uk vft Posted April 15, 2015 Report Share Posted April 15, 2015 Hi All Im in a bit of a pickle (if we don't get any rain before summer arrives) I had to drain my rain water butts recently, so is there anyway of easily testing water (possibly lake or stream water) to see if its suitable for my CP's? Any help would be helpful Cheers all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Hello The most you'll probably be able to check would be the total dissolved solids (TDS). This gives an indication of the dissolved solids within the water, with pure water having a value of 0 parts per million (ppm). As a guide, rain water usually has a value between 0-50 and carnivorous plants are said to need TDS below 100 and preferably below 50. (My very hard tap water is 380 ppm from the tap!) You can get a cheap handheld TDS meter but do be aware that this is still a rather crude estimation of what is in the water supply. A pH reading would help confirm purity but again is only an estimation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk vft Posted April 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Ahh Cheers Stu, well looking at the forecast rain this weekend so it will help, ive just divided and repotted everything into mini bogs, hoping to save water but may have made my situation worse as ive got twice as many plants now as I estimated hahahaha.. oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian Posted April 16, 2015 Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Hello. I don't know if you have a 99p shop in Rochester, but they sell 4ltrs of distilled water for "99p" ! Ian. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uk vft Posted April 16, 2015 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2015 Cheers Ian, That sounds like a plan.... Yep plenty of them shops around ill have a nosey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexis Posted April 17, 2015 Report Share Posted April 17, 2015 Where in the country are you? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blocky71 Posted April 18, 2015 Report Share Posted April 18, 2015 Agrees with Stu, even if you had a Tds meter and found some water that tested ok on it, there's no telling if there's gonna be other harmful stuff in it. I'm not far from you and I have a Tds meter and a RO water filter that you can borrow if things get drastic. I only use it when there's no other choice as its a wasteful way of getting suitable water but it does come out / test at nearly 0ppm. Good aquatic stores such as "swallows" in gravesend will also sell you RO filtered water as its used in marine set ups. I'm not sure if it'll work out cheaper than the pound land distilled though. Get in touch if need be Cheers Blocky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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