I have also often wondered if adding a small amount of tap water to my ro water would stabilize it. But I don't even drink the water where I live so I have been hesitant. But lately it reads 155 ppm from the tap at a ph of 7.1 so maybe it will be ok. I may experiment with it.
That seems like pretty good tap water. You might even be able to get away without any calmag with that. Might have to deal with chlorine/chloramine but that's no biggie. That's actually much lower ppm tap then most people on here seem to have
 
I have also often wondered if adding a small amount of tap water to my ro water would stabilize it. But I don't even drink the water where I live so I have been hesitant. But lately it reads 155 ppm from the tap at a ph of 7.1 so maybe it will be ok. I may experiment with it.
It is ok to mix the tap with RO.

Where I live my municipal water can come from wells or a river. It is very good when coming from the river <100 ppm and only chlorine no chloramines. When coming from the wells it is well over 250 ppm at times still no chloramines, but the alkaline is hard to deal with. I have to check each time I fill my top off tank to determine what water I am getting.

Adding a small amount of Ca & Mg to RO water can bind a bit to the silica but it is such a small amount it does not cause a loss of the silica and if Ca &Mg is full bound to the RO even less can bind to the silica.

RO water costs in filter time and waste water, if your tap water is probably ok to use at 155 PPM, I would use that. Check your water reports for chloramines.
 
Adding a small amount of Ca & Mg to RO water can bind a bit to the silica but it is such a small amount it does not cause a loss of the silica and if Ca &Mg is full bound to the RO even less can bind to the silica.

So if I may sir what should be added to pure RO only <10ppm first the cal-mag or the silica?

I mix in the a little bit of calmag (gypsum and Epsom) wait over night then silica wait 1 hr then the rest of my nutrients...

I had been adding the silica first but now you have me thinking I need to stabilize my RO with calcium and magnesium before doing anything else
 
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It is ok to mix the tap with RO.

Where I live my municipal water can come from wells or a river. It is very good when coming from the river <100 ppm and only chlorine no chloramines. When coming from the wells it is well over 250 ppm at times still no chloramines, but the alkaline is hard to deal with. I have to check each time I fill my top off tank to determine what water I am getting.

Adding a small amount of Ca & Mg to RO water can bind a bit to the silica but it is such a small amount it does not cause a loss of the silica and if Ca &Mg is full bound to the RO even less can bind to the silica.

RO water costs in filter time and waste water, if your tap water is probably ok to use at 155 PPM, I would use that. Check your water reports for chloramines.
Yes it has chloramines that's the reason I got the ro filter. It has 13 other contaminants, three types of Boron a few other trace heavy metals. Oh and fluoride lol. I will start mixing 50/50 and see how that does
 
So if I may sir what should be added to pure RO only <10ppm first the cal-mag or the silica?

I mix in the a little bit of calmag (gypsum and Epsom) wait over night then silica wait 1 hr then the rest of my nutrients...

I had been adding the silica first but now you have me thinking I need to stabilize my RO with calcium and magnesium before doing anything else
I would like to the answer to this also. I wonder if you can mix some of your tap water with ro and just measure the ppm and stop at 150? That sounds like an easy super inexpensive solution.
But my own tap water has a bunch of chloramines in it. So I need to be careful...
 
I would like to the answer to this also. I wonder if you can mix some of your tap water with ro and just measure the ppm and stop at 150? That sounds like an easy super inexpensive solution.
But my own tap water has a bunch of chloramines in it. So I need to be careful...

Yeah that has been a thought of mine also but then having to let it set out and gas off was just another step I was trying to avoid.. but it may be the best thing although not sure how that would work with my tap be very alkalinity and high in carbonate

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Thanks MOG it has been going better since doing it this way ph is way more stable and girls are happy :thanks:
 
The high carbonate count in your tap water requires a little more PH down, use nitric acid in veg and phosphoric acid in flower. It should be fine.


I would like to the answer to this also. I wonder if you can mix some of your tap water with ro and just measure the ppm and stop at 150? That sounds like an easy super inexpensive solution.
But my own tap water has a bunch of chloramines in it. So I need to be careful...

Chloramines Removal

You are looking for ascorbic acid - vitamin C. The store brand is usually the cheapest without other stuff added in. 50mg per gallon will treat water with 3.8 PPM of chloramines. This is the typical amount found in treated water.
 
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