Level Up to A+++ Indoor Flower with Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment
Believe it or not, water quality has a big impact on your indoor flower quality and yield.
Low TDS, no chloramine, no bacteria, and no heavy metals all lead to better quality flower in the end. If you are on municipal water, or your water supply comes from groundwater, from wells, or you are in an arid state, you NEED to consider Reverse Osmosis to get you to the A+++ quality finish line.
What is Reverse Osmosis and what are the ramifications of this method of water treatment?
Reverse Osmosis – or “R.O.” – uses high pressure to force the natural process of osmosis to happen in reverse.
Normally, water molecules flow from one side of a semipermeable membrane that has a low concentration of solutes (the contaminant) to the side that has a high level of solute.
Without any input of energy, the two sides would eventually equilibrate until both sides have an equal concentration. In reverse osmosis, the system uses high pressure to form the natural process to happen in reverse, meaning clean water flows from the dirty side to the clean side. However, water needs to continue to flow on both sides for the process to work, meaning some water is always wasted.
See the two diagrams below and keep reading for more information.
What innovative technologies in RO decrease a facilities water use footprint?
Let’s explore the “wasted water” elephant in the treatment room first, in this discussion. Traditionally, RO treatment would produce 3 to 5 gallons of unusable brine water to 1 gallon of pure, premium water for cannabis cultivation.
To combat wasted water, today’s RO systems pioneered by HyperLogic can reclaim nutrient runoff or final flush water and HVAC condensate. The Hyperlogic Runoff Filtration System can reduce total water usage by 50-80%. This reclaimed and treated water can enter back into growing environment to decrease the facilities overall water usage.
In addition, HyperLogic has developed the Automated Reclaimed Condensate System (ARCS) specifically to treat HVAC condensate, creating usable water that is perfectly pH balanced, ultra-low PPM, and completely free of contaminants, pathogens, heavy metals and bacteria. The goal of every cultivator and every civic leader on a cannabis board is zero waste.
While zero waste water may not be achievable to every cannabis grower, the ARCS filter series is the logical first step, and scales from small cottage systems to massive industrial reclamation filters, setting the standard for any professional cultivation operation concerned about conserving water.
Brands with massive canopies under management, like Canopy Growth, Mayflower Medicinals and Kings Garden, all use HydroLogic ARCS technology to recycle water and reduce their water footprint.
It’s a whole new world out there in RO land and gone are the days of accepting “drain to waste” as a feeding methodology.
What is chloramine and why does tap water contain chloromine?
On extreme benefit in using RO water is that you eliminate all chloramine in your water. All municipal water in America is treated with chlorine mixed with ammonia to form chloramine.
Municipalities do this because chloramine kills bacteria. It’s also more stable and longer lasting than chlorine. That’s why there are not massive outbreaks of illness from water pressurized in a main line for a week before it is used through the tap. chloramine breaks the structure of microorganisms and prevents them from being able to duplicate which also means chloramine kills beneficial bacteria.
All advanced modern cultivators are adding beneficial bacteria in the form of microbes to their cannabis plants. You have to! Microbes are the next frontier in cannabis cultivation optimization. Microbes thicken stalks, maximize the uptake of nutrients, fight bad bacteria and really act as the plants defense system in the rhizosphere.
RO equals more microbes and vigorous plant health which equals bigger yields which equals better quality of flower. Get, get, get that chloramine out of your grow!
Another benefit of RO water is that it is an open canvas for the cultivator. RO water has TDS of zero. Therefore, the cultivator can dial in the exact amount of calcium and magnesium and other macro and micro minerals their strain thrives upon. In addition, the cultivator has free reign to concoct their proprietary recipe of the NPK macro nutrients and the micro nutrients of Boron, etc.
How do I size my system for the correct gallons per day that I need?
This is easily done by an irrigation expert.
Hawthorne Garden supply has an entire irrigation team ready to jump in and design your RO and Fertigation plan to take the worry off your plate in choosing the correct system and configuration that the system you finally choose gets the job done and gives your plants the exact amount of water and nutrients they need to thrive and produce that luscious A+++ flower that we all know and love.
Considering Reverse Osmosis? Contact sales@growwithgreenlight.com to start the process.
About Greenlight Distribution
Greenlight Distribution provides best in class growing equipment at low prices for commercial cannabis cultivation. As a total growth partner, Greenlight sells more than 6,000 growing products, provides personalized consultation and design services, and delivers innovative financing solutions. As a direct lender to the industry, Greenlight provides debt capital to finance large purchases, manage cash flow, expand operations, and grow your cultivation business.