|
|
Post by astaroth1990 on Sept 3, 2013 2:23:27 GMT
Hello, I just wanted to know, has anyone tried using ionic exchange resins to take out the minerals from the water? I usually collect rain water for my plants, but I've been having a couple of dry weeks and I ran out of water. I can buy distilled water, but this resins are not very expensive, so I thought about buying some for dry periods... Any thoughts? I know they take out the Magnesium and Calcium out of the water, replacing it with Sodium, wich solves any industrial problem hard water could cause; but I don't know if that's enough to avoid killing my plants... I'll appreciate any answer  |
|
|
|
Post by hcarlton on Sept 4, 2013 2:16:32 GMT
Sodium I know can be just as bad for the plants, as it's basically like giving them saltwater. So if they replace the mineral salts with other salts, bad idea.
|
|
|
|
Post by jdallas on Sept 4, 2013 21:19:04 GMT
When you say ion exchange resins is the a commercial water softener? Softeners will exchange sodium for calcium, magnesium and iron, and as HCarlton said, that is just as bad. However, certain types of ion exchange resins take almost everything out of the water. Here in the U.S. ZeroWater filters are an example of this. Do you have a TDS meter you can test the water with?
|
|
|
|
Post by astaroth1990 on Sept 9, 2013 0:02:27 GMT
Thanks guys! I don't have a tester, but I know this tipe of exchanger puts sodium in the water, so if that'll be just as bad for muy plants, I prefer to pay for distilled water...
Thanks a lot!
|
|
|
|
Post by adelea on Sept 9, 2013 11:01:56 GMT
Another method is a solar still, they are simple and cheap to make, i have never used them for plants but I have seen them for sale in nurseries.....occasionaly, they work by letting the sun heat and evaporate the H2O, then it condences and falls into a secong resovoir, this new water is supposed to be salt and chemical free (Cl mainly), But as I said I have never tried it, although I think it would work, they use them in some third world countries with dirty water sources and I have even heard of repeated still work removing salt from ocean water (a test at my uni they tried).
|
|
stevebooth
Full Member
Happy to be here
Posts: 140
|
Post by stevebooth on Sept 9, 2013 12:25:04 GMT
These work well but you can make your own with a few clear, pop and water bottle and some tube, but are obviously limited in the periods that you can get water on demand.
Cheers
|
|
coline
Full Member
Life's essence: patience
Posts: 484 
|
Post by coline on Sept 12, 2013 18:54:18 GMT
Interesting detail, I will have to have a talk with the company that sold a deionizer to me, well, all my in vitro plants are doing good with it, but maybe or I I have been getting bad seed sources lately or they might be going affected by the water I give to them which is this deionized one.
|
|
|
|
Post by astaroth1990 on Sept 16, 2013 11:05:43 GMT
Yeah, i've thought about the still as an option,but have yet to try it out. About the deionized water coline, it's highly probable that the one you buy is entirely without ions. The exchangers i meant are used for industrial uses, where they want to avoid the precipitation of calcium and magnesium, exchanging it for sodium. Other tipe of softener might use other resins that leave the water completely without ions. I didn't want to scare you  |
|
