Treating hard water without softener????

ozzerbon

G'day Neil,

Can or do you drink this water, if yep, then the trees will be OK, if nope, my simple solution is to have two water tanks, one in use one standing.

My belief is that water standing for a short period softens up, well works for my Rhododendrons. I can also drink the water.

Nigel

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dtree

I bought my RO filter on Ebay for about $60, and it makes 100 gallons per day. I got 5 years worth of filters for $50 more. This is a seven stage, high quality filter. The water that comes out is pure.
a couple of thoughts:
Municipal water is tested as it comes out of the treatment facility. What comes out of your tap can be a lot different. Mine was - PPM was double, with high levels of sodium and magnesium.

Just because you can drink it doesn't mean it is good for you or or is really that good for your trees or that it doesn't contain anything harmful.

I have run aquariums and hydroponic systems. The cheap pH test kits that use solution are very reliable, in my opinion more reliable than digital meters, which always go out of calibration or malfunction at some point. The digital meters are great until they are out of whack, but usually you don't find out right away unless you calibrate every time you use it.

In my opinion, if you are watering a small number of plants, the RO system is the way to go. I think it is better and easier to clean your water than to add more chemicals to change it. If you have high TDS that in itself is usually a problem and is best dealt with by filtering rather than changing the pH.

I believe the Brita company has been in trouble in several states for making false claims about their filters ( like the claim that they actually work ).

Neild

Wow, thanks to each of you for the response.

I cannot recall what numbers our water test came out with, but afterwards we bought a water softener last year. Skin, hair, coffee maker were all suffering terribly from the dissolved salts of the municipal water.
I'll call culligan back to see if they have the info still. In any event, it sounds like RO systems are frequently auctioned on e-bay.

Brent,
I cannot believe you have forgotten anything. If you did, let me know..whaterver it is, it is likely more than I know at this point.

Thanks again.

IdahoBonsai

Oh, why is that?



Brita filters are carbon filters. They only eliminate smell and clarify the water to make it taste better.

RO Question: How do those of you that purchase the inexpensive (cheap?) RO filters verify that they actually do what they claim they do. 100 gallons a day? In my experience the phrase "You get what you pay for." holds true in 99.9% of the cases. I also question the continued availability of the filters and membranes over the long haul.

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Steven

South Central Idaho

007

Its very reliable, and easy to tell when things are going bad . . . . very easy. Using a handheld TDS meter, RO water will measure zero. Once the filters begin to go bad, the TDS's will rise . . . then, change the filters.

I used to keep reef aquariums and used one of the airwaterice.com RO filters for years. Very reliable . . . efficient, no, but reliable yes.

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dtree

007 is right, you simply test the water before and after filtering. I have two water tanks ( 50 gallon plastic trash cans ) and collect the water in those so I can measure output. The efficiency of these filters seems to be improving, mine really does produce 80-100 gallons per day of pure water. I bought my filter from Canada, where they are much better, cheaper and more widely available for some reason. I also got 5 years worth of filters to go with this unit. The best designed units have a membrane you can flush and thus prolong the life considerably. I don't believe that RO technology is going to go away soon.