Quite a few people here have suggested using RO water. I want to make one to generate RO water only for the plants. After searching YouTube for DIY tutorials, the three stage setup below from Amazon seems to be the most useful and cost-effective.
Does anyone here have experience with this setup, or are there other suggestions for under $100 to set up an RO system?
Thanks!
AQUATICLIFE RO Buddie 3-Stage Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System, RO Unit 50 GPD https://a.co/d/8THhtNC
Seek out ro buddy they r pretty inexpensive and lots I’ve seen use them with awesome results. From memory the ro buddy makes water faster than a regular ro system. If u get a ro system find u a nice sized storage u can connect to and as u r not using it it will build up a nice amount in a storage for when u need it. Even distilled water works great for plants u can leave water set in buckets in the sun for a couple few days and that gasses off all the bad in the water and makes it a little more user friendly for plants honestly tho I’ve been using my tap lately and seems to be doing great only time I use to is if I’m feeling lazy and don’t wanna make a batch of feed so I feed them to water only. Lol.
Sorry didn’t see the to buddy u posted. Yes that will work great as I’ve seen about 15 ppl using one. I went with a system from Lowes costs 300 plus and came with only a 2 gallon storage tank for another 100 plus I got a 10 gallon storage can for it I’d say get the to buddy and a good storage container and hook the line into storage container to fill up with good water and when u need water just take from storage and as u take it should replenish the water in that storage til full again. If u run a lot of plants I’d go with a big storage like 100 gallon or so this way u always have what u want or need on hand to use
Heres a geekpure 4 stage for $60 but it has no storage tank and not pressure on/off valve. The kits have these. But for what you need just the fikter that @Mark0427 suggested would suffice!
I use the 7 stage geekpure its $150 so out of your budget tange at the moment.
Thanks, @PreyBird1 . I read that the deionization filter should definitely not be used if one intends to drink that water. If I get an inexpensive 30-50 gallon plastic storage container to keep the water in, will that water spoil or go bad if I don’t use all of it within a couple of weeks? I don’t plan on having so many plants that I would need 30-50 gallons every week or so.
Just make what you need the day before. @happilyretired i think has a 55gal rain barrel that fills up as hes at work all day. Im not sure how fast water goes stagnant? But air from a fish tank pump keeps the water fresh. So im sure you could just air bubble the water you have to stop the spoilage.
@ArtVandalay my ro system came with a mineral filter that adds what’s needed back to the water after the filters but I don’t have it hooked up. I tried it and with it hooked in line it put me at 90some odd ppm without it I get 2 to 4 ppm reading on the meter so if u drink the ro water I was told to do atleast a quarter the amount of tap water mixed with 3/4 ro water. So 3 cups ro and 1 cup of tap and that should make it good to drink. To has 0 minerals or anything and that will cause the bones to go bad if u drink it excessively as it has no calcium or minerals that the body needs. Drinking ro is basically starving the body of what’s needed when drinking it and to me I know my tap is not good it reeks of chlorine or bleach smell but to me taste no different from the ro water besides ro water makes my mouth dry ASF it does make some really clean tasting Kool aid tho. Lmao
Over summer I keep it for months. Barrel sealed what’s going to happen to it. It’s pure RO water. It’s not getting any light . It’s not getting any air. When I go to use it, I aerate it because I’m usually putting nutrients in anyway. 
Heck, I used water from my condenser line on my mini split and dehumidifier in the grow room for a year. Never had more than 20 ppm. Most of the time a lot less than that.
Unfortunately ro systems are widley over rated as the amount of gallons they produce. If you jut want to get rid of the cloramines then use a carbon filter you attach on the end of a hose . I hve a 120 gallon ro and it takes about 30 min to get 5 gallons. Alot depends on your line pressure . My main ro puts is rated at 1000 gallons perday it takes 45 min to fill a 100 gallon tank. It has a pump on it to boost line pressure. But the cost is around $5000. You are better off using distilled water its a lot faster.
@ArtVandalay can try something like this should work good for plants
Hydro Life 52700 Inline Water Filter (with Flexible Hose Protector, Hydroponics C-85)
Well, I snapped the main stalk of one of my plants that are in flower stage. I was reaching to the one behind it and heard a gut-wrenching “snap.” It didn’t completely separate, only about 65%. I immediately and gently straightened it and taped it securely. Is the plant doomed, or might it continue on without a problem?
Pretend like it didn’t happen. The plant will forget and move on because it has things to do. Kinda like a Motorhead soundcheck. 
It’ll probably be ok. By the looks of things you’re ar about week 3 so lots of time still for the girl to recover. You did the right thing by taping it, good chance it will make it. Even if the top piece doesn’t make it, the rest of the plant will be fine.
Thanks. You’re correct on the three weeks since I did the light change.
For my other seven younger plants in the other tent that germinated May 20, when should I change their light schedule? They are very healthy and bushy although I defoliated them about a week ago. I have never really been clear when the lights need to be reduced to initiate blooming.
Alright you Motorheads, I got the RO Buddy 50 gpd setup and am flushing it now. Once I make another few gallons of water for the plants, I will be curious to see what the ppm and ph turns out to be.
Nice. The snap is guy wrenching at first but when u see she will tough it out all will be okay. This little snap may be what u need to see that a break or some stress isn’t always a bad thing. Watch how that cola on that branch forms due to all the rest now. If u do superscript by bending the stem before all buds with a hard bend it will open up a nutrient highway for the nutes to flow to buds faster than before. I’m not saying do this now but it might not hurt on a couple. Buds and see how they do vs the rest.
*** Update on RO And Filtered Water Results ***
I used the RO Buddy 50gpd filter (#1 below) and the Hydro-Life 52700 C-85 filter (#2 below).
My water straight from the tap is 7.29 pH with 290 ppm.
With RO Buddy: 11 mins 20 sec to fill one gallon. 6.94-7.08 pH and 23 ppm.
With Hydro-Life filter: > 1 minute to fill one gallon. 7.81 pH and 328 ppm.
I flushed both units according to their directions, so I don’t understand why the ppm from the Hydro-Life is greater than non- filtered.
The RO Buddy was about $76 and the Hydro-Life was about $26. A gallon of distilled water at my grocery store is $1.25 right now.
I need to make a decision whether to keep either of the filters, or return both and just purchase distilled water.
#1 - AQUATICLIFE RO Buddie 3-Stage Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration System, RO Unit 50 GPD https://a.co/d/dQZJh8o
#2 - Hydro Life 52700 Inline Water Filter (with Flexible Hose Protector, Hydroponics C-85) https://a.co/d/c3VXy3w
I’d def keep one and work out a solution. Maybe the pH up and down u use jumps around a lot. Maybe give bloom city pH pro a try my rez barely moves a point in a weeks time using it. A few points if I use GH brand
