess (Sep 3, 2019)

You should always pH your solution after you have added nutes.


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## stinkyattic (Sep 3, 2019)

You should always *finalize* your pH adjustment after nutes. Absolutely! This is important and I should have mentioned it.

If you are pH adjusting your water to a level far, far outside the range fertilizers can stand before breaking down, for purposes of water pre-treatment,  bring the pH back to the 5-9 range before adding anything else. 
Fertilizers will chemically degrade outside of this range; above 10, the chelators will break down and the micronutrients  (metals) will precipitate out.
At a very low starting pH, your fertilizer macronutrients will partially go into equilibrium as their respective acids.
Whatever you do to pretreat your water, reverse it prior to building up your nutrient mix.


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## Socrapy (Sep 3, 2019)

stinkyattic said:


> You should always *finalize* your pH adjustment after nutes. Absolutely! This is important and I should have mentioned it.
> 
> If you are pH adjusting your water to a level far, far outside the range fertilizers can stand before breaking down, for purposes of water pre-treatment,  bring the pH back to the 5-9 range before adding anything else.
> Fertilizers will chemically degrade outside of this range; above 10, the chelators will break down and the micronutrients  (metals) will precipitate out.
> ...



ahah, wasn't sure how to adjust BEFORE and AFTER, makes sense now...  I'm leaving it sit overnight at 3.7  Tomorrow, I'll adjust to 5.0 ,then add nutes and adjust again

If I don't adjust to 5 first, I'll go into that equilibrium thing. Got it, thanks!


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## Socrapy (Sep 3, 2019)

The Hemp Goddess said:


> You should always pH your solution after you have added nutes.



Deja vu all over again... one of my first posts was on this. I read somewhere that once you know what your adjustment is (ie 3mil pH down), next time, you add the adjustment BEFORE the nutes, damned if I can remember why though

hey, miss... can you tell me what email provider sopappy registered under or is that private. I thought it was mail.com but nope.


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## The Hemp Goddess (Sep 4, 2019)

I really don't understand pHing, adding nute, and then pHing again?  What is the purpose of that?  Why not just add nutes and then pH?


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## stinkyattic (Sep 4, 2019)

I tried to explain it in my previous posts as best as possible without getting too deep into chemistry but I'll give the bullet points:
- fertilizers are stabilized for use in water that ALREADY has a pH not too far off from neutral
- the stabilizers are in a family of chemicals known as chelators. This includes EDTA, oxalic acid, and others, but these are the most common ones used in fertilizers. The word comes from the Latin chelos, which means claw. They essentially grab on and guard the form that the fertilizer chemical is in from reacting with other chemicals. Without going into a drawn out explanation of ions, simple molecules, chemical bonding, and salts, the chemicals in a fertilizer are held in a stable form that allows for uptake by plants.
- exposing chelators to extremes of pH will break them down and make them unable to prevent the fertilizers from dissociating into their component ions. For example, magnesium sulfate will dissociate into Mg+ and SO4-. Sulfate can further react with water to form oxygen and sulfuric acid but that is beside the point... the magnesium can form a hydroxide with the oxygen in the water and fall out of solution,  where it is unavailable. This is just one example - the complexity of fertilizers means a chemical soup that, if not stabilized, will change drastically. And this is NOT reversible.
- tap water comes into your house in a safe working range and does not need to be preadjusted at all.
-if you are pre treating your incoming water by pH manipulation... just put it back the way you found it prior to adding fertilizer. 

Source: I am an industrial chemist and licensed industrial wastewater treatment plant operator. And I began my career well over 20 years ago in a large commercial hydroponic operation growing basil, of all things. Now I just worry about pH adjusting industrial process tanks to precipitate heavy metals so that they do not pass through to the town sewer and kill off the good **** eatin' bacteria or harm the environment. I INTENTIONALLY use the technique described above with the GOAL of breaking chelation and allowing insoluble salts to form and be settled or filtered out as solids.

99% of growers don't need to worry about this. It only applies to someone attempting pretreatment using pH manipulation. Never expose fertilizers to pH extremes. Always do your final pH adjustment prior to feeding your plants.


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## Socrapy (Sep 4, 2019)

The Hemp Goddess said:


> I really don't understand pHing, adding nute, and then pHing again?  What is the purpose of that?  Why not just add nutes and then pH?



