FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I was looking into getting a countertop RO machine because I have so many carnivorous plants and have to spend a lot of money in the summer to keep them watered. I’m confused about RO in general. All the different ways to get RO water all list different TDS values for the finished result. Does RO water have to have zero TDS or no?

You want it to be under 50ppm. Ideally it should be 0. How many plants do you have? You may want to look at a ZeroFilter pitcher.

ZeroWater Pitcher works really well for me.

I already have zero water pitchers. I have over 50 plants. Some indoor and some outdoors. Zero water pictures are getting too expensive and don’t last long till they reach a number 1 for TDS. When I use a quality TDS meter- it actually reads 2-3.

I have a Zero Water filter tank, holds about 2 liters. I use the water for plants and cooking. When the TDS gets above 6 ppm it gets a faint fishy odor so at that point I just use it for the plants. I can get about another 20 gallons out of the filter before it hits 30+ ppm. The plants don't have a problem with it.

Two things to look at with RO filters:

What is the rate of production? This is listed as gallons/liters per hour.

What is the efficiency? This is listed as how many gallons/liters of tap water go into the filter for X gallons/liters of RO water. The inexpensive RO filters are around 30%. The non-RO output is considered to be "waste". You might want to collect that and pour it on your garden or flower beds.

I used the Aqualife RO Buddie for years until I moved and didn't need it anymore. With my water it did about a 50/50 RO/Waste water production.

I got on the RO Buddy bandwagon well over a year ago and have no regrets. Much cheaper than pitcher filters since our high ppm tap water means they wouldn’t last long. The RO filters are handling it just fine and I haven’t had to replace them yet.

Out of curiosity is there a reason not to grab like a $15 zero water pitcher off Amazon? My VFTs and now Sarr are drinking quite a lot and my plant collection is growing.

ZeroFilters filter slowly and can get wlexpensive depending in the water going in. For just a few plants they are fine but my indoor plants take 5 gallons of water to fully water. A Zero Filter would take too long.

5 gallons for indoor plants just sounds like goals to me. I’m just going through gallons from the store pretty quickly, and I’d like to buff that down a bit with a supplement for when rain is scarce. I should probably just make a thread asking for what people use. Sorry for the slight high jack there @Palm_Treelvr2128

5 gallons for indoor plants just sounds like goals to me. I’m just going through gallons from the store pretty quickly, and I’d like to buff that down a bit with a supplement for when rain is scarce.

ETA I didn’t realize those RO Buddies were so small. Not much room under the kitchen sink but it might fit or maybe the huge sink in the basement. I should probably just make a thread asking for what people use. Sorry for the slight high jack there @Palm_Treelvr2128

Palm_TreeLvr2128 wrote: ↑Thu Jun 13, 2024 10:49 pm I already have zero water pitchers. I have over 50 plants. Some indoor and some outdoors. Zero water pictures are getting too expensive and don’t last long till they reach a number 1 for TDS. When I use a quality TDS meter- it actually reads 2-3.

I would be shocked if your 3TDS water has enough of anything in it to harm the plants. Generally the level you want to stay under is about 50tds for most carnivores.

I use an RO Buddie for my reef tank. It works perfectly fine, and is quite small and portable.

Panman wrote: ↑Fri Jun 14, 2024 1:15 pm I used the Aqualife RO Buddie for years until I moved and didn't need it anymore. With my water it did about a 50/50 RO/Waste water production.

From the manufacturer's web page:

STANDARD REJECTION RATE - Like larger RO units, the RO Buddie provides a typical rejection rate of 1:3.1 and can become even more efficient at 1:1.5 by adding a Smart Buddie Booster Pump.

4.1 gallons of tap water go in, 1 gallon of RO and 3.1 gallons of waste water come out. With the booster pump, 2.5 gallons of tap water go in, 1 gallon of RO and 1.5 gallons of waste water come out. You must've had high water pressure at your house.

I had to get an RO unit because the rainfall at my house has become very unreliable (thank you, global warming). It's been weeks since the last rain good enough to fill my pair of 60-gallon rain barrels. I shelled out the extra bucks to get a Waterdrop G2P600 -- 2:1 efficiency, rated at 600 gallons per day. I connect it to the hose outside, takes about 2.5 hours to fill one rain barrel. With me going through 40 gallons per watering, it doesn't last long.