Distilled/Purified Water

[FastForward]

Sorry for the quickfire questions, but have searched the grow faq and forum but no joy.

What's the story with using distilled/purified water instead of tap water and leaving it 24 hours? I'm in a hurry to get things going and don't want to wait for my shit quality water to warm up or dechlorinate.

When I stuck the cF meter in there it gets no reading and a pH of 5.5. Is this stuff okay to add nutes to? or is it too pure? or is this good stuff?! (EDIT: I know the cF can't be read because its too pure, but when I add in nutes it should be okay, no? This is only until I can afford a RO machine or better than tap water, which is hard London water at 0.6 EC before I start)

 

[FastForward]

Mini bump....someone really clueful just say 'yes FF, go ahead and use 2 x 5l of distilled water for your tank - it's fine' or 'no dude, distilled water is a nightmare because you can't ever get a proper pH reading because of the low ions (or whatever)' :)

 

[Midnightgardener]

yes

yes u can use it but you have to raise your ph after adding your nutes because your ph is 5.5 without nutes(nutes lower ph and raise ec)
good luck
MG

 

[FastForward]

Cheers - don't have any pH up....but put in 40ml Rhizotonic to my 10l tank and the pH went from 5.5 to 9.9! I do have some pH down here so going to bring it down to 5.8 and turn the system on.... \o/

 

[LTLU]

sorry not much help here but i have always been led to believe that distilled water will have a ph of 7, the water that comes from my de-humidifier is always a ph of 7, so have to ask what your source is for distilled water as you may be getting something else.. sorry cant be more help, but if you goodle distilled water ph you will find more or less everyone is saying its a ph of 7, just thought i would let ya know.

 

[FastForward]

sorry not much help here but i have always been led to believe that distilled water will have a ph of 7, the water that comes from my de-humidifier is always a ph of 7, so have to ask what your source is for distilled water as you may be getting something else.. sorry cant be more help, but if you goodle distilled water ph you will find more or less everyone is saying its a ph of 7, just thought i would let ya know.

It's definitely proper distilled water - from a chemist @ £3/5 litre, although I've found an aquarium place that will do £4/25 litres and will be moving over to that in the next day or so until i can afford an RO machine.

Also, after reading around at GH and a few other places that they do formulate their nutes for 0 EC, so people must use distilled water with it - I just gotta get used to it

 

[FastForward]

Alrighty...the answer is: rhizotonic + airstone in hydro tank = rising pH. Got this from a very good thread over at icmag forums. I don't want to take the rhizo out, and I can't use H2O2....is it worth taking the airstone out? Or just sod it and change the levels twice a day??

 

[chuckz]

Forget the distilled shit. Don't worry about the EC 0 readings, soon as you add nutes, the conductivity will rise.

However, EC 0, and Ph 5.5 is very curious, especially for distilled water. I suspect it is ionised and otherwise treated as well, though i don't know why that would make any difference. I'd rather start with tap water (which I have never had a problem with, without filters or leaving it overnight). Chlorine and flouride are not problems for plants, and can actually be beneficial. Some people add small amounts of bleach (hydrogen peroxide) to the tank to aid oxygen takeup at the roots and keep some disease in check.

The only concern about tap water is making sure you account for the initial EC when adding your nutes and taking final readings.

If things get too clinical, then all forms of pest and disease become much bigger issues. The cleaner you try to keep things, the cleaner you will HAVE TO keep things (but that is not an excuse to be a slob).

 

[chuckz]

Alrighty...the answer is: rhizotonic + airstone in hydro tank = rising pH. Got this from a very good thread over at icmag forums. I don't want to take the rhizo out, and I can't use H2O2....is it worth taking the airstone out? Or just sod it and change the levels twice a day??

Thats a handy piece of info! :)

Why are you using rhizo constantly? Just use it when you have stressed the plants, changed routine, or you spot something amiss. Treat it more like an antibiotic. If you use it all the time then it will not have the right effect when it is really needed.

 

[fi_di_bot]

pay attentiont the air that come out from the airstone give you a false ph value. you must take a sample of the solution or turn off the airstone for reading the right value.