I trying to get the chloramine out of my water by dropping below pH of 4.0 (overnight) 
Stinky is warning of scary chemical goings on if I add nutes below a pH of 5.0
so I have to bring it up a bit before adding nutes and adding the nutes will change the pH again so there's the final pH

once I know the numbers, I'll be able to add the exact amount needed at 5.0 stage so that the nutes bring it down to say 6.0 and I won't have to do that final adjustment


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## stinkyattic (Sep 4, 2019)

You'd be technically bringing it up to 6, but don't be afraid of the final adjustment,  that's the easy one since fertilizers are usually buffered and it won't take much. I keep my pH down/up in diner ketchup dispensers or other small orifice containers so I can just add a little squirt, mix, check, squirt,  repeat until you get where you want to be. Also I ran my hydroton ebb n flow at 6.5 as the target. Don't be afraid of pH adjusting.  It's an art, and the more you do it, the easier it gets!


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## Socrapy (Sep 4, 2019)

stinkyattic said:


> I tried to explain it in my previous posts as best as possible without getting too deep into chemistry----- snipped
> 
> 99% of growers don't need to worry about this. It only applies to someone attempting pretreatment using pH manipulation. Never expose fertilizers to pH extremes. Always do your final pH adjustment prior to feeding your plants.



Much appreciated, my eyes glazed over here and there but a great read. 
I think it's worth the effort, sitting doesn't work anymore, I don't want to replace chemicals with chemicals and the filtres aren't cheap.

Out of the tap 8.4     after RO    6.5 and drops to 5.5 after awhile (which I have read by absorbing CO2 from the air but it keeps right on going down to 4.2 4.1 
but settles around there, is that like a saturation point for 40 litres ?


seedlings are up but look so frail and vulnerable... I have had a world of trouble with seeds over last few years, multiple sources, must be me
I just let them down, I'll start a thread, maybe somebody will catch something.


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## Socrapy (Sep 4, 2019)

stinkyattic said:


> You'd be technically bringing it up to 6, but don't be afraid of the final adjustment,  that's the easy one since fertilizers are usually buffered and it won't take much. I keep my pH down/up in diner ketchup dispensers or other small orifice containers so I can just add a little squirt, mix, check, squirt,  repeat until you get where you want to be. Also I ran my hydroton ebb n flow at 6.5 as the target. Don't be afraid of pH adjusting.  It's an art, and the more you do it, the easier it gets!



great, another question...  I have a tray on top of a reservoir, pump below fills tray above to just lick the bottom of the rapid rooter sitting in hydroton in the pot. Bottom two layers are in the flow , above that drains back down to rez. As long as the pump runs, it is circulating. When the pump stops, it takes 30 minutes to drain empty. (It takes 10 minutes to fill)

I was thinking of running the pump for 30 minutes every 2 hours.
roots will be hanging below pots in air for half the day approximately... too much?


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## stinkyattic (Sep 4, 2019)

Nope not at all. I only ran mine every 4 hours for 30 mins. If you think about it, the hydroton releases moisture and creates a nice humid zone for a long time after the water recedes. One way to set your cycles is flood, drain, set a timer, and check every hour to see where they start to droop, then set your cycles to flood an hour before you saw the droop set in. Air is great for roots!


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## Socrapy (Sep 5, 2019)

oh I like that droop tip, thank you
(I'm only back a couple days and a gem already)

The root zone is not full of the pellets, I'm not sure why I'm not doing that, pics in another thread coming up. Too damn heavy come cleaning time methinks.


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## stinkyattic (Sep 5, 2019)

Oh okay yeah in that case try the droop tip (watch it like a hawk so you don't unnecessarily stress your plants- FIRST SIGN OF DROOP) your results are going to be really dependent on the overall environment in the room.


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## Keef (Sep 5, 2019)

Hey Pappy !-- How U been ?  - Stinkyattic  nice to meet U  -- Welcome to MP -- I'm in transition right now helping my nephew set up a grow -- I'm a water pharmer in my heart--
I ran aero under LEDs -- I'm no scientist -- I would fill up a 35 gallon plastic tote full of R/O water and let it sit for 24 hours before use - came out the RO hose with a PH of around 4 - --24 hours later It's at a pH of about 6-- it needs to stabilize 
RO water got no cal/mag in it !- I add nutes to a new aero box then let it run 24 hours before using it - I use an air pump and stone -- U can end up chasing your tail on PH 
U got to let it stabilize then PH - My nute formula follows:

Measurement --per gallon
5 mils- Cal /mag
5 mils - EM 1
3 mils - nute concentrate ( I use botanacare )
One scoop -- Mycos - ( I run a live res vs chemical res.)
5 mils - Voodoo juice  or beneficial  bacteria tea
--
PH 24 as desired 24 hours later !-- I only changes the res. Once a month !- PH will wander some so I PH once a week !
Hope this helps ?-- However U use it RO water got to have Cal/mag added to it !


