RO (or other water filter) system buy/install help

Basic Growing Info
#21

I installed an iSpring RO500 tankless system under my kitchen sink. It does have it’s own faucet which displays TDS (total dissolved solids) as it dispenses. I don’t use the reverse osmosis water for my garden. We treat it with mineral drops for drinking water and for use in the fancy coffee machine. It feeds the ice cube maker which will hopefully extend the lifespan of that appliance. I’ll mix it with tap water for houseplants and the chile pepper plants I’m growing out on the deck. This RO unit has been a solid performer the last few years. Easy to change filter cartridges, tankless design saves space, much faster to fill than other RO systems. Costs more than some too…

My garden has no access to running water. I keep a 30+ gallon trash barrel filled via a hose connected to an exterior spigot. I let it sit overnight before using which helps when my municipal water supply is using chlorine (in the summer, iirc), but not when they switch back to chloramine. I just add nutes and adjust pH in a 5 gallon bucket before watering.

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#22

$600 ain’t playing around Barefoot! So you just add a drop or 2 of something to the water before drinking & you’re all good eh?

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#23

I initially did not want the faucet either and was going to make a portable unit that I could hook up a hose bib.

In the end I did end up with a faucet unit, and am glad I did. Mine only has a 2 gallon tank but it is perfect for my smaller grow. One could always add a larger tank to get more storage. Having the faucet is really handy for filling water bottles, making coffee, cooking…

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Express-Water-Reverse-Osmosis-5-Stage-Water-Filtration-System-NSF-Certified-Faucet-Tank-and-4-Filters-50-GPD-RO5DX/307338516

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#24

So you drink the RO water, without added minerals etc. Or does your system re-add zinc/magnesium/calcium etc? @Comacus

#25

Exactly. The bottle of Trace drops sits next to the faucet.

We were doing an entire kitchen renovation, so we budgeted for the RO.

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#26

We do drink the RO water and enjoy it. This small unit does leave 25 ppm of minerals. One might also just mix say 25% tap water to their RO water if they wanted to get the minerals.

I did not want the 6-stage unit that re-mineralizes the drinking water since I wanted to start with pure RO for my garden water.

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#27

So I’m good to buy an RO system for both me & my plants as long as I get some of those drops for drinking. Any brand you suggest on the drops? Cool man, I was sweating having to get 2 seperate systems.

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#28

I have nothing to compare it to. I’ve been satisfied with this brand and haven’t sampled another.

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#29

Little late to the convo, but I use a Pur water filter attached to the faucet. Activated Carbon, leaves enough minerals that it still tastes good and don’t need calmag. Only bitch of it is replacing the filters every few months.

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#30

Does pur remove chlorine & sodium?

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#31

I’ll have to double check, but im pretty sure it does. No chlorine taste in my water at least. I’ll look it up

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#32

That’s a yes on 97% of chlorine and no on the sodium. Sorry.

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#33

I run a Kangen system. It will add the minerals back in as well as lets you adjust ph

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