Tap water v Distilled water

[Mistlebee15]

Good Morning all,

I have been watering my orchids with distilled water, as the tap water is our area is very hard. The make I am using is very expensive and classed as food grade.

I have found another option now , which is classed as car grade, and a 1/4 of the price.

Would this work just as well, as I do not want to swap and harm my orchids.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thank you

[Subrosa]

It will be fine. It's about liability and labeling laws.

[MiniMoth]

Check out portable RO (reverse osmosis) units sold for aquarium owners. I think in the long run it's much cheaper than buying distilled water (and no plastic waste). Youtube has a ton of videos on the subject.

You can get a simple three/four stage filter system for around 35-40 pounds. It can be connected directly to the tap with a special adapter/diverter if you cannot or don't want to mess with the plumbing under your sink.

A basic one looks something like this Aquarius Mini - Filtry do wody i powietrza | Global Water
or that Reverse Osmosis Water Filter System for Aquarium fish keeping, marine, discus RO 5060282124905 | eBay

I bought a RO system after trying to find a cheap source of distilled water for our room humidifier..
My 75GPD membrane produces 5 liters in ~30 minutes.

[Mistlebee15]

I did wander if I could use RO water, found conflicting information on it, and didnt want to take the chance.

I am currently setting up an aquarium, and my local marine stockist sell RO water really cheaply.

Thank you, that will make sourcing and cost so much easier.

I will look into purchasing my own machine too, as I will then have water on tap.

[MiniMoth]

IMHO, the purpose of using either distilled or RO water is to get as close to "pure" H2O (=containing no other dissolved stuff) as it is possible... and then add back in your hand picked nutrients... without pickling your plants

The process of production is different, but the final product is very similar.

My RO water measures at around 26ppm, and the distilled water from a hardware store that has been opened for a while measures 22ppm. My tap water is between 390-450ppm depending on the day.
(tested with a cheapo 3$ TDS meter from ebay - not super accurate, I suppose, but still very useful)

UPDATE: it looks like my TDS meter is +22ppm off. As suspected after measuring distilled water for the first time.. I've just noticed it randomly switches between 000 and 021 while wet but not immersed in anything.

[Ray]

Distilled water should theoretically contain no dissolved solids. RO water will contain between 1% and 8% of the dissolved solids contained in the source water, depending upon the membrane used and what's actually in the water to start.

Both are nothing short of fantastic for orchids, but keep in mind that you're going to have to routinely add nutrients - including calcium. I recommend a very light fertilizer addition (one with calcium in it - Akerne's Rain Mix, for example) at every watering.

Unless you acquire a very large, very expensive one, RO systems are not "on demand" water supplies. "100 gallons per day" sounds like a lot, but that's only about a cup-a-minute, and you're not watering much at that rate. Storage capacity is the key.

Read this.

[claypot]

Don't waste money on RO water for your aquarium. I am in the UK and have been running several large 5ft aquariums for over 30 years and UK tap water is perfectly adequate so long as you add a water conditioner to get rid of chlorine/flouride etc. I use Tetra Aquasafe 5ml per 10ltr, and remember that you are not just talking about filling initially, but you will need regular (weekly) water changes of about 25%.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Mistlebee15, how many orchids do you need to water? If it is only a few, is capturing rain water an option? I capture mine off of a glass-topped patio table, propped up slightly on one side sit that water pours off the other side in one spot.

[Mistlebee15]

I only have a few orchids at the moment, currently I am using about 4 - 4.5 litres a month.

I was going to collect rain water, but then started reading that the water could contain harmful additions.

I know I am being over careful, but I lost my whole orchid collection of phals I had kept for over ten years, and do not want to go through that again (long story)

The plants I have now, I have only bought in the last 3 months. I now have a few different varieties (phals, slipper, den-phal and brassia) which I wouldn't of ever tried otherwise.

I looked up the water report in our area, its 270PPM, based on my investigations wouldnt suite my orchids ?