Lets talk about water

[IamStoned]

I have been reading on the internet about people buying distilled water and saying never use tap water. The only reasons I can find is that if your area has hard water, a softening agent will be added to the water. Also there can be added clorine that is bad.

I think in BC we have soft water. So I guess there are no softening agents in my tap water.

Personally I have a system of filling a big rubbermaid tub (around 100L) with tap water through a hose. I leave it uncovered for 2 or 3 days. I stir it daily to release bubbles that collect on the sides of the tub. I figure that I am letting out the clorine gas and any other bad additives.

How are other people dealing with their water supply? I guess I should add that I am using pots with soil to grow.

[Green Supreme]

I use a 20 gallon pail. I have a big assed fish tank air pump I use to pump air through 2 airstones and into the water. It oxygenates the water and helps dissipate the chlorine. My local tap water is very good so no need to mess with it otherwise. Peace GS

[Razz]

i used to britta my water in vancouver. i've always had a double filter . clean water is real important, especially to remove calcium, which inhibits nutrient intake~

[johnnyballbag]

My water sucks ass. Out of the tap it's around 450ppm, and we don't use a water softener. So i've got my lil water setup dialed in. I run a 300 gallon per day RO filter which fills into a trash can, where i run a water heater @72 degrees and an 18 watt UV sterilizer 24/7 that's air powered instead of working off of a water pump. The air pulls the water through the sterilizer, and oxygenates the tank at the same time. I usually have 000ppm water, every now and then i'm burdoned with the occasional 002ppm or so...damn dirty water!

[Razz]

goddamn johnny! always one upping me! hahahaha

[johnnyballbag]

Haha, nah it's quite annoying actually. I almost have a whole fucking room dedicated to my water. It's like a mini water treatment plant, haha. I had this weird episode where EVERYTHING in my room died within 24 hrs. I brought some new cuts in, they'd die in 24hrs. I brought regular house plants in, they'd die as quick or almost as quick. After much digging and wondering, i tracked it down to the water. Have had no probs since upgrading my setup. At least now i know there's VERY little (if any) foreign matter in my water, and not a damn thing living in it. Another random note; one of my dogs would throw up after he drank water like every time. Since i started giving him the lab water (haha) he hasn't had that problem. Makes ya wonder wtf they put in water. Like chlorine, one of the most deadly substances known to man.

[IamStoned]

wow johnny! crazy sounding setup. How much noise does the UV sterilizer produce? I've tried the fish tank pump method, but it was too noisy at night.

Someone told me that filters like the brita take out too much of the mineral content of the water. His experience was the plants didn't do as well on brita water as they did on evaporated tap water.

Raz: What kind of filter are you using now? Does it remove clorine?

[johnnyballbag]

Just so ya know....Brita water filters don't really remove shit. I've tested the ppm's of water before and after. For what they cost they aren't worth it IMO.

[hashcat]

my city's ppms are around 130-140ppm so i just use it straight.
this is my first time around and dont have space to dechlorinate. will definitely
be doing that next time around when i rebuild and im hoping for a nice difference.

[SeanMon]

lol Johnny I remembered you from icmag, the water and the puking dog...its ok guys no dogs were hurt in the making haha One way I get good water is from my dehumidifier.Rain Barrels are great also and I heard leaving water out over night to let the chlorine leach out.

[YukonBikerGuy]

Quite a few dehumidifier designs have the water condensing on and dripping off of metal coils, then draining down into a resivoir, along with any room dust ect, plus residuals from the metal. I decided not to feed my girls that dirty water. I do age my water to remove chlorine. Otherwise the water quality is pretty good here.

[johnnyballbag]

Quite a few dehumidifier designs have the water condensing on and dripping off of metal coils, then draining down into a resivoir, along with any room dust ect, plus residuals from the metal. I decided not to feed my girls that dirty water. I do age my water to remove chlorine. Otherwise the water quality is pretty good here.


Def a valid point YBG. And for the record, i've only used the water from dehumidy's when they were new and still clean, but i've always been the scrutinizing type in my rooms, i'll take shit apart and clean them.

[mnglasshead]

If you are willing to clean out the dehumidifier regularly I could see it working. After testing some of the water from my rain barrels that I had catching rain off my room it ended up being pretty nasty just from running off the roof itself. Shingles and gutters are made out of nasty shit I guess. And I heard that they are now adding something to city water to keep it actively chlorinated, so letting it sit and distill will not remove the chlorine. I have dechlorination drops for my fish tank, would those work the same? Or could a bubbleponics (air stone in the water resevoir) or an aquaponics (aquatic life in the water resevoir) help purity? I have seen some great water with those expensive reverse osmosis filters, and I have been told they actually pay them self off in final productivity.. And you get a ton of ridiculously fresh drinking water. No more sick dogs haha. I think I will try to investigate rain catching with minimal contaminant runoff and a filtration system to go with, let me know if you have any info for me.

[Razz]

yes, iamstoned, i'm using a double filtration set up, similiar to the double filters you see at home depot, but i'm usin the " expensive" filter. it says it removes chlorine and all kinds of other shit, just the filters were about 70 bucks..