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Conserving water

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 3:27 am
by thepitchergrower
I just moved to a new area. When measuring water, it measured up to a whopping 619 PPM tds. :shock: That zero water pitcher isn't going to last too long. Any ideas on how I should save water? My best idea would be to try and build a closed system so that water isn't lost as quickly. :? Ideally I only want to be watering these things once a month.

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 3:44 am
by thepitchergrower
Filter's not handling it well. In just 12 hours, TDS went from 0 to 3, then up to 8. :|

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 4:01 am
by evenwind
Other people who live in high TDS areas have talked about distilled water machines in front of food stores and gas stations, where they can fill up for way less than $1 a gallon. Maybe there's some in your area?

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 4:18 am
by elaineo
I'm in a similar situation. I use a water distiller (about $60 on amazon). it costs 50 cents worth of electricity to distill a gallon of water. This is the main thing preventing me from getting more plants :?

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 4:30 am
by Lain
If you have any local aquarium shops try asking them the cost of ro water. Around here there are several that charge between 20 cents to 50 cents per gallon.

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2022 10:28 am
by steve booth
Can you get condensate from an air conditioning unit? it is just condensed water so is the same as rainwater with the caveat that it could pick up some stuff from the AC unit if it isn't clean. You could test it and see.
Cheers
Steve

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:49 am
by thepitchergrower
My attempt at keeping these plants in a greenhouse has more or less failed. :lol: I roasted 2 albino capes today (seemingly overnight). I think I need to monitor the temperatures more closely. After measuring temperatures, I realized temperatures were soaring above 110 - 120 + degrees.

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2022 2:52 am
by Carnies
Never ever shut your door on your greenhouse, I learned this the hard way. I wouldn't recommend a greenhouse for new growers as sundews will adapt to low humidity conditions outside, IMO.

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Mon May 23, 2022 3:47 am
by thepitchergrower
Apparently I have been watering my plants with high TDS water for more than a week (400-600 PPM), because the filters stopped working. Going to build multiple solar stills.

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Fri May 27, 2022 12:47 am
by Intheswamp
thepitchergrower wrote: Mon May 23, 2022 3:47 am Apparently I have been watering my plants with high TDS water for more than a week (400-600 PPM), because the filters stopped working. Going to build multiple solar stills.
How much water per day are you hoping to produce?

Re: Conserving water

Posted: Fri May 27, 2022 11:42 pm
by tib777
You can try the RO buddie from amazon for like ~$50-60. I have around 450 tds water and the RO buddie makes 0tds with the Deionization filter. It has lasted me a few months without having to change the filters. I have to make a lot of water too since I use the RO for a humidifier that is almost constantly running. It takes 2.5 hrs to fill one of those big 5gal containers from the groceries. It’s also easy to install in a sink faucet or an outside faucet. The only downside is having to replace the filters every few months (and to have an extra faucet that you can dedicate to it) but they do last quite a while and make 0 tds water.