Water Filtration solutions for RDWC

Hello all,

have not been on this site for a while, but I am at an impasse and would like to hear from the community.

I am in the process of switching from soil to hydroponics. specifically a RDWC system. I just completed my first hydro harvest with acceptable results, but there is definitely room for improvement.

A little about my setup:

I have 4 12 site RDWC systems (2 are 13 gallon buckets, other two are . one is up and running and as soon as I harvest my next crop I will be setting up the other 3 systems (lack of room). my ultimate goal is to be cutting down one crop of 12 plants ~ every 2 weeks. running House and Garden Aqua flakes with some beneficial tea and a few other random supplemental nutrients.

The problem I have is that it is physically impossible for me to run the amount of water I need through an R/O system. I am on well water with a PPM of about 320. for my last harvest I just used water from my outside faucet. I assumed that this was unsoftened water, but come to find out whoever set up my filtration system wanted to make sure the horses and chickens had soft water too. i had no major issues with my harvest, just less yield than I was hoping or and a significant amount of sodium buildup on the containers.

my question is:
What should I do to ensure I have the highest quality water to run in my system?

here are my options:

1) just run the water from the softener and accept that it is going to hurt my yield. I could fill my top off tank with RO so that the hardness doesn't increase as water evaporates.

2) I could bypass my softener and just run straight well water. I would certainly need to get my water tested, but I know people who live near me running straight well water with no problems (not in hydro, however). I figure this would be ideal as opposed to the soft water.

3) any other more efficient water filtration system. this would likely be the best option overall, but as I stated an RO system is off the table. this is because the RO system I do have is producing ~1 gallon every hour (it is a 90 GPD unit with a booster running at 45 psi). this is both wasteful and harmful to my water table and well pump. I prefer not to have to replace my well. if anyone has suggestions on other ways to filter my water, that would be awesome.

Thanks in advanced for any help!

ballziez said:

Hello all,

have not been on this site for a while, but I am at an impasse and would like to hear from the community.

I am in the process of switching from soil to hydroponics. specifically a RDWC system. I just completed my first hydro harvest with acceptable results, but there is definitely room for improvement.

A little about my setup:

I have 4 12 site RDWC systems (2 are 13 gallon buckets, other two are . one is up and running and as soon as I harvest my next crop I will be setting up the other 3 systems (lack of room). my ultimate goal is to be cutting down one crop of 12 plants ~ every 2 weeks. running House and Garden Aqua flakes with some beneficial tea and a few other random supplemental nutrients.

The problem I have is that it is physically impossible for me to run the amount of water I need through an R/O system. I am on well water with a PPM of about 320. for my last harvest I just used water from my outside faucet. I assumed that this was unsoftened water, but come to find out whoever set up my filtration system wanted to make sure the horses and chickens had soft water too. i had no major issues with my harvest, just less yield than I was hoping or and a significant amount of sodium buildup on the containers.

my question is:
What should I do to ensure I have the highest quality water to run in my system?

here are my options:

1) just run the water from the softener and accept that it is going to hurt my yield. I could fill my top off tank with RO so that the hardness doesn't increase as water evaporates.

2) I could bypass my softener and just run straight well water. I would certainly need to get my water tested, but I know people who live near me running straight well water with no problems (not in hydro, however). I figure this would be ideal as opposed to the soft water.

3) any other more efficient water filtration system. this would likely be the best option overall, but as I stated an RO system is off the table. this is because the RO system I do have is producing ~1 gallon every hour (it is a 90 GPD unit with a booster running at 45 psi). this is both wasteful and harmful to my water table and well pump. I prefer not to have to replace my well. if anyone has suggestions on other ways to filter my water, that would be awesome.

Thanks in advanced for any help!

Click to expand...

I run my well water. Generally outside water sources are raw water ( not softened) I Have my rooms setup directly to my 55 gallon Rez’s on a float valve.

Lordhooha, what is your PPM from the tap? also, have you had your water tested and if so what were the results of said test?

Are those the ppm's of your unfiltered and unsoftened well water, or is that after the softener? Are sure it is the softened water negatively affecting your yields in the first place?...If your unfiltered well water is too hard you could always use the softened water with a CalMag additive, assuming your base nutrients have all of the other micro/macronutrients required...there are RO systems that produce much more than a gallon an hour I think, but if that's not an option, then the next step is to have your well water tested for hardness vs how much of the ppm's could be things other than calcium and magnesium.

I don't have any experience with well water, but one if the big differences is that you'll have chlorine\chloramine in the city water that will account for a portion of the TDS, while the well water would contain metals and minerals that would account for the TDS.

Logan, those are the ppms after my water softener. the problem with running a RO system is low pressure. I have a 100 GPD RO system with a booster pump. still only gets me to about 40 psi which is the minimum required pressure. recommended is 60-80 psi. I will need over 500 gallons per week once everything is up and running which is a lot of water when you consider at least 3x that much is going to waste (assuming ideal parameters).

It could be a variety of other things causing my lower yield. as I said it was my first hydro run ever. however, I know sodium in the water will lockout the uptake of other nutrients so I figured id start there.