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Reverse Osmosis System

FadeToBlack

FadeToBlack

I was thinking about getting a home reverse osmosis water system.
The water here is definatly not the best and contains alot of salt.
I was just wondering if anyone has any experience watering with this type of purified water?
 
I'd advise you to get one that you can change filters on easily, and get an efficient one that doesn't produce as much waste water especially if you pay for your water
 
That's a heck of a commitment for your plants Fade. I have one that is connected to a separate faucet on my kitchen sink and is used mainly for providing drinking and cooking water--I hate our tap water. I do believe it's a big reason for my success in getting cuttings to root but I've never done a comparison with the tap water so it's just an opinion. Mine is only capable of producing a few gallons an hour so I don't think it can handing the water needs of more than a few adult plants.
 
hey man i use one just for my plants i am in to hydroponics so i felt the need to do it and my hooks up to my garden hose and i just filter in to 4 55gallon drums .. then i jus turn it off and on as i need it... i added 2 more drums late,r not in pic.. it works great so far ... my RO system does 90gallons a day.. ha ha it takes me like 2 days to fill all that up.. and my water bill was only $53.00 bucks not to bad...


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We have extremely hard water so I got an RO system last year. Now I don't need to check pH, the plants are happy and the water tastes so much better. I can't imagine ever going back to tap water.
 
Thanks for your input guys.

I have recently tested the PH of my tap water and it is 3.8 and salty to taste.
It also has a slightly darker tint when compared to bottled drinking water which i tested with a PH of 6.8
Only God know what other horrible micro garbage is in our water because its dirt cheap here unlike the electricity.
I've looked on amazon and found a system that does 50 Gallons a day for under $200 which I dont think is too bad.
 
The cheaper systems may have expensive, hard to replace filters and be aware that the amount of waste water produced will be much greater then the usable R.O. water.
"Household reverse osmosis units use a lot of water because they have low back pressure. As a result, they recover only 5 to 15 percent of the water entering the system. The remainder is discharged as waste water. Because waste water carries with it the rejected contaminants, methods to recover this water are not practical for household systems. Waste water is typically connected to the house drains and will add to the load on the household septic system. An RO unit delivering 5 gallons of treated water per day may discharge 40 to 90 gallons of waste water per day to the septic system. [6]

Large scale industrial/municipal systems have a production efficiency of closer to 48% because they can generate the high pressure needed for RO filtration."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis
 
If you have an air conditioner, you can use the condensate from the evaporator. It's surprising how much condensate an A/C makes in a day.

You can also buy distilled water in most stores fairly cheaply.
 
If you plan to unhook it when not in use you need to put valves on it to keep water inside. Otherwise you can damage the filter. The more stages the more expensive. Get one with a DI filter to get pretty much 0 TDS

Chris
 
willard3 said:
If you have an air conditioner, you can use the condensate from the evaporator. It's surprising how much condensate an A/C makes in a day.

You can also buy distilled water in most stores fairly cheaply.
Click to expand...

Water from a dehumidifier works well too
 
I think for most people its important to know exactly whats in their water before spending time and money taking everything out of it. When I used R/O I had to add back a lot of what I just finished taking out:(
 
POTAWIE said:
The cheaper systems may have expensive, hard to replace filters and be aware that the amount of waste water produced will be much greater then the usable R.O. water.
"Household reverse osmosis units use a lot of water because they have low back pressure. As a result, they recover only 5 to 15 percent of the water entering the system. The remainder is discharged as waste water. Because waste water carries with it the rejected contaminants, methods to recover this water are not practical for household systems. Waste water is typically connected to the house drains and will add to the load on the household septic system. An RO unit delivering 5 gallons of treated water per day may discharge 40 to 90 gallons of waste water per day to the septic system. [6]

Large scale industrial/municipal systems have a production efficiency of closer to 48% because they can generate the high pressure needed for RO filtration."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_osmosis
Click to expand...

well said..... .industrial systems can run recoveries to as much as 60% on SWRO (Sea Water) and as much as 93% on BWRO (Brackish)..... the home RO systems are usually designed for already low TDS feeds (or what we in the RO industry refer to as Ultra Pure RO - UPRO), some even less than 200 mg/l TDS, they would have far lower osmotic pressures than that required for the industrial systems.......... another key point is that home RO membranes have very low salt rejection - so if your home tap water already has a low TDS, your RO permeate is not goin to be much better than the feed in terms of dissolved solids....... you need to first take a good look at the quality of your tap water before deciding the way of RO...... i would recommend a DI system instead - if you can get the "filter" replacements easily.....
 
i have a whirlpool ro system that is 7 years old filters easy to get same as sears.3 to 4 days in the mail.for every gal of ro water 5 down the drain.seeds realy like it no mold on cuttings.
 
I would definitely invest in a RO system. I actually have a built in 1 in the kitchen under the sink and a 2nd one I use for my fish tanks ( I have several tank with over 300 gallons) and decided to just get a 20 gallon drum to make water for the plants when I'm not using it for the fish fish tank. If you get a good sized model you can produce 20 gallons in a few hours which I found to be more than enough water for my plants when they are thirsty.
 
My wife and I are relatively new to the"hobby" or "business" of growing hot peppers and making sauces. We have been doing it for a couple of years and enjoy going to fairs, trade shows, etc. I have also been around the water industry my whole life primarily. First off I would like to say, I am very impressed by Red Eyes reverse osmosis setup, very cool! RO water is a great way to go because it eliminates up to 99% of the chemicals and contaminants. If you are in the Bahamas, the water is a little salty, you are correct, so an ro system would be helpful to you. There are many kinds out on the market, you could buy one on ebay for not a lot of money or have your local water treatment guy come out and give you a free water analysis would be good and he could give you some good options. If you are looking for a zero waste system, there is a company out there called Watts, and they manufacture that system. I hear it is good, and not too much money. Anyway we feel it is great for quality sauces. Hope this helps.
 
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