You can check to see if your municipality water department will do a water quality check for you. Otherwise a hydroponics or aquarium/tropical fish supply store would probably test a sample for you.
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WAter filter~ Brita
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they do just fine. im even using well water right now and it has a definate mineral odor to it. still no bad effect. would top watering everyday leech out the extra minerals? or maybe its because i repot almost every year...
joossa
Aklys
^Not if you are continuously top watering with "bad" water. It just adds a fresh slew of minerals and dissolved solids in there. Plus, plants may not immediately show symptoms... it may take a while.
As for me, I am very content with my local Glacier water dispenser. Both my plants and I enjoy that water.
Actually, while we have always said that brita is not sufficient... I've taken a moment to look at this system and I think it may work for our application. It says it filters by activated charcoal (which we all know does no good for minerals) but it also has Ion Exchange Resin which I'm pretty sure is deionization..... This is generally the final step of a good RO system to get the TDS from 11ppm or whatever your system may finalize at, down to zero. Without having something do an initial drop of TDS, this filter will fail quickly- which is proven by the literature given with that product.... 40 gallons to a filter, of course that will vary depending on your TDS levels to start, the higher they are the faster the filter will fail. So you would definitely need to constantly test your water with a TDS tester so you know when it is time to replace that filter. That given- I don't know the cost of those filters and if this would make it unreasonable to use in our application. but on a "can I use it" scale... I give it a "I'm pretty sure you could"lol
Andrew
We tested the Brita filtering system back in 2007, just for kicks. The water directly from the tap in this area registered 575 ppm with the TDS meter; and with the filter in place, 500 ppm. There was some reduction, as you can see, but not remotely sufficient for the nasty touchy plants which manage to eat pestilential flies but will only accept bottled water . . .
I realize that -- but that product works on the same principle as its in-line version and is, for all intents and purposes, the same filtering system . . .
bigBella- was it a faucet system? Those seem to be activated charcoal only (which wouldn't lower TDS only remove some chemicals/taste)... while the pitcher systems look to be charcoal and a form of Ion Exchange. I felt the ion exchange would be the part that would be lowering the TDS... It seems that NotANumber has already crashed that too though... provided his was one of the newer ones with the ion exchange stuff in it and it wasn't already depleted at the time of testing... I don't think they've always had that.
Andrew
Andrew
so basically weve come to the fact that brita helps a little, and while its better than straight-up tap water, RO and other such systems are miles ahead better? I can live with that lol. 
DI bead life depends greatly on the level of ion exhange and their exposure to CO2. Likewise DI beads are not "self cleaning" like a properly designed RO system. This is why we use it after the water is first filtered through the RO membrane.
Organics are also determental to DI bead life.
DI beads will also go "bad" if unused but left exposed to the air, the mfgs also recommend a maximum 6 month shelf life.
Another issue you have with DI beads is a characteristic known as "channeling". Most of the economical DI systems suffer from this. A well design unit forces a laminar flow through the beads for maximum ion exhange.
The beads also "shrink" with use and channeling can get much worse and performance drops proportionally
There is some real good research on this
Basically, if there was a good alternative to RO/DI systems... people would already be using it
For the money and long term use, nothing beats RO/DI for our application
Av
Organics are also determental to DI bead life.
DI beads will also go "bad" if unused but left exposed to the air, the mfgs also recommend a maximum 6 month shelf life.
Another issue you have with DI beads is a characteristic known as "channeling". Most of the economical DI systems suffer from this. A well design unit forces a laminar flow through the beads for maximum ion exhange.
The beads also "shrink" with use and channeling can get much worse and performance drops proportionally
There is some real good research on this
Basically, if there was a good alternative to RO/DI systems... people would already be using it
For the money and long term use, nothing beats RO/DI for our application
Av
Great points Av8tor1!
AHA! I knew I had seen one Here is a filter specifically for fish tanks.. that uses carbon and a DI cartridge just like what the brita mentioned here... I would say if you want something that is low cost now, but constant on filter cartridges.. maybe go with something like this over brita. At least it is more so made for this (not drinking).
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4395+4484&pcatid=4484 I had looked at it, but decided I wanted something that would take less maintenance and more reliable long term... so I went with full out RO systems.
Andrew
AHA! I knew I had seen one
Here is a filter specifically for fish tanks.. that uses carbon and a DI cartridge just like what the brita mentioned here... I would say if you want something that is low cost now, but constant on filter cartridges.. maybe go with something like this over brita. At least it is more so made for this (not drinking).http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4395+4484&pcatid=4484 I had looked at it, but decided I wanted something that would take less maintenance and more reliable long term... so I went with full out RO systems.
Andrew
We had access to both faucet and the standard pitcher systems and saw little difference in the results. With TDS approaching 600 ppm in the area, we were expecting little real improvement . . .
The DI aspect is mostly all marketing hype. The filter is not nearly large enough to allow the water to remain in contact with the DI beads to make any significant difference. And if it were they would be depleted and useless after the first gallon.
DI works just fine when done properly but it is VERY expensive if it is done correctly. Those DI resins are $$$$ to replace. They only used where water is very expensive and the reject water from RO systems eats into the overall cost to produce a gallon of water OR they trying to produce water so pure it has absolutely nothing else in it.
If you are unable to collect rainwater the next best long term economical solution for most people is a basic RO system. What you need to do is present the facts to your folks and convince them that a small RO system would be cheaper in the long run than buying water from the RO dispenser and provide excellent water for your plants and their morning coffee..
DI works just fine when done properly but it is VERY expensive if it is done correctly. Those DI resins are $$$$ to replace. They only used where water is very expensive and the reject water from RO systems eats into the overall cost to produce a gallon of water OR they trying to produce water so pure it has absolutely nothing else in it.
If you are unable to collect rainwater the next best long term economical solution for most people is a basic RO system. What you need to do is present the facts to your folks and convince them that a small RO system would be cheaper in the long run than buying water from the RO dispenser and provide excellent water for your plants and their morning coffee..
I have been using a Brita filter for 13 years and have had no problems with my plants. But once again, I live in a rural area and the tap water, I believe, is clean to begin with. Of course, I have never had it tested so I can't claim that the Brita is what has helped.
Wonder what will happen if some extremists ever get their way in our govt. and sterilizing agents are added to our water supply to cut our population down? Just heard this today, apparently John Holdren, recently appointed science czar, by our president, believes this should be done if our population gets out of control, along with other means to control it, albeit extremely, extremely unlikely that it would ever happen. Don't wanna stir the political pot, so don't argue politics over this (posted this comment for a scientific view)....but...
What would happen to my Nepenthes? LOL! No more seeds, guess all tissue culture, and cuttings or would they be unaffected?
Besides, no "safe" agents of this sort exist as of yet.
Wonder what will happen if some extremists ever get their way in our govt. and sterilizing agents are added to our water supply to cut our population down? Just heard this today, apparently John Holdren, recently appointed science czar, by our president, believes this should be done if our population gets out of control, along with other means to control it, albeit extremely, extremely unlikely that it would ever happen. Don't wanna stir the political pot, so don't argue politics over this (posted this comment for a scientific view)....but...
What would happen to my Nepenthes? LOL! No more seeds, guess all tissue culture, and cuttings or would they be unaffected?
Besides, no "safe" agents of this sort exist as of yet.
Ever hear of fluoridated water?
