Hi Guys,
I am thinking of buying an R.O. system.
my ph out of the tap is 9.2, having problems with nutrient block,

Anyone using RO ?
any input would be appreciated.

Regards
G

Ok best place to try is RO-MAN, google it.

The 3 stage is sound and perfect for growing canna.

You may find it better to add some Formulex or other general nutrient to give it a background back upto around 0.4EC.

I only used pure RO for flushing.

Hope that helps.

You may find it better to add some Formulex or other general nutrient to give it a background back upto around 0.4EC.



Hi Stealth67 can you tell me why I need the Formulex I didn't think I would need an additive?
also will I need PH up ?
Is there a hydro feed that is better for RO water ie buffering etc
lots of questions and again thanx

G

PS thanx for the Direct

vinegar mate, simply use vinegar


its ec-less, and will drop ph nicely
very combinable with all nutes

that will help u out untill ur osmosis system is working well

The best stuff that I ever grew was with using water that had been reverse osmosised. I would definately recommend using one, makes the finished product alot nicer IMHO.

I used Formulex because its pretty much got everything covered nutrient wise, if you use it to make up your background all the way through your grow, you shouldnt have any deficencies at all. My butt was always made upto 0.4EC background with Formulex, even when flushing.

Not a yellow leaf in sight.

Make sure you use soft water nutes if they are available in the range you use? If you dont the PH will rise a lot quicker.

Hydrotops soft water is a great product to use with RO.

And me !

I used Formulex because its pretty much got everything covered nutrient wise, if you use it to make up your background all the way through your grow, you shouldnt have any deficencies at all. My butt was always made upto 0.4EC background with Formulex, even when flushing.

Not a yellow leaf in sight.

Make sure you use soft water nutes if they are available in the range you use? If you dont the PH will rise a lot quicker.

Hydrotops soft water is a great product to use with RO.
[/quote]

Thanx allot S67, Appreciated

Hiya

I PM'd a bunch of folk about RO for the same reason recently.

Those who got back to me were really positive about using RO-treated water, but none could actually report that it had dealt with lock-out & other nute probs. ascribed to crap tapwater.

Basically-it seemed that if you could afford it & fit it/get it fitted then it's great (for good drinking water if nothing else) and didn't seem to do any harm (although I remember something about it being best to add a little bit of nutes or something to raise the EC a little above 0.0 - I'll leave that to those who actually have experience...)

Stan

I use an RO unit its a 5 stage unit, what you need to do is still add tap water to stabalise the ph of the water, RO water is very unstable on the ph because there is simply nothing in the water, thus a little acid or caustic added has a dramatic effect on the ph, if you add ph up then your then you could potentially have lock out problems again as you will generally add ph down as you will probably overshoot the correct PH.
Everytime you add acid + caustic a salt compound is formed along with water, this compound will upset the harmony of your solution and if in too higher concentration will cause lockout.
Water with your PH start point of >9 sounds to me like its toxic, I'm supprised you can grow let alone have lock outs, what made me get an RO unit is having my water tested, most good grow shops have this service and can advise you further as too much mg locks out many elements.
If you do buy one (which I totally reccomend if you have high pH and high water conductivity) stabalise with a little tap water, it works wonders.

If you do adjust the pH down (and i reccomend your always going down from the original 1st mix) then use citric acid, it does not interupt with the fine tuning of a good nutrient pkg...

Yup RO with some tap water in it is the way to go it will help to stabilize the water and put a few minerals back in the water and if its mostly RO water you will want soft water nutes

A really silly question! Do you drink tap water ?

Do you live in a third world country ?

That water isn't proper for human usage.

Is the PH meter calibrated ?

you could use the aquagleam its just as good you get two versions 30ppm and 00ppm hope this helps its probably a lot cheaper at £46 each