FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi everyone!
As my collection is expanding, I'm getting increasingly annoyed by constant grocery store visits to buy jugs of distilled water. And it's such a waste of plastic! I'm thinking of upgrading to something more permanent and sustainable.
So, what have you guys come up with? R/O systems? A water distiller? Are you lucky enough to live in a place that gets rain? Or do you simply lug those water jugs home from the store week after week, like I've been doing :)

have you checked your tap water? some area's are just fine for CP's

most water co's publish water quality test results on websites.

Deionized water is what I use but my tap water is pretty alkaline and has a high tds. I've become a filtered water dealer for some people who dont have one. Some places in the US have ro refill stations where you can bring your own jug and pay like $0.50 a gallon.

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My tap is 72ppm well water so I use it for all of my plants. I've been using it for years with no adverse effect.

My tap water ranges 100-150 PPM, so it's unusable. I bought two 80-gallon (302 liter) rain barrels dirt-cheap at a yard sale and tied them into my downspouts. The rain off my roof runs about 8 PPM, even with asphalt shingles. The trick is to let it rain for 20-30 minutes to clean off the roof before diverting water into the barrels.

Hi, Evenwind's solutions deserves your attention. I use either rain water or condensation water from an ac or dehumdifier. This water has a very low tds, but I wonder about metal content or other stuff. So all of my water is run thru a zerowater filter. It does a really nice job, getting the tds down to zero. That gives me a lot of freedom and flexibility with the water for my plants. I do stockpile water as well, using 1/2 or 1 gallon juice/tea bottles to store filtered water for the times that it does not rain or we don't use the ac or dehumidifier. This works well for me and I am now up to nearly 2 gallons of water per day during peak times. The replacement filters can be had on the internet for as low as $10 a piece if you shop around for a deal and buy in quantity. A starter git can run 20-40 bucks. (get the large one to save time and effort) Using low tds water (ac, rain etc) allows the filters to last a long time. If your collection is not huge, give it a try. Just use the lowest tds water you can get, then run thru the zerowater to take it the rest of the way.

Panman wrote: ↑Thu Oct 01, 2020 1:19 am My tap is 72ppm well water so I use it for all of my plants. I've been using it for years with no adverse effect.

Ditto here. Our tap water is between 40ppm and 70ppm all the time so we just use our tap water!

Wow thanks for all the responses! I will definitely have to look into ZeroWater. I was considering buying an expensive standalone R/O machine (since I rent and can't go around messing with the sink/plumbing) but I like the sound of the filter better!
I'm not lucky enough to live in a place with good tap water, I don't know what the TDS in it is but it's definitely pretty high. I'm glad you all have found a variety of solutions.

Most ZeroWater pitchers come with a TDS meter. You can use it to test your tap water before and after.