FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Shoreline, WA, US

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of several water sources

• Tapwater -- 30
• Filtered fridge unit-- 24
• Fred Meyer Distilled water -- 1

(This is FUN)

Manitowoc, Wisconsin

- Tap water = 160 mg/L
- Reagent grade lab water = 0 mg/L

i dont have a tds meter and zero water doesnt have were i live but i used to live in phoenix AZ and you guys thought you had it bad in some places there 500+ tds i used to drink that when i was a kid and i always wondered why it tasted like you know what theres so much Cl in there water it would probalby kill a CP in 1 day.

UGH!!
My tap is 167 according to website!

bananaman wrote:UGH!!
My tap is 167 according to website!

How can you say "UGH!"?

Because I can't use it for my CP's!!!

I can't drink mine

E. Tn

Tap currently = 284ppm (Gh ~18, Kh ~14, Ph ~8.1)
RODI currently = 1ppm

Just got back from a trip to Adelaide and as such, I did what any VFT lover would do and took a sample of water. Adelaide has never really been known for its water quality, so I was interested to compare it to our water here in Melbourne.

Adelaide TDS is 402ppm, while Melbourne's tap water measured at just 36ppm. Big difference!

Conclusion, dont use Adelaide tap water!

Just to confirm... anything less than 50ppm is acceptable for our CPs?

Just got my TDS meter today (huzzah! and it saved the lives of a few of my plants, many future plants and explains many many things...)

Aurora, Colorado U.S.
Tapwater -- 164

Cambridge Ontario, Canada

As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, the company I work for routinely does water testing for one of our customers. We also receive samples for analysis from a plant we have in Cambridge Ontario Canada. They usually send the samples packed in a styrofoam cooler with refilled water bottles frozen as ice packs.

I decided to thaw one out and test the TDS of the water - I did confirm that it is Cambridge city water. The result . . . . . a whopping 845 ppm TDS!!

Well we know for sure that that water wouldn't be good for our carnivorous plants, not to mention what it would taste like to us! Definitely need a water filter in that part of the country!

Using a TDS Meter our tap water is 80. Water from my well is 32 and rainwater collected in a barrel runs at 2. Most of my war has been the terribly hot summer and lack of any moisture. I saw temperatures as high as 111 in my greenhouse. I did lose a few plants to the hot weather but others faired quite well. In closing I would recommend everyone invest in a DTS meter. Best 20 dollars you ever spent, and I check my water often to monitor the quality of the water I am providing to my collection of plants. Richard

San Diego, CA(92116)

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) of several water sources in ppm

• Tapwater -- 237
• Reverse Osmosis (Glacier Water Vending) -- 10
• Collected Rainwater -- 87 (from rain a few days ago. First rain in months, collected from an obviously dirty gutter.)
• Dasani Bottled -- 20
• Wal-mart Distilled -- 0

Now, that Glacier RO water, it actually varies from 9ppm to 24ppm, depending on which machine I use(there are 3 of them). Are these RO readings safe to use on my traps in the long run?

jaester wrote: Are these RO readings safe to use on my traps in the long run?

It looks like those are probably ok to use from the readings, but it's hard to say what "minerals" they add to the water. If you're using water from a vending machine try to find Aquafina water, it's an RO water that doesn't have any minerals added.

That said, the distilled water from Wal-Mart is easily going to be the cheapest option for purchasing pure water.