interesting, i had no idea. i was under the impression that once you ph'd your water, you where set. thank you very much for your help. i will look into RO water for sure. i have stayed away because of the amount of water it wastes. but hey, i guess its way worth it in the long run.
how much will you lower your water at a time? i never drop it more than .5 at a time. my tap is about 220. i set 45 gal. drum aside 24 hours befor i use it with a punp and a big air stone. this works very well it just bubbles out all the bleach and chlorine. not sure what is so bad about lowering the PH to fast but i just dont.
i would love an answer to that to
the only time i have ever used ro water was an boats. people cant survive on it because there are zero minerals in it. is that why you use ro water?
lol. I use RO water because my tap water is very, very hard, about 380ppm coming out of the tap with a ph of 7.8. It's impossible to grow with that, at least it is for me. So, yes, that's why I use it; zero minerals except for what I put in.
I am a newb and am having success with my first grow. I am using the e&g and I started out using distilled water. PH was high 7s. Then tried tap ppms low 200s. I finally got success using RO water. I buy it from walmart until I get a filter installed. My grocery store sells it for 30C/gal if you bring your own containers.. To much a pain. Anyways the RO water is PERFECT. Mine has a ph in HIGH 4s like 4.9. I I get this to about 5.3-5.5 with just 1-5 ml YES ml total of ph UP. and set the tank and forget it til I have to add water back cause the ladies are drinking alot. I keep the tank fairly the same level so adding back a gallon or two a day. The ph goes like 5.3 5.6 5.8 5.95 6.05 over the course of a few days. It seems so perfect to me. I add back my gal or two with 0-4 ml of ph DOWN. not per gal total 0-4. Seems to work perfect for me. Love RO water.
I have thought about keeping the water in the buckets and adding a bubble into each of them.
good to know. thanks for you help bro. i think thats the direction i have decided. i just need to drain everything, cycle it a few times. and refil with RO.
Yea next grow I might try it as a dwc with net pot lids, just set it to flood forever. I want a bit more active system... either that or the drip rings and aerate the res. I'm gonna play with it and see if I can't get a bit closer to a gram a watt.
I think you would want to set it for 15 mins flood and 15 mins drain. Interesting idea.
I'd aerate each bucket and keep it flooded if I went this route, then drain it when I want to change it. I've noticed the pumps will kick on randomly to keep it flooded evenly.