Reverse Osmosis worth it?

Is it worth investing into a reverse osmosis device? I’ve heard a little bit about it, but still a little unsure as to what the benefits/ pros and cons of it is. If somebody could shed some light on this subject, I would appreciate it!

I use RO for so many different things, it is worth it. I use it of course for drinking water, although I boil it after coming out of the unit and before drinking, as my unit doesn't have UV sanitation. I use it for brewing ale. For all my cooking. My first RO unit was one I purchased at the swap meet in the 1980s for $5, it hadn't been connected for years, and the cleanup process was disgusting (bad smell), but I learned how they worked, and I got it working. It was an off brand, and parts were expensive, it ended up costing as much as buying a new one would have cost. Eventually, built my own unit:



I decided to mount it in the garage instead of under a sink, much better access for maintenance. If a leak develops, it just drips down on concrete. While the membrane is what removes the minerals, it's the prefilters which remove a lot of the undesirable elements like cysts, chlorine, etc. I would caution anyone who gets one that there is ongoing maintenance in the form of regular filter replacements. Mine last 6 months to a year.

check the ppm of your water...if it's over 250 ppm, it might be a good idea.
all a reverse osmosis filter does is force water through membranes that have very small holes in them. they filter out objects down to .1 nanometer, which is smaller than most bacteria. they remove almost all impurities from water. they also remove calcium and all other minerals from the water. this means you have to add cal mag to your water each time you water.
tap water is fine for most plants. the small amounts of chlorine and chloramine are actually good for plants at the level they're present. tap water will have calcium, ammonium, and other trace elements. if you remove all of that, you have to re-add it, so the only real reason to get an ro system is if your tap water has very high ppm, because that makes it a lot harder to control whats in your feed

TreeFiddy350 said:

Is it worth investing into a reverse osmosis device? I’ve heard a little bit about it, but still a little unsure as to what the benefits/ pros and cons of it is. If somebody could shed some light on this subject, I would appreciate it!

Click to expand...

I bought my first RO because the house I was in had a water softener. It works fantastic. The main benefit of RO in my opinion is you know exactly what you are starting with. It takes out any and all guess work in regards to your base (water)
Cheers

This is my first grow and I’ve learned so much on how I can improve things. I’ve came across RO and wanted to check it out and get opinions on what other people thought about it. Right now from faucet, my ppm is abou 70-90, but looking at Oklahoma City’s water report, they don’t give a lot of information as to what all is in the water. I’ve had 1 memeber tell me before that he thinks that it may have a water softener since it is so low, but wasn’t sure if I should invest in RO for my plants or not. I’m doing 4 plants now, but plan on doing my full 6 next go around. Just kinda wanted to get some opinions to see if y’all thought it is worth it. I’m growing in soil(mix of ocean forest, happy frog, and light warrior). Not sure if that matters too much.

just buy some 5 gal jugs and fill up at walmart for 40 cents a gallon. start with that for a grow or 2 and slowly add in your tap. 1/4:3/4 , 1/2: 1/2 etc and see how the palnts react

rkymtnman said:

just buy some 5 gal jugs and fill up at walmart for 40 cents a gallon. start with that for a grow or 2 and slowly add in your tap. 1/4:3/4 , 1/2: 1/2 etc and see how the palnts react

Click to expand...

The plants seem to be doing fine. I PH the water and whatnot, but just not sure if it would be worth me investing in RO or not since I’m doing a small grow

i bought water for years. then i slowly started using my well water. now i'm all well water.

RO just eliminates one possible problem source: your water.

I bought RO for too long from the local grocery store. They had a refill machine there. I can try to find the link if needed, but the RO machine I bought was $260 give or take Canadian. I got it from Costco and it worked perfect. I would just fill up the big bottled water bottles and use as needed. Was worth every penny, not to mention going to the store to refill 2-3 or more of those big bottles a couple times a week gets to be a pain in the ass.

Cheers

rkymtnman said:

i bought water for years. then i slowly started using my well water. now i'm all well water.

RO just eliminates one possible problem source: your water.

Click to expand...

You ever have it analyzed?

Jypsy Dog said:

You ever have it analyzed?

Click to expand...

yep, i send off samples to a test facility in OR every other year. just to make sure nothing funky in our well.

