Extremely hard water & its effects

[PuddleMonk]

Here in my little corner of northern Nevada, we have tremendously hard water coming out of our taps. Our home is fitted with a water softener, and we additionally filter the water with a purifier. Still my plants are collecting salt deposits on the roots and in the medium. I can only imagine what its doing to my kidneys! We haven't been in this house very long, and our previous residence didn't have these water problems. There's also traces of arsenic in the groudwater here as a result of the old gold mines nearby.

Is it best to wash out the salt with bottled water once in a while? Or should I strictly water that way and never use our filtered/softened water at all? Are there better solutions?

Thanks,
Richard

[cb977]

It's always good to give the 'chids a flushing on occasion. I use rainwater so I don't really have that problem but I'm sure some of our other members will be able to answer your question in more detail...

[PuddleMonk]

Originally Posted by cb977

It's always good to give the 'chids a flushing on occasion. I use rainwater so I don't really have that problem but I'm sure some of our other members will be able to answer your question in more detail...

Rainwater? Rainwater? Hmmm ... sounds vaguely familiar. Could you describe it?

Kidding. The only rain we might get is the errant thunderstorm in summer. And that drops maybe 1/8th of an inch at most. Our precipitation is mainly in the form of winter snow.

Richard

[dennis]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonk

Rainwater? Rainwater? Hmmm ... sounds vaguely familiar. Could you describe it?

Kidding. The only rain we might get is the errant thunderstorm in summer. And that drops maybe 1/8th of an inch at most. Our precipitation is mainly in the form of winter snow.

Richard

i use rainwater as well you would be surprised in how much water you can collect off of your roof with just a 1/8 inch. on our house we would easily collect 200 gallons of water in 4 55 gallon barrells. never would of believed it till we tried it

[dave b]

Originally Posted by PuddleMonk

Our home is fitted with a water softener, and we additionally filter the water with a purifier. Still my plants are collecting salt deposits on the roots and in the medium.

What type of softener? Sodium or magnessium type? Hopefully not sodium. If so, stop watering with that immediately. Its worse on the plants than the hard water is.

Flushing with bottled (distilled or RO) will help. Adding a RO system may be the answer. I collect rain water, so i havent yet made the RO system purchase.

How funny...after submitting this reply, i notice the new Kinetico add...HMMM!

[PuddleMonk]

Originally Posted by dave b

What type of softener? Sodium or magnessium type? Hopefully not sodium. If so, stop watering with that immediately. Its worse on the plants than the hard water is.

That's what I was afraid of. Without a water softener, the water here would be almost .... yumm, crunchy! Its not hooked up to our outdoor taps, but I was hoping to start filling up the watering cans indoors at some point. A neighbor mentioned that the softener may actually only be attached to the hot water pipes, as is common in this area. By the looks of the mineral build-up in my toilets, that could very well be. Guess I'll have to crawl under the house and trace the pipes.

Thanks for the advice,
Richard

[markr]

Get an RO filter, both for your orchids and for your drinking water. From what you've described, it sounds like a justifiable expense.

[CodiMN]

If the build up is happeneing on your toilets now, you can only imagine what's happening INSIDE the pipes! My grandparent's home in Michigan wasn't properly set up with the correct filters and the pipes over a matter of a few years were clogged with build up! Had to replumb the entire house!

[Gin]

Our water is liquid rock , I use rain water when I can get it . Finally broke down and bought an Ro. unit a couple of years ago .. If you ever do that be sure and get a larger storage tank than usually comes with them .. Gin

[PuddleMonk]

Okay ... I'll bite. What the heck is an RO filter?

Richard