RO Water

My RO water from a local retailer tests at 5.5. I thought RO water was suppose to be as pure as you can get?

Should I even be using this water, or should I go bact to either spring water or distilled. An old hippie told me not to use distilled if I can help it.

i use 7.0 ph tap water and declorinate a few days leaving top open to air in gallon milk jugs, seems fine. check ph when u get to the point when ur adding nutes to be sure

Ya that might work to lower the ph (never tried) but what's the ppm's of your tap water? There a window to get in and me personally water from my tap 275 ppm, that means my plant needs no more then 1100 ppm's at this stage. That's 25% of my window, I add fert boom up to 475. Then my bloom now about 1000 ppm. so any supplements or extras most likely going to push you over the edge. To much ppm's stresses the plant also. It's a fine line. Ozarka spring water I know has a 0 ppm's but a ph of 5.0-5.5. I got a blue lab tester from local store don't know y I waited so long to get one works great.

Is there a specific brand of water that is perfect in ph and ppm? I'm sure there hasta be one out there.

I use ozarka cuz I can just ph up when I have my lady's drink ready. Now I have a small grow so I'm not going to the store and buying 50 gals at a time but at a buck each I can afford that. My flush thou I use RO water like any kind of purified water ph on the bottle I use is 6.0-6.6 and 120 ppm's. (I think that's like Kroger brand) super cheap. Remember the more supplements or nutes you add the more you got to adjust but soon you'll get it to a science. (I always go half on any extra nutes or supps and see how she does first). Good luck man.

ph has nothing to do with RO water, my RO comes out at 8.0 for some reason, its the ppm thats whats RO is about. We are now able to add only the things the plant needs, rather than all the ish that comes out of tap that the plant doesnt need. My ppm comes out to 10-15 of my RO water.

ph has nothing to do with RO water, my RO comes out at 8.0 for some reason, its the ppm thats whats RO is about. We are now able to add only the things the plant needs, rather than all the ish that comes out of tap that the plant doesnt need. My ppm comes out to 10-15 of my RO water.

This is solid advice

Ph has nothing to do with hardness value

This is solid advice

Ph has nothing to do with hardness value

Another thing I noticed when I tried RO a few times is that it takes less PH Up Or Down to adjust the PH.

Thats right p.p.m. (parts,per,million) of shit put in your water. That makes your water "soft or hard" high levels of ppm's or ph will shock the plant and stunt the growth. Your ppm's at 10-15 on your RO system is that one you bought and put in or is that bottle? I've checked two different bottled and both over a 100 which is cool that's do-able but just wondering.

I have one that i keep outside hooked up to the hose, that goes into a55gal tank. I believe the brand is hydro logic was about $200 bux.

I think distilled water IS ro water....and spring/drinking water is tap.

I dunno though. I'm just some guy on the internets.

So to clarify... Which should I use for a noob? RO water or distilled store water?

my vote is which ever is cheaper.

personally I use tap water with 250ppm and 7.5 ph and I do fine.

I'm a noob and changing the ph sucks arse. Which would be fine to give straight to my plant without adding anything but nutes?

I have had good results using tap water through a whole house carbon filter to filter out sediment and chlorine. No R/O. My water is under 250 PPM and I use a Canna schedule adjusted for this type of water. My PH seems to stay fairly stable.

I am a little dubious about the need for R/O for other than special situations. However, I have never used R/O myself or done a comparison so I can not be sure.

Doing the way I do produces some pretty nice plants and bud. Still can improve though. So I'm open.

how do you figure out parts per 1,000,000

With a tester?

With a tester?

Yes, much easier than trying to count them with a microscope.

Sorry, couldn't help myself. You need a PPM or EC meter. Google "Blue Labs PPM pen."

I have a blue lab don't know how I did it before with out it what a pain in the ass. I got it local at the hydro shop like 90 bucks plus the calibration solution for like 5 more little over a hundred. But it's better not to have a problem then to have to fix one and risk a crop, total worth the 100.


That RO that hooks to your hose how many gal. Is it good for (aprox)? 200 bucks could be worth it.

I use the BL and it is sweet. Other good ones out there I am sure.

I have a Hannah PH meter I got off of Ebay for cheap. Works great!


Still remain unconvinced you need to use R/O water for most grows.