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My first TDS

dontknownuttin

dontknownuttin

New member
Just got my first TDS I use RO water for growing now and need to know when the filter needs replacement. II guess you could use this when feeding and such as well. I notice the reading for my home tap was 172 after using the R.O. the reading is at 0 The R.O. filter should help my grow cost as the store distilled is .95 a gal.
 
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I run the waist water to my fruit tree out back. (HELPFULL NOTE) Covenant that the the standard 1/25 Inch size home irrigation line fits the filter connections perfect! Just plug the waste line into your home landscaping system manifold .no leaks! your back yard will thank you. I guess I am startin to learn sumtin huh?.
 
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I have hauled tons of RO water from the grocery store, used activated charcoal filters, and now am using my chlorinated tap water that sits overnight. My tap water is at 117 ppm (EC 0.2) and I am convinced that my tap water is just dandy for growing. No more filters for me. Just my 2c.
 
Hey dkn. What ever you do. DO NOT measure RO water. This will damage your probe beyond repair. A tds meter should never display 0 when in a liquid.
 
I'm not saying anyone is right or wrong for using RO water, I think it depends on your water quality. Here mine out of the tap test soft and zero clorine so I have no problem using it.

I got a tds meter to see how fast my plants were eating nutrition and see whether or not I need to add any when I top off the dwc system. Is this right or wrong, I have no idea but so far the plants are happy.
 
If you don’t start with pure (0-10 ppm) water from a reverse osmosis filter, making nutrient solutions involves a little bit of guesswork. You need to juggle between two conflicting factors: if your TDS is too high the roots won’t absorb nutrients at the correct rate, but if you don’t add enough fertilizer in order to keep the TDS low, you run the risk of getting a nutrient deficiency. It’s generally safer to air on the side of using less fertilizer, but the main objective is the health of your plants, so keep a close eye on them to see how they respond.

Organic nutrients are a whole different ball game. Adding the recommended amount of a nutrient solutions that uses chelates to a reservoir will never give you a TDS reading as high as adding the recommended amount of a conventional hydroponic nutrient solution that uses inorganic salts. This does not mean that nutrient solutions with chelates aren’t as good, they just have different chemistries. Many chelated minerals don’t behave as ions in solution, so an electrical conductivity reading will not pick them up. Keep this in mind when preparing a nutrient solution that is labeled as organic or advertises the use of chelated minerals. Even though TDS readings will be less, you could still run into problems with the starting amount of TDS in water, and the guesswork get slightly more
 
You will learn with time my friend 0ppm water is unusable. 10 ppm is a whole different thing. And the best EC to mix nutrients is like flock said is ~0.2
EC and Ph have a tight relationship you need to take that into consideration
 
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