Charcoal

Slippertalk Orchid Forum

Help Support Slippertalk Orchid Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Glacial Mist Purified Water. It obviously goes through a purification process but I've not seen a 0 reading in my life from my TDS meter or the last one I had that is out in the woods by a pond somewhere lost forever. I don't have the one in the photograph though. I've got a different brand that was a tad bit more expensive but I swear I have never seen a 0 reading before, not even on distilled water. Distilled water was giving me readings of around 0.7 to 0.9 if memory serves me... and it doesn't much lately. Granted, most of the bottled water I've tested has never been purified so I need to keep that in mind since I've got a Menards close by and .59¢ is cheaper than what I pay for distilled water in a pinch. What grocery store do you go to that you were getting 0 readings on water that you only paid .39¢ for?

Have you calibrated your meter lately?
 
I stand corrected Glacier Mist, the label claims it's purified by RO.
The unit at Val's grocery store in Johnsburg claims it RO.
Have you calibrated your meter lately? How often would you recommend? - As of today, my straight well water was in the 450's, from that I shook it off, went to my (finally) rainwater. I dumped the first 1/4 barrel & one barrel was the high 70's, the other barrel mid 30's. From there I went to the bottled gallons - 0.
 
This is sounding more and more like a ±3% for your particular TDS meter. My meters may be more accurate I think. You threw me for a loop though with the spring water deal. I test that spring water they sell in the fancy little bottles all the time because we used to buy it and it never ceases to amaze me when it tests at 138 and up. Sheesh, some people's city water from their tap tests better than the stuff they're selling us in the stores.

The difference between your two rain barrels is probably some sort of contamination. That one has no lid on it. I really don't see either of those readings as a problem as they're both under 100 but I'm certainly no water guru. The difference between your rain water and my rain water is that mine is in sealed units and I'm the idiot out there in down pours re-connecting the hoses after it has rained for about 15 minutes. My rainwater tests usually under 20.

My RO water with the DI phase disabled tests at around 11 - 13. With the DI phase connected, it tests a whopping 3- 4 lower. Not worth it to me to waste water re-connecting the DI phase. Our well water is testing in the 250 or lower range but that's with an iron curtain on it and some other system down there. Your well water at 450 sounds like something you might want to discuss with somebody who knows what they are doing and that wouldn't be me. I pretty much keep the water for my plants below 100 and the water for our house below 250 and call it a day.

This being said, rain water is free. If only we'd get enough rain throughout the year to not have to resort to RO or buying distilled.
 
My meter LOOKS like the one on the link you gave. The company may have different models.:confused: Chuck Acker showed me his, which looked exactly like that & said it's around $40. I don't expect any $40 meter to be 100% accurate, at least I know what water source has the lowest TDS. When we were getting regular rain thruout the summer 15 would be a high reading, it was usually single digits. I've never covered my barrels with lids, didn't make much sense to me, if the contaminates are on my roof, they will end up in the barrel lid or not! In this area we are known for high mineral content in well water. We have a water conditioner, salt is used & the end result is suppose to be close to RO BUT I'm not about to try it on my orchids! Regular houseplants don't seem to have a problem with it.
 
Yaa, I agree. That's why I posted a link to an affordable TDS meter. The one I have came from some sort of a scientific outlet place for overstock up in Milwaukee. ±3% isn't a big deal. A 0 reading from any TDS meter on bottled spring water that normally tests out for me well over 100 would mean there's something really wrong with a meter (±125% is unacceptable imo)... unless that bottled spring water was like that Glacier Mist water you bought that was purified by RO. I'm going to be buying that brand now. It's easy to pick up for me and is cheap and I never noticed it was purified by RO before you mentioned it. Glad you did since there's a Menards close by.

The only reason why my barrels are covered is because they were purchased that way. I would have loved to have gotten my hands on free barrels from some restaurant but it wasn't in the cards. I understand some fast food chain restaurant called Pepe's has great barrels that they give away and you can saw off the tops. No Pepe's around here. Ha ha, I did once see a raccoon dipping in a wash tub of rain water that I had. We have a lot of raccoons around here so maybe it is a good thing that my rain barrels are covered.

I prefer rain water because it's free and tests close enough to RO and distilled water for my plants. It was my understanding that the contaminants weren't only on the roof but in the air. When I reconnect it to the barrels after it rains a little bit, most of the bird poops from those European Starlings (didn't see thousands by you like what we're plagued with here) have already washed down and most of the heavy metals and polyaromatic hydrocarbons have also been washed down so the water tests very low and perfect for plants. Call it a roof flush or what ever.

Are you done cooking for turkey day? I am! Now it's down to just popping food in the oven and timing it all right so we can eat on time.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top