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How do you get all your water?

Hey guys! I was wondering how you all get the disstilled water for all of your CP's(that need it). I personally have to buy 1.5 gallon jugs of it every four to five days and it is getting expensive...Do you guys know any other way of obtaining/making distilled water a little more cheaply? I know of the glass bowl in the water pot trick but that seems like a pain to do. Also, would the "filtered" water from my fridge be ok? IDK!!! :/
Thanks for any feedback and I am very interested in hearing about your responses!

Oh, and I live in socal where it hardly rains so rain watee is hardly an option :/
 
when i was at school, i stole gallons of distilled/de-ionized water from my school's chemistry labs....kinda useless info, unless you're in school....good luck!
 
I buy my distilled water in bulk for $4.49 for a case of 6 gallons. Half pallet at a time. I buy it from our wholesaler, who then trucks it into my store, then I truck it home :)

I am looking into a R/O system very soon though.
 
Most people that aren't lucky enough to live in rain-saturated areas typically buy gallons, or they just get their own RO machines.

What I've taken to doing, since buying 20 gallons a week of distilled at Wal-Mart was expensive and a total hassle, is getting empty jugs refilled at the local fish store.
Now when I say fish, I mean like, aquarium, not market, lol. They sell RO for .50 versus the .90 at Wal-Mart.

An option I looked into but just can't afford right now, is getting a large tank of water through a water company. It's pretty neat and way more efficient than RO. It'd be delivered and replaced as needed for fees, and in the longrun would be less expensive, but it's a matter of having a few hundred dollars on hand for that, versus the 10-20, ya know?

Also, I've done what Jon has :lol: Our labs are on the second floor though and I'm way beyond the point of 2 gallons of water making a difference :lol:
 
Ohhh ok. I havn't looked at Costco for deals like that but I definitely would like an easy to use reverse osmosis system as well :/
 
Walmart: one gallon of distilled water is $0.87
 
Buy at foodbasics nearby for 0.78$ a gallon. I think I'm the only one who buys their distilled water :( (in that stors that is)
 
Hey guys! I was wondering how you all get the disstilled water for all of your CP's(that need it).

I get destilled water that is falling from the sky, called "rain".

The roof of the house is collecting it and I draw it from the rain water downpipe into a 300 litre rainwater barrel.

During exceptional dryness I fill that barrel by using a small RO unit, that filters tap water to RO water.
 
  • #11
I too collect rain water. Tapped into a downspout and picked up 55 gal food-grade barrels off craigslist for $10/each. Installed spigots to the barrels to access the water once filled. Currently have 300 gallons sitting in my garage to use this summer when it finally stops raining around here.
 
  • #12
I get mine from rain and RO in the spring-fall, and RO only in the winter.
 
  • #13
I use tap water for all my plants, I run weekly tests and they always come out between 25 and 40 PPM of dissolved solids.


-Jeremiah-
 
  • #14
Bought an R.O. machine for $100 that brings the tap at 400-500PPM down to 3PPM at the rate of 2 gallons per hour :)
 
  • #15
i baught a large plastic bin from the dollar store and i leave it under my eave and every time it rains it fills up an i just store it in gallon jugs, get all you can from it an store it so if you get a dry spell u have some to fall back on
 
  • #16
I work in a lab and can take how the expired purified water. I also collect rain and snow, as well as water that come in to a small bog next to our apartment.
 
  • #17
I see. You guys are so lucky, Southern California is the worst for CP growers :(
But do you guys have a website that sells a good RO system that I can purchase? It would help a lot :)
 
  • #18
I use about 4-5 gallon of <001ppm per day for plants and personal use @ about 0.05$ per gallon (max)
However, a comparable RO/DI/PP unit today is about +200$ and they can be a pain to get set up right.

Ive had mine about 5-6 yrs I guess, on 2nd membrane, 2nd batch of DI beads and I change prefilters every six months.... It easily paid for itself long ago

I've never looked back at hauling water (which required a 10 mile drive), and around here rain isnt really an option except for springtime
 
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  • #19
I see. You guys are so lucky, Southern California is the worst for CP growers :(
But do you guys have a website that sells a good RO system that I can purchase? It would help a lot :)

We have the better climate for H/L neps and basically everything can be grown outside.
 
  • #20
I too collect rain water. Tapped into a downspout and picked up 55 gal food-grade barrels off craigslist for $10/each. Installed spigots to the barrels to access the water once filled. Currently have 300 gallons sitting in my garage to use this summer when it finally stops raining around here.

I've often thought about doing that, but I'm not certain, because of my metal gutters... I thought about testing the resulting quality with a TDS meter, but was then worried about the presence of ions that aren't detected by the meter... I might try this if it works for you... Do you test the water quality before use, or have you just found that your plants are doing fine with the water?
 
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