RO Water and clones .... Can you?

Hello. Quick question for you all

Can I use the water front mini splits to clone with? I've been told it's RO that comes from them


Thank!

Someone told you it was RO that came from an AC condensation drain?

Excuse me for a moment...



OK. Sorry.

RO means Reverse Osmosis. Reverse Osmosis pushes water through a membrane under high pressure to remove contaminants. What comes out of an air conditioner is condensation. You ever get yourself a nice glass of ice water and you get the condensation on the outside of the glass that starts dripping onto the table? That's what comes out of the AC units. Same thing.

Can you use it? Sure. Will hit hurt anything? Nope. Is it as good as RO water? Not on your life.

But RO comes with it's own disadvantages as well. Although it is almost always perfectly PH'd at 6.5, there are no nutrients in RO water at all. It is PURE water. So when you water with RO, you are literally giving your plant ZERO nutrients. But you're also giving it ZERO contaminants, which is the entire point of RO water: Your plant gets ONLY what YOU give it.

I run a 5 stage RO/DI unit that produces, quite literally, surgical grade water. You can get one for around 140 dollars from The Filter Guys: http://www.thefilterguys.biz/ro_di_systems.htm

yes

PetFlora said:

Most likely the effluent from your split is RO quality

Click to expand...

No, it is not. It's not even close. It's not even the same ball park. Hell, it's not even the same sport. There's a rather GARGANTUAN difference between running water under 75 pounds of pressure through a 12 micron membrane and just wiping the sweat off a glass sitting in the room. That's all that comes out of those units: The condensation from the air that hits the evaporator coil. It builds up on the aluminum coils and drips down to a drain pan and then exists through a hole.

It's not even filtered in any way. You would get the same results using the sweat off a glass of ice water. It's the same exact thing.

Ac water is closest to distilled water if anything. Which is still decent. Why dont you stick a ppm meter in it and find out?!

Airwalker16 said:

Ac water is closest to distilled water if anything. Which is still decent. Why dont you stick a ppm meter in it and find out?!

Click to expand...

Not in that ballpark either. Distilled water is far, far more pure. It's actually steamed under pressure and captured within a sterilized cooling tower.

All he is getting is condensation. This condensation is coming off of aluminum coils covered in dust particles from whatever floats around the house. Dander, hair spray, cologne, smoke, insects, and whatever else is floating around the air of his house.

You would be far better off using tap water. It is in all likelihood far more contaminate free than anything draining out your AC unit.

TacoMac said:

Not in that ballpark either. Distilled water is far, far more pure. It's actually steamed under pressure and captured within a sterilized cooling tower.

All he is getting is condensation. This condensation is coming off of aluminum coils covered in dust particles from whatever floats around the house. Dander, hair spray, cologne, smoke, insects, and whatever else is floating around the air of his house.

You would be far better off using tap water. It is in all likelihood far more contaminate free than anything draining out your AC unit.

Click to expand...

Which is why I said "if anything".

Well, frankly, how anybody can even remotely suggest that water draining from an evaporator core that's had all the air in the house and anything that's in it passed through it is on par with even pond water, let alone filtered water, let alone RO or Distilled water is simply beyond the pale.

It is as dirty a water source as you can possibly get within your house and is not filtered in any way, shape or form. It should be compared to absolutely nothing as it is not filtered in any way by anything. In fact, it's the opposite: It's had trace elements of anything in your house passed through it from your deodorant to the grease you use to cook to the dust in your carpet and all things in between.

Thanks everyone for your responses. Was just curious from what someone had told me. Didn't mean to start an argument. I may still try it after checking with a ppm meter

I get about 20-30 gal of water off my 2 mini splits a day.

buy the empty 5 gallon water jugs from wal-mart and fill them in those water machines out front of stores for 20 cents a gallon. it's usually RO water and has always worked for me.

bulimic said:

buy the empty 5 gallon water jugs from wal-mart and fill them in those water machines out front of stores for 20 cents a gallon. it's usually RO water and has always worked for me.

Click to expand...

If they still have the 5 gal jugs. They're out of season now.but that's what I use l. War surplus stores have them and sometimes camping stores. They're square with a built in handle and made of frosted plastic. They're wonderful.