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For a while I used a 10-gallon tank with water (distilled) at the bottom and an aquarium heater for my Ampullaria and Bicalcarata. The plants were perched atop upside-down flower pots; they're quite young so this setup worked. Recently, however, I acquired a great many more adelae (which also inhabit the 10 gallon) and this has forced me to rearrange my current setup.

As a result I broke out my old hexagonal aquarium and have, again, placed my lowlanders atop upside-down flower pots within it. The tank is quite large so they should have ample growing room. But now I'm left with trying to raise both the humidity and temperature, and I want to again try the technique of filling the base with water and heating it with an aquarium heater. In order to save money, though I thought I'd ask (but I'm quite sure I know the answer already) whether filling the base with non-distilled water (straight from the tap) and heating THAT was safe for the Nepenthes. I would never actually water the plants themselves with it. I'm hoping to limit the # of gallons I have to buy each week of distilled water.

I haven't tested my tap water's PPM, but I imagine it's too high to use to directly water the plants.

Thanks.
 
I don't know how that will affect the aquarium heater but the way I have my setup done is I use the light fixtures to heat the space and then use disc foggers or an ultrasonice cool mist humidifyer to humidify the space. You might also try air stones or a water pump to keep the water churning to raise the humidity.
 
Is the water you use for the mister distilled? I have an ultrasonic mister. Right now I'm having a hard time heating the tank (it's quite large, so it has a lot of volume to heat).
 
Oh, Mason....this is Ben by the way (on Facebook).
 
i started with a setup much like yours.......is it a submersible heater? perhaps u need a bigger one.....i use a 100watt one and it does the job fairly effortlessly even on the 30 gallon terrarium i have now. far as the tap water......i tried it once....but i have hard water and within a matter of hours the glass was coated with the left over minerals.....not sure if it would do much to nepenthes long term but i imagine it would be detrimental to drosera without long term exposure as they can realistically absorb the minerals through the leaves.

use rainwater and just deal with the fact you will have algae.

i don't have any photos of the old terrarium any more but below is a photo of the upscaled version....i decided to throw in some aquatic plants to occupy the wasted space and imo the increased vegetation does seem to help the nepenthes as well as keep the algae in check as they aquatic plants eat the same thing algae does...and if you get a surface covering floater then they will starve the algae of light too. just be warned that when you get it tuned in right and your lowland nepenthes are 'happy' that they will probably grow on an average 3x faster than they do now. they will keep you fairly busy bc when you aren't upscaling you will be repotting. however i do enjoy the marvelous growth and wouldn't trade it......going to a hothouse later in the spring and will really see the lowlanders begin to take off.

102_0304_zpse82dfcf5.jpg
 
Thanks. I'm going to try the hard water at the bottom for a while and see what happens as far as the mineral deposits.

Thanks for your picture.
 
im not suggesting you try the hard water......realistically the deposits will cover the media and change your ph....if the water has alot of minerals in it. i guess you can go with it but you would have to flush your pots pretty often which is a huge pita......my suggestion is collect rainwater and use that.
 
I don't see why it would hurt to use tap water at the bottom, as long as you never watered your plants with it (as you said).
 
I use tap water for the bottom of my tank, and for the humidity. I don't think that it will make much of a difference compared to distilled water, as long as you don't water the plants themselves with the tap.
 
  • #10
um yess it will if you heat the water enough it will evaporate quickly enough that some of the vapor will land on your plants and leave white dust
 
  • #11
That doesn't make any sense. It's the same process that the water cycle uses. water evaporates from the oceans, ponds, streams, etc. some of which have high salt contents, but when it rains the water is pure (other than with acid rain which is a whole other process...). This is because when the water evaporates, the salt (and other minerals) isn't carried with it. The same applies to vaporization in an aquarium, or anywhere for that matter. When you apply water with high mineral content to the plants themselves however, they are harmed by the minerals.
 
  • #12
um yess it will if you heat the water enough it will evaporate quickly enough that some of the vapor will land on your plants and leave white dust

Yeah, that's not how it works. Evaporated water =pure water. That's how they get distilled water. Sounds like Biozest has some good experience with what you're wanting to do.
 
  • #13
Yeah, that's not how it works. Evaporated water =pure water. That's how they get distilled water. Sounds like Biozest has some good experience with what you're wanting to do.

Mostly just school stuff that I learned. I guess there is a purpose...JK.:lol:.:).:p.
 
  • #14
sorry i was thinking of humidifiers heating instead of ultrasonic like most are
 
  • #16
perhaps your water quality isn't as bad as mine but the residue was visibly noticeable.....you are correct that pure water goes into the air however in a sealed terrarium the minerals that used to be in the tap water do not go into the air....i have seen it with my own eyes....... IMO with drosera it would be detrimental since their leaves can pretty much directly absorb these mineral deposit and with the neps the deposits on the plants themselves wouldn't be too detrimental for a while but the deposits would most likely accumulate in the media which has the potential to be detrimental over time......mostly just depends on the quality of your tap water.
 
  • #17
I put about an inch or an inch and a half of hydroton at the bottom of my 10 gallon tank. It holds water and heat better than just the empty glass. I also sometimes suck the water out from there to water other plants,spreads different mosses i have pretty good. I fill it to the top of the hydroton(or other rock substitute) and let it go down alkmost all the way before i water again. That could take a couple weeks to a month. You could also put an air stone in there for more oxygen
 
  • #18
also. Set buckets outside to collect rain water.

I wouldnt use tap. If you were forced too use pure cold water after letting it run a little. If you have an airstone, let it bubble in it for a day or two. If no airstone, let the tap water sit at least 24 hours overnight so the chlorine evaporates off. Tap the side of the glass/jug and watch the bubbles fiz off in the morning.

Again, id stay away from tap water. Melt some snow, collect some rain. Tap water is bad
 
  • #19
you can buy a heat matt for like 20 bucks thats perfect size for 1 10 gal tank or even 2. Put it under the tank
 
  • #20
perhaps your water quality isn't as bad as mine but the residue was visibly noticeable.....you are correct that pure water goes into the air however in a sealed terrarium the minerals that used to be in the tap water do not go into the air....i have seen it with my own eyes....... IMO with drosera it would be detrimental since their leaves can pretty much directly absorb these mineral deposit and with the neps the deposits on the plants themselves wouldn't be too detrimental for a while but the deposits would most likely accumulate in the media which has the potential to be detrimental over time......mostly just depends on the quality of your tap water.

Cpbobby is right.

You will eventually get a salt mineral build up in your tank. The allege isnt a bad sign really either.Most of the time this slime turns into different mosses.


I found it a pain in the butt at first,m buying distilled, then collecting rain water. But once i got in the habit of doing it i dont really run out. I use a couple 5 gallon buckets and an ice cooler to collect it.
 
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