It's a decent month for me in AZ.. 531ppm. May was the worst 620ppm.
I buy my RO from the Chinese Market up the road. .20/gal, 17ppm.

@rkymtnman Well water is supposed to be really good! (It's also a good idea to get it inspected and cleaned annually I believe.) Testing it is good too!

Got myself a Hydrologic system. Went from 300s to 000. Added the Charcoal filter to remove/reduce Chlorine. Really like the ability to control exactly what the girls get. The only downside, they want a lot more Cal/Mag haha.

Jypsy Dog said:

It's a decent month for me in AZ.. 531ppm. May was the worst 620ppm.
I buy my RO from the Chinese Market up the road. .20/gal, 17ppm.

Click to expand...

towards the end of my ro days at walmart, i noticed my EC was way higher than normal. tested the EC of the walmart shit and it was higher than my well! guess the culligan people weren't changing filters as often as they should.

Roger A. Shrubber said:

check the ppm of your water...if it's over 250 ppm, it might be a good idea.
all a reverse osmosis filter does is force water through membranes that have very small holes in them. they filter out objects down to .1 nanometer, which is smaller than most bacteria. they remove almost all impurities from water. they also remove calcium and all other minerals from the water. this means you have to add cal mag to your water each time you water.
tap water is fine for most plants. the small amounts of chlorine and chloramine are actually good for plants at the level they're present. tap water will have calcium, ammonium, and other trace elements. if you remove all of that, you have to re-add it, so the only real reason to get an ro system is if your tap water has very high ppm, because that makes it a lot harder to control whats in your feed

Click to expand...

I'd like to add to this, the membranes themselves are bacteriologically dirty. I don't remember the name of the organisms involved, but slime was mentioned as being a cleaning challenge. My unit uses a thin-film membrane, a type which are often installed on wells, and they're available in different gallons per day ratings (get the biggest one, mine is 50, and I wish it were 100). When chlorine contacts the film, it is claimed the film breaks down quickly. The carbon matrix pre-filters remove chlorine and chloramines when the feed is municipal water to lengthen the life of the membrane. The membranes may be cleaned with various chemical baths, sometimes alkaline and acid solutions (must be "pumped" through the membrane, often done on a bench with a recirculating pump for minutes or hours), hydrogen peroxide may also be used, but this cleaning cannot be 100% due to the way the membranes are rolled when constructed. I used to clean them using a different technique, but I don't really think it's needed or that helpful. What seems to work better for me is sanitizing the water post-membrane. When I change the pre-filters (or shift them usually upstream replacing only a clogged one (identifying the clogged one is fun)) I flush the membrane with a capillary-bypass valve installed for the purpose -- pre-filtered feed water is routed through the membrane at a much higher flow rate than normal operation. Some systems use UV sanitation post-membrane, they have a bulb maintenance issue, instead I just boil all my drinking water using stainless steel pots on the stove, actually 6-quart teapots. I don't worry about sanitizing water intended for plants, only animals. I can verify via odor and taste the boiled and cooled water is cleaner, particularly after letting it sit in a glass overnight (tastes great although with the flatish taste of RO water which is lacking minerals). So I am feeding my plants some low doses of bacteria or some microbiological organism, whatever is growing on the membrane, (and which in turn has infected the piping and storage tank).

Here's one cleaning manual PDF titled, "Assessment of the biofilm removal efficiency of cleaning agents and procedures for RO/NF membranes" (link) There are others if you're interested to look for them. Identifying the type of membrane you have relates to the chemicals you may use to clean it. That's one of the advantages of building your own, you know more about the individual parts.

TreeFiddy350 said:

This is my first grow and I’ve learned so much on how I can improve things. I’ve came across RO and wanted to check it out and get opinions on what other people thought about it. Right now from faucet, my ppm is abou 70-90, but looking at Oklahoma City’s water report, they don’t give a lot of information as to what all is in the water. I’ve had 1 memeber tell me before that he thinks that it may have a water softener since it is so low, but wasn’t sure if I should invest in RO for my plants or not. I’m doing 4 plants now, but plan on doing my full 6 next go around. Just kinda wanted to get some opinions to see if y’all thought it is worth it. I’m growing in soil(mix of ocean forest, happy frog, and light warrior). Not sure if that matters too much.

Click to expand...

It would just be a waste of money if you already have water that good.