Fri, 2009/04/17 - 9:45am
I'm getting weary of buying distilled water for my gardens. Gets expensive. Does anyone have any information on a good, reasonably priced, distiller?
Thanks for any info.
Judith
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 12:53pm
#2
In my apartment, because it is somewhat underground, I have to run a dehumidfier, so I reuse that water. :P pH7, ppm in the 20s.
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 2:32pm
#3
I don't know anything about my water except that it seems to work fine for the bucket brigade. I've been using distilled in the AG's because it was recommended, and the plants have been doing well. (pretty alkaline, but after the flora series is added, it comes down)
I went to Costco this morning and saw an Osmosis system, but didn't pay much attention to it since I know nothing about it. I guess I'll have to do some research this weekend if you think it might work well. What, exactly, do the plants need to be eliminated from the water?
Thanks.
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 3:34pm
#4
You may find that your plants will do fine in the AG with your water.
There's quite a bit bandied about with using distilled in the AG, I would use your normal water first - if your plants show any adverse reaction, then you need distilled. You may save yourself money. 
Have you done any tests on your water, EC & pH?
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 4:30pm
#5
Do you mean water out of the faucet? Or water in the AG? You must mean out of the faucet. I'll check it and post.
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 4:39pm
#6
I have been using tap water from when I started since that is how I hope to go on in order not to lug distilled water. No adverse reaction so far but only herb and salad green currently. If I had issue, I was going to try filtered or boiled before trying distilled.
When I got the liquid pH test kit, I got something in the neighbourhood fo 6.5 -6.7 which should be fine. Don't know EC yet.. May need to invest in a Bluelab soon.
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 4:51pm
#7
The 'ole UK-US word difference again.
Your faucet = our tap (water outlet). 
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 6:50pm
#8
I did not even notice that since I know what you meant after living there 2 years in London way back when. But it can get embarrasing at times with language differences.
I asked a male colleague for a ride and everyone burst off laughing. Ride (Us) means drive somewhere whereas Ride (UK) has sexually connotations. I was told I should have asked him for a lift unless I really meant the 2nd one :D
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 5:23pm
#9
Hahahahha --- I have the word tap on my jugs so I’ll know they came from the faucet and are not distilled water.
Anyway, I wrote a long answer but when I hit save it took me to a page that said access denied!!! I’m really frustrated right now.
Will try to condense it.
Tap water is EC 0.2-0.4, PH 8.5+ (is blue)
How would I know hardness?
What do you think of this?
AG #1 w/Ruby Tom & Jalapeno – EC 1.4 – 1.6, PH 6.0.
AG #2 w/same – EC 2.0 – PH 6.0
Weird? They have been treated exactly the same, and were both sanitized on 3/23.
Aero cust service also recommended flushing every other feeding, so will be doing that at next feeding. (recently called them re purple veining and they were aware it was happening sometimes) Haven’t found a siphon yet tho and don’t care to get a mouthful of fertilizer. Any suggestions?
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 5:44pm
#10
At a pH of 8.5, I'd guess your tap water's a bit hard... but the AG tabs seem to be buffering it perfectly. Do you get white crunchy stuff around the edges of the piping? That's often calcium carbonate buildup.
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 5:49pm
#11
I get white crusted stuff on my AG3 that hold the jalapeño pepper plant (and used to hold the 2 failled ruby tomato plants). It must be something about the vegetable nutes that the salad & herb nutes dont have.
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 5:51pm
#12
I get lots of crusty stuff from nutes in my AG mini's, no matter what I grow in em. 
Perhaps it just shows better on black. 
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 6:06pm
#13
Its not on any of my black AG3s or the other white one. Its on just the 1 white one with the japaleno baby in it.
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 6:34pm
#14
Judith, if you have a large and long enough tube, just fill the tube with water, cap both ends, usually with my thumbs. Insert one end into the AG bowl and make sure the other end is at a lower level than the AG and then uncap both ends, the water will start flowing out the lower end of the tube starting the siphoning action. Simple. :)
Fri, 2009/04/17 - 8:34pm
#15
Judith, if you have a large and long enough tube, just fill the tube with water, cap both ends, usually with my thumbs. Insert one end into the AG bowl and make sure the other end is at a lower level than the AG and then uncap both ends, the water will start flowing out the lower end of the tube starting the siphoning action. Simple. :) Stone: Yea! Thanks loads for that info. I'll do it.
Gisette: I do get a bit of white stuff, but mostly around my herbs & salad greens, not the toms.
Sat, 2009/04/18 - 5:00pm
#16
Wow Judith, 8.5 PH? That's definitely hard water. Do ya'll have the dispensing machines that serve up 5 gallons of drinking water for 50 cents? They're usually just an RO filter but might be worth testing.
Sat, 2009/04/18 - 6:00pm
#17
Wow Judith, 8.5 PH? That's definitely hard water. Do ya'll have the dispensing machines that serve up 5 gallons of drinking water for 50 cents? They're usually just an RO filter but might be worth testing.
Hmmmmmm didn't think about that. But would probably be to much for me. I can't lift much weight at all (angina) But I'm using tap water in the buckets, and most of the time the flora series brings it right down to mid-range. 6.0-6.5. I wonder if I should switch to micro for hard water? But I'll have to use up what I have anyway.
Did you see the post about the GH rep saying the flora series is better for flowers? He's sending me some of the other stuff, so we'll soon see which is best, I would think. I need to find that again and save a link to it. 
Glad to see you back!
Is your water pretty bad Judith, mine has a high pH (7.8) and is classed as 'hard'. However, it still grows my plants well - luckily.
I guess you have a few options:
1. Buy a mains powered distiller, they can sit on your worktop and will probably get you approx. 1 litre per hour. Not sure how cost effective they are to run, the power consumption is quite high. This is a UK site but will give you some idea of what I mean.
2. Reverse Osmosis, these connect to your water supply and filter out the impurities. I think there are two types, one which resides on your counter top and is portable. The other is plumbed in completely below your sink, something like this. These are just some examples, there are many more on the market.
These will all need filter changes at some point.
Non of these are particularly cheap, but, it will probably work out cheaper in the long run. You are going to have to offset the cost of buying distilled water with the cost of one of these units, see how long it takes to break even.
You probably know that normal water filters are not any good, they don't filter out minerals, only organic solvents and certain taste chemicals i.e. chlorine.
Hope some of this helps.