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distillation

W

wintertime

Hi all,
Was wondering, would you say that if I boil all the bad elements out of my tap water that it would be considered "distilled"? Just wondering, don't have much experience with water's chemical compounds and what not.
I've been boiling my water for about 5 minutes, letting it cool to room temp and using it for my VFT's for around 3 weeks, and they seem to be cool with it, all still green. I've never actually looked for distilled water, I'm sure they sell it though. Anyway, appreciate your time.
 
No, that will worsen it. It will remove the chlorine, but the minerals in water won't evaporate. So you'll essentially be increasing the concentration of salts and ther minerals in the water by boiling it. You know how when u boil a big pot of water, theres thew hite crust leftover? Thats the leftover minerals...
 
Hi Wintertime,  Welcome to the Forums
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   Boiling your water will boil off chlorine but it just concentrates any disolved minerals that are in it.  If you collected the steam and condensed that, then you would have distilled water.   You may be lucky enough to live in an area that has low amounts of minerals in the tap water. If you keep using your tap water, I would keep an eye on your plants and occasionally flush the soil to remove any mineral or salt build up. Your safest course would be to use purified water or rain water.

Have fun
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I was very reluctant to go to distilled water as it was alot of effort to flush the soil and get some water for it... But in the end it saved my dying vft =)
 
THIS IS WHAT I DID,
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I WENT TO THE HARDWARE STORE AND BOUGHT A BRITTA WATER FILTER. TAP OR PITCHER DOESN'T MAKE A DIFFERENCE. MY PLANTS HAVE BEEN DOING GREAT WITH THIS "DISTILLED" WATER. THEY'RE HAPPY AND THRIVING AND HAVE BEEN FOR MONTHS SINCE I GOT THEM. HOPE THIS HELPS YOU
 
Hi Jose. Welcome to the Forums
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The Brita filters don't remove a lot of the dissolved minerals that are found in most tap water. They are usually an activated carbon filter that does a good job of removing/reducing chemicals like chlorine (which is also bad for VFTs) and a few of the dissolved metals like lead.

If you can boil down your water like Parasuco suggest without a lot of white residue in your pan, then your water is low in dissolved minerals. If in the months ahead your VFT starts showing signs of stress it could be because of the minerals built up in the soil from your tap water. It would be a good idea for you to occasionally flush the soil to remove any mineral or salt build up and discard that rinse water, if you keep using your tap water.

All that aside, you have kept your plants alive longer than I did my first ones. My tap water killed them in two weeks.
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Brita is better, but not good enough for VFT'S in captivity.

In the wild; there are some minerals in the soil they grow and thrive in; but rains, etc. keep it in check. In the pot, all you will get is accumulation over time and your VFT'S will die a slow and painful death. May take a month or more. I think you are just buying time with a faucet off the rack filter.

You can catch rain water too; in the middle of the yard in a plastic bucket, not off the roof, as you will be giving your plants pollutants from the tar oils, exhaust carbons, etc.

All this makes it seem that they are as fragile as glass. They are pretty robust, but you must imitate what took millions of years for them to get accustomed to. you wouldn't drop an eskimo in the Sahara and expect him to do well, would you?

True Distilled, reverse osmosis (if there is no water softener attached to the outlet part of it; rain water, or bottled water with no added minerals or sodium, is always best to keep the soil medium non contaminated.
 
Ok thanks, well I've got myself a fresh gallon of distilled water!! Hopefully they will weather through now. thanks
 
  • #10
one more question though, some have said that now after contaminating my poor voiceless vft for 3 weeks now with boiled tap water, that my next step should be to "Flush" out all the minerals. Well, my plant is in a small mouthed, glass fish bowl, obviously with no drain hole. What would be the least invasive way to flush the soil out without putting my vft back into shock? Any suggestions?
 
  • #11
If your plants are not showing any ill will, then just let it go.

Sometimes, replanting can be worse.

Let's just see how it goes.
 
  • #12
All the talk about rainwater I believe is overrated. You can buy a gallon of DISTILLED WATER at any local grociery store for around $.67. At least thats what it is around here. Unless you have yuppy vft that will only drink Singing Rain or Aquafina
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Anyway good luck and don't take my advise for absolute fact. I have only been growing mine for a little while now.
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  • #13
OR if you wanted to try to distill your own water you can place a dish over and under a hotpot or regular pot to catch the steam generated by boiling water. That by definition IS distilled water. But to me its worth my $.67 to not wait that long and just by a whole bunch at the store.
 
  • #14
Here in So. California, we have water machines in front of almost every supermarket that cost between 25 cents to 50 cents per gallon.

Just make sure you press the right button that saids "distilled water" or "salt-free", and not the "drinking water" button.

Brita filters are too expensive!
 
  • #15
I used my esspresso machine once to make distilled water. Only once. It's just easier to buy it.

joe
 
  • #16
All of this talk about fresh water is making me thirsty


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