R.O. Water/stinks.... to worry or not worry

Discussion in 'Hydroponic Growing' started by Tihspeed, Dec 30, 2010.

  1. up till recently I have been purchasing tremendous amounts of distilled water from local grocers. I finally broke down and purchased a Hydrologic R.O. system.

    Here's the problem. Any R.O. water left out over night smells like total ass. I've tried all combo's of things to combat what i can only guess is algae caused by light. I have even sealed a gallon of water up in a light tight five gallon bucket and overnight it smells like rotten meat. I've put a bubbler in a five gallon bucket with the lid off... once again ass and it has white shit floating on the surface.

    the only thing i have not tried is chilling the water. Could this be the problem? heat is causing my water to turn sour?

    I'm currently using this water in my Super Small RDWC... it only uses 8 gallons of water.. four gallons in a res and the other four are divided between two buckets with a recirc. system... there is plunty of air being pumped into this system with 2 whisper 100's... and once again... total ass in a bag... white shit floating all over the place... unstable P.H.=going up all the time.. I've tried every way known to stop the ph from rising.. and the smell and white floaties are totally freaking me out... I am so happy i didn't take my other systems and switch over to R.O. water.. still on distilled... and I might leave them in Distilled mode If I cannot resolve this isssue

    Air temps are holding at 80 max temp... 70 without a light
    Im going to take a reading of the controller temp in like five minutes... its cold though

    anyone else having an issue like this? the funk with an R.O. system?
    i really don't want to use hydrogen peroxide, unless i have to
    how important is res temp?
    why am i having this problem with R.O. water when i don't have it with distilled?
     
  2. all water is a constant 68 degrees.... this seems inline with not having algae...

    Is the White foam normal?
     
  3. Rotten meat? or Rotten Eggs?
    Rotten egg smell is Hydrogen Sulfide - and that aint good.
    You got pH, TDS / EC numbers on the output of the RO?

    The short answer is that this is not normal from RO water ...
     
  4. I get a funky odor in my RO tank, but I just put two drops of bleach in it.

    Tank is 22 gal.

    Sounds like your water is real funky if you are getting white crap forming.

    RO should smell ok, but it ain't perfume.
     
  5. thanks for the replys guys... the best description i can give is...immediately it smells very sour,then after three days it smells like a fish tank...

    all i have is ph... i never/ever needed the other meters before... ill borrow my buddies meter and get the other readings...

    hahaha.. maybe ill take a sample down to pets mart and see whats in my water...

    ill try to update soon... im drinking this stuff... so is my family... and in less than 24 hours it smells dank...

    frustrated:(
     
  6. Try tap water, seriously.

    Some of the micronutrients found in tap water are beneficial. If you are in a hard water area, use hard water nutrients.

    Most horror stories of tap water = root rot is moreto do with lack of airation and res not being light proof.

    Tap water isn't the work of the devil, remember you are growing tomatos not hard corals.
     
  7. This is not very sound advice.
    If there are micro-nutrients in tap water - in significant amounts - then your tap water would be shut down. The auto offers no proof of his / her statement.

    Most "horror stories" about tap water have to do with high calcium and / or hardness. This plays hell with pH adjusting the water and can increase the buildup of salts in media like hydrotron.

    Anyone that attempts to grow hydro with tap water gets what they gets.
    Anyone that attempts to grow hydro without a complete profile of the source water gets what they gets.
     
  8. Only on the internet is growing tomatos such a difficult task.

    Tap water isn't poison, plants thrive perfectly fine on it. Its easy to buffer down and maintain with PH down, if anything RO water is very sensitive to additives.

    There's two options here, continue with water that clearly is contaminated, or use something that works.

    Tap water won't mutate all living things on earth and ruin his crop. There are plenty of people out there who use tap water, maintain very nice crops and yields.

    I've said my bit, the OP will obviously do as he wishes.
     
  9. I'm not growing tomatoes. MJ bro. I appreciate all advice. Even growing with tap does not solve my problem with sour RO water. My family is drinking this stuff. Raoul is correct,i should have taken readings after install. A problem I plan to correct very quickly
     
  10. Let us know what you find out!
    That some weird stuff...
    How about running a sample past the pet store for an "aquarium" test?
     
  11. hahahaha... i actually made a reference to that previously in this thread... I win:p

    it was in response to the thread in the beginners section about water... it was funny... guess you had to be there
     
  12. Are you sure you have the RO unit hooked up correctly?

    Don't mean to ask a "dumb" question., but something isn't right when your water is forming "white stuff".

    You sure you aren't using the drain line as the supply line?
     
  13. the old saying... the only dumb question is the one not asked...

    i thought the same thing... went threw the directions and double checked...

    my buddies meter is broken.. does not read PPM... case of rotten luck.. i need one anyway.. gonna get one tomorrow...

    thanks man... it was a good question
     
  14. Never tried this, but what if you took a sample and boiled it away to nothing and saw what if anything was left ?
     

  15. Classic diy! I'm on it!
     
  16. Need a BIG sample
     

  17. Well that depends :)......we have no idea what the ppm is of the water coming from the RO unit.

    Bill
     
  18. well..... needless to say, i did not get right on the boil it down and see what you get....

    it was new years, there was lesbo action and vomit on my couch.... and champagne all over my counter, hot chicks with big boobs.... my plant could have died and i wouldn't have cared...

    but monday is a new week.... and i plan to get back on track...

    ill get the update as soon as i get a meter for PPM
     

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