Nic Barlor
Member
Hellooo RIU Community!
TL;DR Bought a homemade "RO" filter (not true RO). Water comes out at 6.6-6.8 pH and 0 ppm (EC unknown). Since filter is very new (have run less than 400 mL of water through it, since I haven't yet started grow), carbon precipitate still comes out in the water from the 1st phase of filter. Water was jet black at first, and now is clear, but along the tubes there are a few tiny black spots of carbon aggregates and when I let the water sit, there are some specks of carbon at the bottom of the glass.
Should I keep flushing water through it 'til it is carbon-precipitate free or is that a pipe dream? (ba-dum-tissss)
Will also contact the manufacturer, but I just wanted to know if this kind of thing is a problem for sure/should I avoid using this water on my seeds at all costs (until it is perfectly clean)?
I've been stalking these forums for the past few months as I prepare for my first ever grow.
I have a 3'x3' Secret Jardin DR90, gonna use 250W MH for veg (in these summer months of the Southern hemisphere) and I think by the time flowering comes along, the outside temperatures will be low enough (hopefully :s) that I can use 600W HPS for flower - otherwise, 400W HPS, but I heard that for a 3'x3' space, 600W is ideal (Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook).
Anyway, since I was very worried about the quality of my tap water and basically wanted that to be a non-factor in my grow, I bought a home-made 2-step water filtration system (some dude on ebay has got a patent pending for this thing) at a very affordable price (~34 USD).
At 34 USD, I don't expect it to be perfect and amazing, but it was made by a dude with some aquarium know-how and so that's basically what this filter is for: the water comes out at 0 ppm (no EC meter, only TDS meter) and about 6.6 - 6.8 pH (had to use aquarium pH droplets and test tube instead of my shitty, de-calibrated, yellow pH pen).
However, after I let the water sit for a while, I noticed that even though I was letting the water slowly trickle through the system, there was this black precipitate at the bottom of the glass/plastic container, what-have-you.
Which is obviously carbon from the 1st phase of this filter.
I know the water that comes out of this filter isn't technically RO water, but it beats straight tap water and having to leave out gallons of water for 1-2 days for the Cl to evaporate......
My question is: do you think I will eventually not have that in the filtered water anymore because of regular/hardcore use or am I doomed to forever have carbon in my clean water? I mean, it's not like carbon on its own is super reactive or anything... But I'm trying to think of it as if I am watering my plants and down deep there are pencil lead shavings in the soil...
To be fair, I have barely used the filter at all.. I just wanted to get it going, and in the beginning the water coming out was jet black, but since I also didn't want to
Will this have a definite negative impact on my soon-to-be grow?
Picture is my filter!
TL;DR Bought a homemade "RO" filter (not true RO). Water comes out at 6.6-6.8 pH and 0 ppm (EC unknown). Since filter is very new (have run less than 400 mL of water through it, since I haven't yet started grow), carbon precipitate still comes out in the water from the 1st phase of filter. Water was jet black at first, and now is clear, but along the tubes there are a few tiny black spots of carbon aggregates and when I let the water sit, there are some specks of carbon at the bottom of the glass.
Should I keep flushing water through it 'til it is carbon-precipitate free or is that a pipe dream? (ba-dum-tissss)
Will also contact the manufacturer, but I just wanted to know if this kind of thing is a problem for sure/should I avoid using this water on my seeds at all costs (until it is perfectly clean)?
I've been stalking these forums for the past few months as I prepare for my first ever grow.
I have a 3'x3' Secret Jardin DR90, gonna use 250W MH for veg (in these summer months of the Southern hemisphere) and I think by the time flowering comes along, the outside temperatures will be low enough (hopefully :s) that I can use 600W HPS for flower - otherwise, 400W HPS, but I heard that for a 3'x3' space, 600W is ideal (Ed Rosenthal's Marijuana Grower's Handbook).
Anyway, since I was very worried about the quality of my tap water and basically wanted that to be a non-factor in my grow, I bought a home-made 2-step water filtration system (some dude on ebay has got a patent pending for this thing) at a very affordable price (~34 USD).
At 34 USD, I don't expect it to be perfect and amazing, but it was made by a dude with some aquarium know-how and so that's basically what this filter is for: the water comes out at 0 ppm (no EC meter, only TDS meter) and about 6.6 - 6.8 pH (had to use aquarium pH droplets and test tube instead of my shitty, de-calibrated, yellow pH pen).
However, after I let the water sit for a while, I noticed that even though I was letting the water slowly trickle through the system, there was this black precipitate at the bottom of the glass/plastic container, what-have-you.
Which is obviously carbon from the 1st phase of this filter.
I know the water that comes out of this filter isn't technically RO water, but it beats straight tap water and having to leave out gallons of water for 1-2 days for the Cl to evaporate......
My question is: do you think I will eventually not have that in the filtered water anymore because of regular/hardcore use or am I doomed to forever have carbon in my clean water? I mean, it's not like carbon on its own is super reactive or anything... But I'm trying to think of it as if I am watering my plants and down deep there are pencil lead shavings in the soil...
To be fair, I have barely used the filter at all.. I just wanted to get it going, and in the beginning the water coming out was jet black, but since I also didn't want to
Will this have a definite negative impact on my soon-to-be grow?
Picture is my filter!
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