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Bottled water?

  • Thread starter Patch
  • Start date
I live in arizona, and i am told that our drinking water isnt good for CPs..
So i was going to the store to buy bottled water.
everyone says "distilled"
but all the bottles say "mountain spring", etc

none say distillled..
what brand is distilled that I can buy at the store to water my CP?
 
they should say they're distilled. if they don't, I don't think they're distilled.
mountain spring water probably has a lot of nutrients dissolved in it because while the big stuff was filtered out of the water by rocks and sand and stuff like that, there's still nutrients...
 
awww man.
I'm probably slowly killing my Sarracenia then
mad.gif

darn i cant get anything right.
smile_h_32.gif


it doesnt rain here much, so there goes the idea of collecting rain water.
where can I find distilled water?
 
well... that's what I think.... but I don't see how mt. spring water could be nutrient-free enough.
maybe tap water? I use tap water. I've had my plants for a year and none have died.
but I still want to know what's in it... anybody know how I could find out?
 
I do know you should be able to call your water supplier and ask, and i think they are obligated to tell you.
or send you something that says what is in it?

that much I do know. lol
I'll ask my local stores where I can get some distilled water.
 
Patch, it is definatly available.. I went through much distilled water before installing my RO system here in Tucson. The best deals I found was Walmart when they go on sale for 50 cents a gallon... (off sale it's a buck wich is too pricy) Also, Fry foods commonly had it on sale. It takes some looking, but if you're gonna use a lot then look for the cheepest for sure!!!
Andrew
 
I just buy big gallon jugs that say right on the front "Distilled"
or "revorse osmosis"
 
distilled water is not "drinking water"..
you wont find it in those small drinking water bottles..
its not really meant for human consumption..
I have only seen it sold in gallon jugs.
usually about 95 cents for a jug..
most grocery stores should have it, look by the big gallon jugs of drinking water..there should be a few jugs of distilled in there somewhere.
scot
 
If it doesn't say it is distilled or purified by reverse osmosis then there is no telling what the TDS is. Read the lables carefully for the ingredients or additives. Many bottled waters have minerals or salt added for flavoring. Spring water may come out of a sparkling clear spring (yeah, right) but that often means it has lots of healthy (for people) minerals in it.

Edit: Be careful, also, of "softened" water. Often it's softened by exchanging the mineral ions for salt ions. If it's run through an RO filter after softening it is likely OK.
 
  • #10
Here's a shot in the dark - A laboratory will have deionized water, but will they let you have some?
 
  • #11
I also have a question about water, but not bottled water. Can I use water from my water cooler, I have some little device that I plug into my tap water and I guess it purifies the water, is this ok for plants? I'm still using distilled/rainwater but I will like to know if this is ok, I guess the only bad thing is that the water is kinda cold :p
 
  • #12
[b said:
Quote[/b] (PiranhaPlant @ Oct. 15 2004,1:19)]I also have a question about water, but not bottled water. Can I use water from my water cooler, I have some little device that I plug into my tap water and I guess it purifies the water, is this ok for plants? I'm still using distilled/rainwater but I will like to know if this is ok, I guess the only bad thing is that the water is kinda cold :p
no, thats no good..
those little purification things dont *remove* the dissolved solids that make water hard..the minerals are still there..

distilled and Reverse Osmosis is PURE water...H2O only..
thats what you want for CP's!

its very simple really..
there are only 3 kinds of water that are absolutely safe.
Distilled Water
Reverse Osmosis water
rain water.

NOTHING else can be considered safe, unless you test it first for TDS (total dissolved solids) and you know for a fact if it is safe or not..
if its not Distilled, RO or rain, and you dont know if its safe, DONT use it! simple as that..
if its filtered tap water, absolutely dont use it..
(unless you know for a fact you have VERY soft tap water..very few people do)
if its any kind of bottled drinking water, dont use it..

distilled water can be bough easily at grocery and drug stores.
RO water you can make yourself if you buy a RO unit..
rain water you can collect yourself..

I go with rain water myself, I probably collected and used 50 gallons this summer.

Scot
 
  • #13
I would add deionized water to that list also.

This is of course assuming that your RO and Dionizing filters are working properly.

Another source of water that should be acceptable would be a dehumidifier or AC

Tony
 
  • #14
oh yeah!
thanks Tony,
I forgot about dehumidifier water..
 
  • #16
Scot, I was about to pu my 2 cents worth in about Deionized water, but Tony got there before me. Currently writing this from the lab, I asked one of our experienced chemist about the difference between Deionized water and Distilled water. In a nutshell, the condensed water from the distillation process, at worst, comes into contact with the air and has the potential to pick up whatever there might be. Deionized water goes through a process that bonds the salts ions with hydrogen - or something to that effect. Bottom line - Deionized water is at least as "clean" as Distilled - and certainly acceptable to our plants.

When I was with an environmental company, in a previous life, I did a lot of sampling. We had to collect samples and also send back what they called "Trip Blanks" All they are is 40 ml vials filed with laboratory Deionized water, that go through the motions of filed sampling. They get analyzed and compared with the real samples. There had better be nothing in them! Once, a sampling crew forgot to take along these trip balnks and decided to improvise by buying distilled water. To say the least, the lab was not impressed by their creativity.

I can tell ya first hand, that trying to take a the pH of Deionized water is annoyingbecause the instrument is designed to measure ions. Since it has none, it never settles on one, stable reading.
 
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