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## stinkyattic (Sep 5, 2019)

With regards to your question about pH  after RO, usually the carbonic acid does drop it into the low 5ish range over time, but this isn't a huge deal since the ionic strength is SO low most pH meters sold for home use won't be particularly accurate anyway. When you add the ph up it will give you back a little ionic strength and your meter will be more accurate. Be sure to use a mineral pretreatment to return the good stuff that RO removes: calmag to 100ppm to give moderate hardness,  then whatever your nutes are.
Sounds like you're doing a hybrid aeroponic setup. My expertise in managing one falls short and I don't want to give advice on a technique I'm not personally comfortable using. I hope other growers will weigh in with their experience!
Edit: when I reloaded the page I saw the great advice from Keef... this is what you need right about now


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## CasualGrower (Sep 10, 2019)

I have not used RO....My water here is really heavy in Cal And Mag....  I just bubbled it for a day or 2 to remove the Chlorines . Before adding to my system.
  Kinda like setting up a freshwater aquarium in this area....Never had to ad cal mag...


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## Socrapy (Sep 11, 2019)

Keef said:


> Hey Pappy !-- How U been ?  - Stinkyattic  nice to meet U  -- Welcome to MP -- I'm in transition right now helping my nephew set up a grow -- I'm a water pharmer in my heart--
> 
> >>> Hey Keef, I totally threw up my hands and almost bulldozed the whole room haha, the thripps won. Then I was doing some Rockstar one day and started in on the room again.
> 
> ...


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## Socrapy (Sep 11, 2019)

stinkyattic said:


> With regards to your question about pH  after RO, usually the carbonic acid does drop it into the low 5ish range over time,
> 
> >>> Keef and I have seen as low as 4, I was thrilled, added .5 ph down to 40 L and left at 3.7 overnight
> 
> ...


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## Socrapy (Sep 11, 2019)

oh, that's not working, sorry about that, me fix when time.. anxious to check on the girls
ha, this Rockstar... you just click on the dulled part


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## Ganjagrandaddy (Sep 12, 2019)

CasualGrower said:


> I have not used RO....My water here is really heavy in Cal And Mag....  I just bubbled it for a day or 2 to remove the Chlorines . Before adding to my system.
> Kinda like setting up a freshwater aquarium in this area....Never had to ad cal mag...


I just put a few drops of " tap safe" for fish to sort the chloramine and chlorine out. works a treat.  ironically , a company now doing the same product but renamed for plants water. cheeky sods.lol
if using L.e.d , even with hard water i get deficiencies of calmag.


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## Socrapy (Sep 12, 2019)

[QUOTE="Keef, post: -------- I would fill up a 35 gallon plastic tote full of R/O water and let it sit for 24 hours before use - came out the RO hose with a PH of around 4 - --24 hours later It's at a pH of about 6-- it needs to stabilize
[/QUOTE]

I wonder what's going on in here. Only thing different is I pH downed to 3.7 but 3 days later it's still there ???
40L (10gal) tank, bubbled once a day for awhile, longer if I forget, mostly covered
2 tanks both doing the same thing and metre checks out.

Update 13 sep.... still 3.7  ???
poltergeist


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## Socrapy (Sep 12, 2019)

what the heck do I do with these three, I gave up on them but the supersoil seems to have kicked in.
what now? I'm going in to flower, should I just keep going with molasses, teas, water or totally throw in the towel and start with the flower chem nutes?
the one below the yellow card is off, had that herringbone thing for awhile now
the one with the stick recovered nice from the bendy thing (supercrop?)

update 13 sep
molasses and ro water, flipping to flower, debating whether to kill all those microbes with flower nutes


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## stinkyattic (Oct 3, 2019)

debating whether to kill all those microbes with flower nutes[/QUOTE]

Not necessarily the case, soil bacteria are fine with many common fertilizers. The canna terra bio organic line is great and expensive and the botanicare pure blend pro line is great and cheap. 
Late to the party again lol... but stopped by and happy to see your plants are looking fine to make it through flower intact if you keep looking after them as well as you've been.


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