 

[doubleds]

distilled

Distilled water is about the best water you can use. You are starting from absolutely pure water and adding to it. I have both my a/c's running into my res and all 3 of my dehumidifiers doing the same. Wish it would keep up with the amount of water my plants are drinkin..... lol

 

[guineapig]

i became a bit obsessed with water quality......

the problem with using "distilled" water is that the pH is always too alkaline......now, if you add your nutrient solution, it could bring the pH into a more acceptable range, but you must be sure to test your pH after adding your nutrients......for young seedling, i prefer to buy a jug of "Spring Water".....usually this pH isn't quite as high as "Distilled Water," but you could try a mixture of Spring and Distilled (or Spring and R/O water).....

The thing you've heard about leaving the water out for 24 hours is to help eliminate the chlorine in the water.....this proces has no effect on dissolved salts, organic contaminants, or microbial pathogens....

Adding an airstone will immediately "kick out" all of the CO2 molecules due to an interaction with the incoming Oxygen molecules......the chemical reaction explaining this phenomenon is unbelievably complex, but i have proof of it (a pond ecology journal)......lots of people get upset when their pH suddenly rises after they add an airstone because they don't understand exactly what is going on....

 

[FastForward]

Thanks - I want to add another airstone in as well...will probably make my pH swing more.

Chuckz - I was using rhizo as pH up!! I've nearly finished the bottle and it's too expensive, so I've learned that lesson. Am only using it now for young seedlings as a root stim and foliar feed.

I'm now using RO water from a local aquatic place - £4 for 25l - comes in at pH 5.5 EC0, same as the more expensive distilled water @ £3 for 5l...but am probably going to move to straight up tapwater for everything that is older than a week or two (and maybe not leave it stand - I don't have the space or the planning skills for that!)

Kind of on a tangent, but relevant - what do you guys think of ozone generators for hydro? In principle I love the idea - kills bad stuff and keeps the nute oxygenated properly. Can get a hydro one with a sensor for auto maintaining an o2 level for just over 200 quid here....

 

[mace]

I don't like Ozone generators because of their health risks (or so i've read). Carbons filters have no health risk, i like that.

I use a R.O. machine on my hydro grows. I really like how it get's all the contaminants out of the water, and i have yet to see R.O. water have issues with p.h.
Using the stealth 200 gal R.o. machine, i have 140 ppm 7.6 ph water going in and 10 ppm 6.9 water coming out.
It's a great base line for working with nutes, plus, i've seen less nutrient lock outs this way.

I've also read in another thread that the Chlorine doesn't actually completely evaporate from water over night. It leaves behind some chlorides that can adversely effect those using organic hydro nutrients.

 

[leadplant]

I wouldnt use straight distilled water. Since the PPM is close to zero and with no ph buffering capacity, you got some highly reactive water that is more likely to cause swings and shocks.
If your water is too hard, then cutting it with some distilled is a good idea.
I used to use straight distilled water and AC condensate water (same thing basically) but after I changed it to 1/2 distilled 1/2 well water, the plant health improved.

 

[The Sheriff]

i became a bit obsessed with water quality......

the problem with using "distilled" water is that the pH is always too alkaline......now, if you add your nutrient solution, it could bring the pH into a more acceptable range, but you must be sure to test your pH after adding your nutrients......for young seedling, i prefer to buy a jug of "Spring Water".....usually this pH isn't quite as high as "Distilled Water," but you could try a mixture of Spring and Distilled (or Spring and R/O water).....

The thing you've heard about leaving the water out for 24 hours is to help eliminate the chlorine in the water.....this proces has no effect on dissolved salts, organic contaminants, or microbial pathogens....

Adding an airstone will immediately "kick out" all of the CO2 molecules due to an interaction with the incoming Oxygen molecules......the chemical reaction explaining this phenomenon is unbelievably complex, but i have proof of it (a pond ecology journal)......lots of people get upset when their pH suddenly rises after they add an airstone because they don't understand exactly what is going on....

Interesting take guineapig , do you mind if i ask the name of thre pond ecology journal ?
srry to jump on thread .