dexterdraco
Active Member
So I have a water distiller and an ro system. Which is better?
Does distilled water make a difference
- Thread starter dexterdraco
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Which one wastes less water? I'd guess the distiller, but IDK.
falstaffo
Well-Known Member
a distiller should waste no water, i fill 4l in the chamber and finish with 4l in the jar
distilling water is not cheap on electric compared to ro system though i guess lol
It depends, ROs with a DI have an output very similar to a distiller. The DI resin tends to be expensive, and at least 3/4 of the water from the RO is usually sent down the drain. What do you pay for water?
On the other hand, almost 100% of the water you put into a distiller, comes out as usable product. The drawback is that a distiller is a power pig.
Either one is very good for water used during your grow. Another consideration is whether or not you intend to distill your own alcohol for extractions/tinctures. If cash is a concern, I'd go with an RO if you are not going to produce ethanol.
On the other hand, almost 100% of the water you put into a distiller, comes out as usable product. The drawback is that a distiller is a power pig.
Either one is very good for water used during your grow. Another consideration is whether or not you intend to distill your own alcohol for extractions/tinctures. If cash is a concern, I'd go with an RO if you are not going to produce ethanol.
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dexterdraco
Active Member
Distiller is the way I am going to go for now. I like the taste.
Have you decided whether you are going with a batch distiller or an automatic one? We used an automated one on the chinchilla ranch. I've built batch distillers, and BioDiesel reactors with a condenser for methanol recovery. A good source for manufactured reflux columns is BrewHaus America. Here's the biggest reactor/still I built:
80 US gal BioDiesel Reactor / Distiller
Yep, that's a hot water heater I used for a kettle
What is "DI" an abbreviation of?
Far, FAR less than I should have to pay for it, all things considered. But I haven't written any letters to my local municipality recently, demanding that they raise the rates 1,500% and spend the money on things like water conservation efforts/technology/campaigns, anti-pollution measures, or even on figuring out ways to catch businesses - and individuals - that pour chemicals down their drains. As far as I have been able to determine, the last two water/sewer (rate) bill increases have been used to increase the size/complexity of the local bureaucracy. So I guess my strategy where all that is concerned is to hope for some kind of major worldwide "eco" war.
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dexterdraco
Active Member
looks like an interesting hobby. do you have any links to diy videos
De-Ionization. The De-Ionization stage will catch any contaminants that may have passed through the Reverse Osmosis Membrane to ensure 100% pure water.
Hmm... I paid over $17,000 for a new 580' deep well and pump back in 2002. Since then I've paid over $2500 for pump replacement and line repairs. That's over $1000 per year for the infrastructure. I've no clue as to how much it has cost in power for the pump. A WAG would be $10 per month, as the pump is down about 450 feet.
fanleaf
Well-Known Member
Distilled water and RO water together still leaves no buffer for pH effects. Both distilled and RO water are right about 0 parts per million and therefore 0 buffers. Tap water can be buffered and can contain minerals that act as a buffer but those not always good.
fanleaf
Well-Known Member
For growing I would say hands down rainwater would be the best water. It not only contains living microbes but helpful minerals.
I guess it depends on how you use the water. I add GH nutrients to the water from my RO, and the pH doesn't change in my reservoir before being pumped to the plants in a coco/perlite drain to waste system. Depending on the stage of growth I mix up to a seven day supply. It drops to 4 - 1/2 days from late veg to the end of the grow. I don't aerate my reservoir.
No, I haven't looked on-line for them. I was making BioDiesel back when the only videos on-line were porn, and not 'bud porn.'
I stopped making it when my supply of cooking oil ran out. A politician bullied my suppliers into letting one of his companies take it all. Diesel was $1.25 / l at the time, and it cost me $0.30 / l to convert the used cooking oil into BioDiesel, $0.14 with methanol recovery.
fanleaf
Well-Known Member
Any pH changes would be due to salts in the ferts changing or dropping out over time and not the RO water. RO= zero buffers. Distilled= 0 buffers. This is exactly why distilled water for instance if you open a new jug of distilled and it shows a ph of 7 you can add one single drop of pH up or down to a hundred gallons of that water and the pH will drop or raise drastically. The huge drop or raise you would see in the pH after adding that one drop would be due to a pH neutral water. RO water will do the same thing. The pH of distilled and RO water is very neutral with zero buffers. You can go buy a new gallon of distilled water and do a little experiment. Bring it home open it up and immediately test the pH. Then leave the lid off for half a day and test the pH again and you will probably see a change. This is because the water is so pH neutral with zero buffers that simply coming into contact with carbon dioxide in the air will change the pH. A gallon of it left open to the air for a day can drop from 7 to 5.5 or 6! That's 10-15x more acidic just by being in contact with air! Well, not really because pH pens cannot accurately measure pH of the water because there are no minerals in it so it really has no pH.
