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Dauntless
Joined: 20 Nov 2010 Posts: 174 Location: Mesa, AZ
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Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2014 9:53 am Post subject: R/O water |
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I have heard that R/O water is acidic. So, I was wondering if I could use it to water my blueberries. Has anyone ever done this? I wouldn't want to water too many things with it but my 3 blueberry plants wouldn't be so much to use it for.
Rainwater would be better but not only do we have to build it, it has to rain so, it could be a while.
By the way, does anyone have any rainwater system pictures that you would like to share? |
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Bkaus
Joined: 31 Jul 2012 Posts: 136 Location: North Phoenix
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:41 am Post subject: |
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If your RO filter is working correctly the water should be neutral PH of 7 and TDS 20. The RO water has no buffering (TDS) and can go acidic if as acid is added or go to a base is something alkaline is added. I’m currently using RO water for my seed starts in the house about ~ 2 gallons a week. It keeps the white crust from building up on the pots. Using RO water should not change the soil PH in a pot but in the ground it would be a different story because of the leaching affect of the surrounding soil.
I started catching rain water with large containers under the overhang of my house ~ 300 gallons. From the last rain we had in March I have ~ 100 gallons left. When this runs out I’m going to use PH down to water my acid loving plants in pots. The problem with PH down is it doesn’t change the GH of the water just the KH and with time the water PH will rise back up. My plans are to lower the waters PH to ~ 6 and water the plants promptly with it. I hope to get some rain gutters on my house and use my 600 gallon pond to store the rain water this year. To many projects and not enough time. |
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Dauntless
Joined: 20 Nov 2010 Posts: 174 Location: Mesa, AZ
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 10:12 am Post subject: R/O |
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Thanks for your reply. I am going to give this a shot at least until I can get some rainwater.
Since my plants are in pots, it shouldn't be influenced by the soil.
Like you (and probably most people on this forum), I have several projects started that I need to finish before I do the rainwater catch system.We have several out buildings like a large chicken coop, kennels and horse pens that I thought I would experiment with before getting to the house. So, I am wanting to at least get started on gathering info and designing what would work best. The goal would be to have at least one in place before the monsoon season.
What kind of storage tanks do you use? Some of them don't seem very UV resistant. |
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Bkaus
Joined: 31 Jul 2012 Posts: 136 Location: North Phoenix
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Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2014 11:59 am Post subject: |
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55 gallon drums, 65 gallon rubber maid pond and 35gallon trash cans. I use the 12 cent gold fish to eat the Mosquitoes. |
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Kyle_Davis
Joined: 01 Jun 2009 Posts: 45
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2014 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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I've heard of people gathering rain water, but I really don't have anywhere to put it?
So Bkaus if you store the water in your pond, what do you do about the algae? Do you you have a filter in there? Do you add Chlorine? |
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phoenixtropicals Site Admin
Joined: 06 May 2008 Posts: 1207 Location: Mesa Arizona
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Posted: Tue May 06, 2014 7:49 pm Post subject: |
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I can fill up two 90 gallon green yard waste barrels in one good storm just by putting them in two places in my yard where the roof already concentrates the water. I use them to water my potted plants by cutting the bottoms off of orange juice bottles and using them as scoops. That 180 gallons lasts me months like that. Here is a thread with more detail http://phoenixtropicals.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=328 |
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Kyle_Davis
Joined: 01 Jun 2009 Posts: 45
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Posted: Wed May 07, 2014 10:29 am Post subject: |
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Thanks Matt.. I'll have to think about how I can get this setup. Looks like rain cutters are going to be in my future. |
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