Hello everyone, hope your all having a great day. Had a question for you all, thanks in advance.
What minerals should be added back into the water after the RO process, for example calcium and magnesium. Are there others as well? And what’s the correct ppm of cal/mag that should be put back into the R0.
Happy Growing 
Chronickyle
you mayt be losing iron zinc sulphur other micros depends on your water cal mag especially
Cal, mag, and silica.
Would you happen to have a product recommendation?
These are what I used in coco/hydro.
According to canna most nutrient suppliers expect the customer to be using tap water with a mineral content PPM of between 100 and 200 on the 500 scale which most seem to use. I prefer to use EC measurements which would be EC 0.2 - 0.4.
I’d probably start by adding cal-mag at around 150 PPM then a good quality base nutrient to bring the PPM into range and then add any additives you might like using keeping an eye on the total PPM cos some additives can raise it a fair bit, PK for example.
If growing under decent LED lighting be prepared to up the cal-mag a bit further to maybe 200 or even 250 PPM if you see signs of any deficiencies starting to appear.
My baseline for RO is 55ppm I run coco so I add I add about 250ppm of diamond k 97 gypsum and 50 ppm diatanous earth.
@corgitron, are you saying the PPM of your RO water, before anything is added, is 55 PPM?
Yes. That is the base water. Then I add gypsum and de.
Depends on your soil and RO. The RO we run is ran through a calcium bed to control PH and therefore has trace calcium inherently. As for soil we are just on the cusp of LOS so we are just water only for the most part in our system. I see a lot of trusted folks running Cal/Mag on here especially with LED, I haven’t had cal or mag deficientcies yet with this soil mix under led.
One thing I do hear a lot about but again I don’t do is chlorine. Chlorine is actually a plant nutrient that is most often completely removed by the RO process. Many trace minerals can be added into your soil through amendment and will save you cleaning out your feed systems and reservoirs more often than you need. Just my 2 cents based on observation of our system and plants. Love to hear/learn more though. Thanks for the thread Chronic
55 PPM is relatively low for water, but it’s high for RO water, isn’t it @corgitron? I’ve been using RO since I discovered just how bad my treated well water is back in 2007 or so. When I see the PPM meter start showing any PPM, I know it’s time to change the RO membrane (or the final filter after the membrane).
As for @Chronickyle’s original question, I’ve always added Cal-Mag Plus to all the water I use, soil or hydro, until the flush. The “PLUS” is not just part of the name - here’s how Botanicare describes it:
Cal-Mag® Plus provides a precise balance and optimal ratios of the calcium, magnesium, and iron that are critical throughout all stages of growth, especially in heavily fruiting plants and fast blooming annuals. Cal-Mag Plus is fortified with a proprietary blend of select trace minerals to help maximize yields in fruiting and flowering plant varieties, prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes and peppers, and reduce tip burn in lettuce. When used in combination with nutrient solutions Cal-Mag Plus functions as a catalyst to increase the uptake of essential minerals.
I think it is a little high. But it’s close to home and 1usd for a 5 gal. Hard on the back. uv filtered. So I’m cool. I feed with salts so the sulfur really helps break down the excess I have used cal mag in the past don’t get me wrong. I guess my hardest part is correct calcium delivery. I switch it up. I don’t want to bind up sites with excess mag. Cal nitrate, gypsum, de. In the de you get a little silica, boron and a host of other micros it’s more difficult to mix but a bag will last me a year.
I have lots of DE already here for my farm, how much do you add per gallon
How much calmag do you typically add per gallon.
Usually 1 to 1.5 teaspoons per gallon. Rarely less or more than that range.